When to Switch

For those that feed medium rats to their big girls: when do you make the switch from small to medium?

I have all of my big girls (1800 to 2700+ grams) on medium rats (although some are taking an extra small rat as well, except in the case of the 2700+g girl who would want to eat me out of the house). But I have 4 sub-adult girls and one of them just pushed past 1000g. I'm not trying to rush her into breeding as she's just about a year old now. But when should I make the switch?

I got a 900 gram female that has been on medium rats for about a month now. I feed the 600+ animals once a week, and she is doing fine. I am not trying to push her to breed either, I just got tired of feeding more than 1 small rat every meal. This girl loves to eat.

There's this rule about prey being of 10-15% of snakes weight? And there's the rule about prey width. It shouldn't be any bigger than snakes widest part. I believe that's about it.

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Originally Posted by jxl

There's this rule about prey being of 10-15% of snakes weight? And there's the rule about prey width. It shouldn't be any bigger than snakes widest part. I believe that's about it.

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The 10% to 15% guideline is really only for younger snakes.

You can make the switch anytime you want, as long as the snake is big enough to actually take the medium rat without difficulty. Some people keep their adults on small rats and they do fine, so there's no rush to make the switch. Better to switch late than too early, IMO.

I don't do the weight thing. I go by snakes girth. My 400 grams is taking down weanlings very nicely,actually took a small rat last week,which was a bit to big,well too big,but took it and digested it within a good 3 days and is now in shed :)

I do weight my snakes... but not the prey, I go by the snake's girth.

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I personally only feed my girls that are over 2000g medium rats. The younger breeding females will get a small rat offered twice a week. I don't feed multiple rodents per feeding.


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I go by girth for hatchlings and sub-adults and just eyeball it.

I generally feed smalls to all my adults once a week. Some of the hulking girls over 2000g might get a medium if I have any of that size.

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Originally Posted by smalltimeballz

For those that feed medium rats to their big girls: when do you make the switch from small to medium?

I have all of my big girls (1800 to 2700+ grams) on medium rats (although some are taking an extra small rat as well, except in the case of the 2700+g girl who would want to eat me out of the house). But I have 4 sub-adult girls and one of them just pushed past 1000g. I'm not trying to rush her into breeding as she's just about a year old now. But when should I make the switch?

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Switch when you think your specimens are ready, you'll know.

Usually I switch them to mediums around 1600g or so. It depends on the snake though.