Bacon,The 2 month old retic

I have a question for all of you Retic people.
I have a baby 2 monh old retic named Bacon. Bacon gets fed every 10 days either a adult mouse or a rat pup.Approx. 21/2 to 3 foot He was just fed 5 days ago an adult mouse.
I also breed my own rats and mice. Last night at around 1145, I walked into my snake room last night and saw Bacon in his cage. I also noticed that in my Birthing tank I had a female who just gave me 10 pinkies. Also in the Birthing tank were 3 more females, that were very prego, about to drop in the next few days. I also had about 6-8 fuzzies. So all together 4 adults, 10 pinkies, and 6-8 fuzzies.
This morning at about 1030, I noticed that Bacon was out of his enclosure, and was in my Birthing tank, Looking like he swallowed a Nerf football. Also in my ebirthing tank,was 1 female adult who just had babies yesterday, 6-8 pinkies, and a fuzzy. Everything else was gone.....

My question is, Should I feed him more often or should I move up to larger prey.

I'd say do both. With babies they use all there food to grow and i like to feed every 5-7 days. My yellow anaconda is almost 3ft and was born in July. He's eating weaned rats every 5 days. So with your retic, I'd say go up to weaned rats and go to a 5-7 day feeding. As he grows, increase it's feeding size.

Sorry double post.

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Originally Posted by SnakeKB

I'd say do both. With babies they use all there food to grow and i like to feed every 5-7 days. My yellow anaconda is almost 3ft and was born in July. He's eating weaned rats every 5 days. So with your retic, I'd say go up to weaned rats and go to a 5-7 day feeding. As he grows, increase it's feeding size.

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OK I knew that, about increasing food size, but what I am concerned with is his girth, I'm wondering if a weaned rat will be to big

I was worried about that with mine too but it hasn't effected him at all. Snakes can eat something twice it's body size, why people don't feed them that way is because it can cause them to go off feed. If the retic is over 2ft it should handle it fine. Maybe contact a retic breeder like NERD and see what they say.

I would recommend moving him up to something larger, instead of feeding multiple smaller prey items, because it's easier on the snake's digestive system.

Retics have such a strong feeding response and such a strong ability to consume and digest large prey I wouldn't worry about it.

I used to breed burms and I would occasionally run across a rabbit that was too big for my burms. I took my HUGE rabbits to a guy downtown that bred retics and I never found a rabbit too big for his retics.

The retics head is so enormous compared to a burm, they are able to eat things that other snakes can not.

No matter what the size of the prey item, Bacon will have it digested in 3-4 days. Don't worry about the prey size, but if it takes longer then 5min once the head is started, its to large. And bump down the gram weight. Its up to you if you want to take it away(tickle his throat) or let him eat it.

I say both, retics can handle surprisingly large prey for their size, especially when young. And he needs to eat more often.

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Originally Posted by lexxielightning

I would recommend moving him up to something larger, instead of feeding multiple smaller prey items, because it's easier on the snake's digestive system.

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What are you basing that information on? Not saying you're wrong, but I dont understand the logic of that. Can you cite something reliable? Or is this just something you've heard.

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Originally Posted by anthonym

What are you basing that information on? Not saying you're wrong, but I dont understand the logic of that. Can you cite something reliable? Or is this just something you've heard.

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I've been told this by a few people who I trust, but the logic behind it that made it make sense to me was that the snake doesn't have to bother with constricting another prey item while it's just downed another that isn't digested yet...

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Originally Posted by lexxielightning

I've been told this by a few people who I trust, but the logic behind it that made it make sense to me was that the snake doesn't have to bother with constricting another prey item while it's just downed another that isn't digested yet...

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My burm never had a problem downing two rats in the same feeding session.

This seems like a good question to ask a vet who specializes in reptiles. Logic and hearsay only go so far.

Does anyone else find it mildly humorous that the snake escaped it's own enclosure and found it's way into the rats to eat them?

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Originally Posted by Gibber19

Does anyone else find it mildly humorous that the snake escaped it's own enclosure and found it's way into the rats to eat them?

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I thought it was hilarious. I had to re-read the story to get a grasp on just how much Bacon ate.

I don't think it's stressful on the snakes digestive system at all. I have a ball python that i feed 2 small rats to each week. Once I get medium rats that's what he'll be getting though. It's much less time consuming feeding one prey item compared to two when you are feeding multiple snakes.

He ate alot , I mean alot, if you don't understand that then re-read it again it was alot I am stil try to recover from the loss especially the pinkies and fuzzies. Lol, thanx for the response guys. I was a little worried about him, but after a few good pops and a really nice shed then I fed him again this time I went just a bit smaller than a petstore small rat and he nailed, didnt look to fat when it was down and also tok just a few minutes to get it down

I would say you need to secure your snake better.

Escaped Retics are what news is made of, and not the kind that does our hobby good either.

^

Thread is 2 years old....

Old as the thread may be, as I was reading I kept wondering when someone would finally voice concern that the OP wasn't providing a secure enclosure - that an escaped retic(small sure, but not for long) was playing second fiddle to choosing prey size. Guess it took 2 years..

And it took a noobie snake keeper to point it out to the poster that revived the thread...

I'm actually saddened and ashamed that people were more concerned with prey size over an escaped animal, regardless of how big or small that animal is. We all make mistakes and sometimes our animals get loose, but I don't recall reading anywhere where the OP stated he found how his animal got out or even remedied the situation. I do hope that he did discover and fix it and that the animal is still alive, SAFE, and healthy.