Should I feed her every 5 days or every 7?
I've been doing some reading on how often to feed BP's and I'm a bit confused. My BP Nala is 8 months old and as of this morning weighs 398 grams. I know from what I've been reading that they grow at different rates, but I was wondering if this is about normal for her age? I've been feeding her every seven days, but I was wondering if I should feed every five instead? She's eating weaned rats that average about 35 grams in weight. I got her in April and she weighed 167 grams then, so she's growing steadily. Should I stick to weekly feedings, or feed every 5 days? I don't want to overfeed her, but I don't want to underfeed her either, as she's young and growing. Any help would be appreciated!
Re: Should I feed her every 5 days or every 7?
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Originally Posted by
Daybreaker
I feed my smaller ones every 5 days, but IMO if you don't have any plans on breeding her in the near future 7 days is just fine.
I agree.... But I think she is still just a wee bit underweight for being 8 months old, but then again I had one that was 350g at 16 months but she is now 900g at 2 years old (still a bit small for her age) so . . . it really does differ from snake to snake and it depends on feeding routine and purposes... I think you could bump the meal size up to about 50g....
Re: Should I feed her every 5 days or every 7?
x2 She's on the border where weaned rats are a little on the small side, but the larger end of the "small" range is too big. I would have been feeding her every 5 days up until ~500g, but she's so close now that there doesn't seem to be much sense in bumping her frequency up just to drop back down in a month.
Re: Should I feed her every 5 days or every 7?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Andybill
I agree.... But I think she is still just a wee bit underweight for being 8 months old
I think you could bump the meal size up to about 50g....
I agree. I have an 8 month old female pastel that is just under 800 grams and most of our females hit at least 1,000g by their first birthdays. I think you should bump up her prey size a bit or at least feed on a 4/5 day schedule if you're going to be feeding smaller than normal meals.
Re: Should I feed her every 5 days or every 7?
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Originally Posted by
SnakeLuvnGirl
Thank you! I think I'm going to feed her every 5 days for now until I use up my bag of weaned rats--then I'll order a bag of smalls. Thanks so much for the advice!! You guys rock!!
Good deal. No need to waste them. :gj:
Re: Should I feed her every 5 days or every 7?
I feed snakes under 500 grams every 4 days. Once they go over 500 grams, I move them to a 7 day feeding schedule.
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Originally Posted by
AEnimaDrummer98
I feed my snakes every 10 days. Thought?
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It depends on the size of the meals you're feeding and if you plan on breeding. Are your snakes in good body condition? Have nice muscle tone?
Re: Should I feed her every 5 days or every 7?
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Originally Posted by
MrLang
I feed every 5 - 7. They all start poking their noses out of their hides when they're ready. When at least 3/5 are sniffing around, they get fed
I also follow this. I try to read my snake's behavior and let him tell me when he's ready. Which just happens to be about every 5 days. :)
Quote:
Originally Posted by
SnakeLuvnGirl
Thanks for the replies! She's popping her head out of her warm side hide every time I walk by--so I'm guessing she's hungry again.?
I would say yes. My snake has terra cotta pots for hideys so the opening is in the top... about 3 days after feeding, he'll rest just his head on the top of the pot. By the time the 5 day comes by, he has about half of his body on top of it and is sitting stock still is the S strike pose. So, when I drop the food in there, he's ready to go and it's gone immediately. They give off pretty good body language in my experience. ;)
