Too small prey item?

I had been feeding both my 850g snakes small rats without a problem through the summer. Come the shorter days and now they're both fasting. My question is were small rats too big for them and now they're playing catch up? I also noticed that the small rats I ordered from rodent were sometimes too large so I decided to try out feeding them weaned rats. There a little smaller than the girth of my snakes, but I would rather have them eat all year round. Does this sound alright to you guys?

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Originally Posted by Spaniard

I had been feeding both my 850g snakes small rats without a problem through the summer. Come the shorter days and now they're both fasting. My question is were small rats too big for them and now they're playing catch up? I also noticed that the small rats I ordered from rodent were sometimes too large so I decided to try out feeding them weaned rats. There a little smaller than the girth of my snakes, but I would rather have them eat all year round. Does this sound alright to you guys?

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welcome to winter

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Originally Posted by tmlowe5704

welcome to winter

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There are too many people with snakes that eat through winter for me to just accept that as the answer. I still feel like I'm doing something wrong that they're not eating the full year round.

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Originally Posted by Spaniard

There are too many people with snakes that eat through winter for me to just accept that as the answer. I still feel like I'm doing something wrong that they're not eating the full year round.

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There are also just as many people who have snakes that go off feed during winter. These snakes can go a long time without food, don't worry too much yet. They probably sense some change in the daylight times and temperatures and were going into breeding mode. How are you regulating temps?

Helix DBS-1000, temps and humidty are perfect. My hatchling is eating like a beast. I'm watching the other two and their weights closely. My female fasted last winter a bit and I was hoping to maybe better that situation this winter. But regardless of the fasting does anyone have anything to say about a 850g snake feeding on weanling sized rats?

When the boys get the girls on the brain or the girls get the boys on the brain they might slow down eating but as the wise man of the mountian said to me when mine went off feed. "A Bll should not go off feed if the setup is right" -Adam. Or they might just not be hungry. Give it a week and try again. double check your temps and all also.

Hope this helps -- Ed

BUMP...Anybody care to share whether or not they think a weanling rat (rodent pro) would be to small for this snake

http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f1...o/100_1244.jpg

Rich, I know that Adam feeds his adults small/small rats (between 40-50 grams each) and his snakes eat year round (over 200 snakes).


I feed 2 mice a week, but once my rats get to producing enough to sustain my collection - I'll be small/small rats each week for the adults and rat fuzzies and pups for the rest.

I also experience no fasts in the winter with all 15 of mine.

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Originally Posted by tmlowe5704

There are also just as many people who have snakes that go off feed during winter.

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I am convinced from my own experiences and conversations I've had with Adam about my observations that 90% of the winter fasts are husbandry related:

Enclosure too large
Temps not stable, even a degree or two drop at night combined with shorter days can throw them off feed
Overfeeding
Overhandling
Hides too large

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Originally Posted by rabernet

Rich, I know that Adam feeds his adults small/small rats (between 40-50 grams each) and his snakes eat year round (over 200 snakes).


I feed 2 mice a week, but once my rats get to producing enough to sustain my collection - I'll be small/small rats each week for the adults and rat fuzzies and pups for the rest.

I also experience no fasts in the winter with all 15 of mine.

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What classifies an adult? I never really paid any thought to it. 2+ years or sexual maturity? I have a feeling they've been overfed a bit. Sometimes the small rats I had were in the 90g range, pretty sure I ended throwing out most of those though. Well see what happens tonight I guess. Gonna offer the whole gang some rat pups see if it sparks anything up.

Thanks Robin

Edit: Adam's one liners about trouble feeders is what made me go crazy trying to get all my husbandry on point. It makes sense that they should feed year round unless you induce them into breed mode.