How Often Can I Feed?

My snake is 3 y.o. and is very small for it's age. I want to start fattening it up some. Can I feed it large mice every 4 days instead of every 7?

For a 3 y/o, I would just stick with a 7 day schedule and let it grow at it's own rate. At that age, it won't be hitting any more growth spurts like a juvenile would. Trying to feed too often may cause your snake to go off feed for a while after it gets enough to eat. You can try feeding it larger meals, but the more you feed, the more time they need to digest it. Have you tried switching to rats?

I agree with Vypyrz. If it is too small for regular rats, try hoppers. or rat pupps (multiple). But i think hoppers might be a good thing to start with before you introduce a rat to your snake. it will give him a taste for rats and then you could take it from there.

The snake won't eat frozen and I havnt been able to find a rat breeder to get small ones like that. Which is why I was thinking of feeding him smaller meals but more often. Maybe just 1 large mouse every 4-5 days.

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Originally Posted by SnakeKB

The snake won't eat frozen and I havnt been able to find a rat breeder to get small ones like that. Which is why I was thinking of feeding him smaller meals but more often. Maybe just 1 large mouse every 4-5 days.

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It is good to use your instinct. that is how I learned. If you know your snake than you should have good gut feelings about them. IPO:)

I'll get a large mouse and try feeding him again today. I fed him one Monday and he snatched it up right away and looked like he wanted more so I'm thinking if that one didn't fill him up then he might be hungry sooner than normal. I'll let everyone know if he eats again today.

Feed it a rat that's around 10-15% it's body wight every 7 days. It will grow, it will definitely grow.

Ah, no breeders... hrm, well if you want to stay with live you can breed your own, or you can work him over to frozen/thawed.

I agree with vyprz every 7 days is good for a ball and if you think the meal is small offer 2 every 7 to 10 days till some weight is on then fall back to 1 every 7 days of appropriate size.

even so I myself would stick with every 7 days of regular food and the weight will come back on naturally anyway.

I would move to a 5 day schedule, and monitor his weight and appearance. If he starts getting obese, cut it back to 7 days again. He must be really tiny, if he's still eating just a single large mouse every 7 days.

He ate another mouse after just 4 days. I can get live feeder mice really cheap so I'll stick to them till he gets bigger. I'll stick to the 4-5 day schedule since he is eating them. I need to get a food scale and weight him. I don't think he's but 300 grams and around 30" in length. He's a small guy for his age. I just got him sunday so I'm trying my best to get him to normal size now.

He is a lot larger than 300 grams, and that feeding schedule sounds right with a 3 year old, 30" snake.

I'll find out his weight tomorrow. His body isn't but 1.5" in diameter. Not much bigger than a large mouse. His isn't much bigger than a 1 y.o bp that i saw at the petshop.

Hes 390 grams. Pretty damn small for a 3 y.o. I bought a frozen small rat from the pet store just as an experiment to see if he will eat it. I may save it till hes a little bigger though. I know he shouldnt take anything larger than weened rats right now.

Wow, for a 3 year old snake that is just... unbelievable... Good luck.

Yup. I just got the snake last Sunday from a girl and i don't think she fed it much at all. I fed it twice this week and it took food easily. I'm gonna stick with large mice for a couple more weeks and then try making the switch to the rat.