Vote for BP.Net for the 2013 Forum of the Year! Click here for more info.

» Site Navigation

» Home
 > FAQ

» Online Users: 748

4 members and 744 guests
Most users ever online was 47,180, 07-16-2025 at 05:30 PM.

» Today's Birthdays

None

» Stats

Members: 75,908
Threads: 249,108
Posts: 2,572,131
Top Poster: JLC (31,651)
Welcome to our newest member, KoreyBuchanan

Eating Every Other Week

Printable View

  • 02-16-2012, 03:13 AM
    fluffpuffgerbil
    Eating Every Other Week
    I've noticed Kallista's eating habits lately. Seems she'll only eat her meals every other week. She ate last week. Tried to feed her this week and was only interested in coming out of the tub and chilling w/ me.

    Is this fine/can I just continue to feed her every other week instead of wasting more rats?

    And besides the snake not growing as fast- is there really any downside to feeding it once a month? (I'm not going to do that, but I have a friend who used to have a python and she fed him 1x a month. Apparently he was 5 feet(probably a female then, she never had it sexed) and she only had to give him away because she was going to college and couldn't take him with her)

    But any major downside feeding 1x a month as opposed to every 5-7 days(besides the growth rate change)
    And is it fine to just feed Kalli every other week?(since that seems to be when she eats)
  • 02-16-2012, 09:00 AM
    The Serpent Merchant
    It depends on how old the snake is. I feed my BP's that weigh less than 600 grams every 4 days and mine that weigh more than 600 grams every 8 days.

    Unless the snake in question is an adult I wouldn't feed any less than every 7-10 days.

    Are you offering rodents that are the right size? (rodents that weigh 15% of your snakes body weight)
  • 02-16-2012, 10:10 AM
    Skiploder
    Re: Eating Every Other Week
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by fluffpuffgerbil View Post
    I've noticed Kallista's eating habits lately. Seems she'll only eat her meals every other week. She ate last week. Tried to feed her this week and was only interested in coming out of the tub and chilling w/ me.

    Is this fine/can I just continue to feed her every other week instead of wasting more rats?

    And besides the snake not growing as fast- is there really any downside to feeding it once a month? (I'm not going to do that, but I have a friend who used to have a python and she fed him 1x a month. Apparently he was 5 feet(probably a female then, she never had it sexed) and she only had to give him away because she was going to college and couldn't take him with her)

    But any major downside feeding 1x a month as opposed to every 5-7 days(besides the growth rate change)
    And is it fine to just feed Kalli every other week?(since that seems to be when she eats)

    If all your husbandry parameters are correct, and your snake is in good health, I don't see where you have any control over the situation. If she's only eating every two weeks then she's only eating every two weeks.


    How long have you had Kalli and what were her feeding habits before she decided to skip every other week?
  • 02-16-2012, 11:24 AM
    fluffpuffgerbil
    Kallista, last time I weighed her, was around 500 grams, give or take, I havent' weighed her in about a month. Her rats are actually probably a little too small since they are only around 40g, because I buy the frozen rats from the petstore(Petco).

    I've had Kallista since August, and her feeding habits were normally good, she'd eat every 5 days(that's how soon I offered her food), however I was feeding her live.
    It's trickier to feed FT, which is what I'm trying now, because it seems if she knows it's dead, she won't eat it. I have a good method of thawing it which seems to be working, but she just won't take it one week, and the next she will.

    So, her eating habits were good until I started feeding her FT. Live's too expensive to feed to her also, the cheapest to get around here is 8$ a rat, whereas FT is 11$ for 3.

    Still expensive, I know, but I don't want to buy FT online
  • 02-16-2012, 11:32 AM
    The Serpent Merchant
    I think that it is probably just a phase and your snake will start eating weekly/every 4-5 days eventually. I would just continue to offer every 7 days at this point.

    Why don't you want to buy feeders online? it's so much cheaper... I couldn't force myself to buy 40 gram rats at $3.67 each. Rodent pro sells that size rat for $0.89 each. You will easily save enough for the shipping and a freezer for them (if you don't feel comfortable with putting them in your freezer), and still keep some money in your pockets vs buying from petco
  • 02-16-2012, 11:35 AM
    fluffpuffgerbil
    Sure, .89$ sounds cheap, but from what I saw, you have to buy so freaking much of them. I couldn't see a way to buy them for less than 50 or a 100(not sure, not been to that site in awhile). And shipping was bloody expensive too, due to the dry ice.

    Maybe I'll look around more, but if there's a way to buy less than 100(or 50), then that'd be great, and if the shipping wasn't so expensive, then it'd be nice to buy from there.

    But with only 1 snake, I don't completely see it worth it.
  • 02-16-2012, 11:43 AM
    The Serpent Merchant
    Yes shipping cost like $45 and you have to buy like 6 months worth but...

    say you buy 100 weaned rats (30-44 grams) with shipping it will cost $135.74

    to buy those same 100 weaned rats at petco will cost $367

    I don't see how saving $231.26 isn't worth it.

    as I said before the money you save will buy you a second freezer just for them, cover the cost of shipping, and still leave you with more cash in your bank account at the end of the day.
  • 02-16-2012, 11:45 AM
    jdouglas
    Re: Eating Every Other Week
    Have you checked around your area for any local breeders? Or reptile shows? From what I have seen on this forum you can pick up bags of F/T from shows. And some local breeders are more than willing to sell a few bags of F/T.
  • 02-16-2012, 01:07 PM
    Slim
    Re: Eating Every Other Week
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by jdouglas View Post
    Or reptile shows? From what I have seen on this forum you can pick up bags of F/T from shows.

    :number1: This...

    ...and, young snakes are usually hard wired to eat as much as possible. At that stage in their lives, they aren't worried about finding a mate, it's all about eating and getting larger. It's Mother Nature's way of moving them up the food totem pole as quickly as possible.

    There are quite a few tricks for makeing F/T more attractive to your BP. Make sure the surface temp of the rat is around 95-98 degrees, and hit it with a hot hair dryer just prior to offering...gets the smell of the fur flying around, so to speak. Also, there's the old Zombie Dance method, and playing tug-o-war after the strike is always fun for both snake and owner...and seems to strenghten the feeding drive.

    My advise would be to keep offering on a 5-7 day schedule. Of course, if it turns out that she only eats every two weeks, it's still better than her not eating at all.
  • 02-16-2012, 01:23 PM
    Annarose15
    Re: Eating Every Other Week
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by fluffpuffgerbil View Post
    Sure, .89$ sounds cheap, but from what I saw, you have to buy so freaking much of them. I couldn't see a way to buy them for less than 50 or a 100(not sure, not been to that site in awhile). And shipping was bloody expensive too, due to the dry ice.

    Maybe I'll look around more, but if there's a way to buy less than 100(or 50), then that'd be great, and if the shipping wasn't so expensive, then it'd be nice to buy from there.

    But with only 1 snake, I don't completely see it worth it.

    Do you know anyone else in your area that would use frozen rats? My little brother only has one BP, so I add his order to mine and we split shipping. Yes, it costs him a little more per rat than if the entire order was his, but it's cheaper than ordering separately and MUCH cheaper than a chain petstore.
  • 02-16-2012, 07:27 PM
    fluffpuffgerbil
    Thanks for all the replies, the last reptile expo was just less than a month ago, and there's not another until August.

    I don't know how much my parents would like paying about 135$ for rats. XD Especially since money's sorta tight. I definitely can't afford to pay that either.

    There's no one else around here that has a snake, just me, sadly,
    I'll keep offering food to her every 7 days, see if she can snap out of it, and I'll try t oheat the food up more(she likes it about 88*F, but I can try warmer) and when I fed live, I awlays held the rat by the tail with the tongs, and I do the same now for for FT and wiggle it and sometiems that really gets her goin!

    But yeah...... a lot of money for those FT rats, but 6 months of not buying her any food... That would get me good for the next reptile expo, too.
  • 02-16-2012, 07:30 PM
    fluffpuffgerbil
    Looking at rodent pro, it looks liek I can buy 1 bag of small rats for like, 60$? (20$ then 40$ for shipping) or am I not looking at something correctly?


    <strike>Edit: Well, that still puts the total at about 4$ per rat, which is pretty much what I'm paying now.</strike>

    Edit edit: I'm an idiot, I didn't read your post right and see that we'd have to buy 100 rats for it to really be worht it. XD Doing the calculations, I see that 100 weaned rats shipped here would put the rats at 1.50$ a piece. ^^
  • 02-16-2012, 07:35 PM
    Annarose15
    Re: Eating Every Other Week
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by fluffpuffgerbil View Post
    Looking at rodent pro, it looks liek I can buy 1 bag of small rats for like, 60$? (20$ then 40$ for shipping) or am I not looking at something correctly?

    Sounds about right. I just got a 325-rat shipment from them, and was very satisfied. It was packed very well, and the rats were all frozen separately - not stuck together in the bag. The upside is, if you can find another herper locally, is that the shipping doesn't change as you fill up the box - so, five bags of smalls costs the same in shipping as one bag. You might want to try posting in the Sale/Wanted section of this forum to see if there is anyone else near you that could split a larger shipment with you, if $3/rat is still on the high side of what you want to pay.
  • 02-16-2012, 07:39 PM
    fluffpuffgerbil
    We actually have a reptile store about an 1hr-1.5 hrs away.

    I could call them up/email them to see their prices and weights on small rats there.
    They were cheaper than the petstore, that's all I know.


    I need to go weigh Kalli and see what size she needs(and it gives me an excuse to go to House of Reptiles and look at my main passion reptiles- Crested Geckos- there)
  • 02-16-2012, 09:11 PM
    Crazy4Herps
    Re: Eating Every Other Week
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by fluffpuffgerbil View Post
    But any major downside feeding 1x a month as opposed to every 5-7 days(besides the growth rate change)

    There is absolutely not. I strongly believe (and I am not alone in this) that less-frequent feeding is the healthiest option (keep in mind hatchlings do need 'growing food' though). Just because humans eat WAY more than we need to does not make it the right way to eat. I am so sick of people forcing our food mentality on pets (dogs especially). I have a friend whose 3-y-o ball python will only eat monthly, and she's one of the healthiest snakes I've seen.

    In general, I don't agree with specifying a certain feeding schedule that all snakes should follow. I think it's our responsibility as owners to learn to read them and their behaviors and designate appropriate conditions based on that. Weekly feedings for young ball pythons is a great place to start, but if Kallista is indicating that weekly feedings are not what she needs, then I think you should listen to her. All within reason of course, but at her age there is nothing wrong with feedings every 14 days.
  • 02-16-2012, 09:19 PM
    fluffpuffgerbil
    Thanks so much, Crazy4herps!

    It sounded like my friend's BP was really healthy too and she fed him 1x a month.
    I figured they don't need to eat every 7 days(kallista's just turned 7 months yesterday, she's at 520 grams as of today) considering they can go moths without eating.
    Kalli definitely doesn't seem to want to eat every week. And I'll completely believe this if she eats this next tuesday.

    It's nice to hear from someone who seems to be a little looser with their feeding habits.

    I know everyone on here is just trying to help, but occasionally I get the feeling like some people on here feel like their word is ball python law and it needs to be followed or your snake will fall dreadfully ill.

    Thanks again for the helpful post!:banana: (And thanks to everyone else on here also)
Powered by vBadvanced CMPS v4.2.1