Feeding amount

Will feeding amount affect the length? I used to give my bp two mice every second week but recently he starts searching for more so I feel like giving him 3 every second week. Any advice on how to sort out proper amount? He is 5 years old an 110 cm

10%-15% of your balls weight is what some go by (including myself) in terms or prey. Some also go by just a visual and feed prey based on the largest part of the snakes body.

I think the appropriate sized prey will affect weight more than length but I don't have expertise on weight verse length, based on the size of prey.

I would think length would not really be effected, to me a snake underfed would have the same approximate length as one that was properly fed just the weight would be the main difference.

Again I do not gave the expertise with this question so please take this feedback with a grain of salt. Hopefully someone with more knowledge can chime in.


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Thank you...I fear to feed him the size of his widest part. I think there is something wrong with his jaw. It seems like it interlocks the wrong way but I dont have the expertize to know for sure

Does the jaw look normal when closed? What does the ball do that draws you to this conclusion?

If there is a true concern a vet might not be a bad idea just to have the expert advise based on the professional opinion from someone that can physically examine the snake.

The good thing to me at least is the ball, based on measurements, is about 3 1/2 foot in length, jaw has been working good for this long it should be able to handle the appropriate size prey ok. :)

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Time to switch to rats, if you can. One small rat every 10 days, perhaps?

Martin. He can close his mouth normally but sometimes while he is eating it just looks like there is something wrong. I have no reference, maybe I should youtube it.

Dav: Thank you. I am just curious. What makes you say that?

A small rat seems like a more appropriately sized meal for a snake like the one you have.

I just eyeball it but one time I tried to feed a larger rat to one of my bigger girls and I feed live. I learned a valuable lesson bigger rats are more aggressive and I had to thump the rat on the head because it was biting and putting up a hell of a fight. Smaller is better.

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Ya switch to rats no wider then the widest part of his body...or increase the mice feeding to every 5 days. As for the jaw thing? I don't know until I see, but the jaws all work independent of each other so when they unhinge it can look like there is something wrong. If he's been doing it this long I'm sure he is fine.

An adult you can feed a bit less than 10% they slow down growing when they reach adult status. The real question is how heavy is he? They don't just become adults like most things do when they are X years old. It is almost always about weights. Usually a male I would consider an adult in the 1000+ range. Females in the 1600gm + range. Adult being able to breed consistently there are always exceptions just this is my general guid line.

Thank you all.

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Originally Posted by kitedemon

An adult you can feed a bit less than 10% they slow down growing when they reach adult status. The real question is how heavy is he? They don't just become adults like most things do when they are X years old. It is almost always about weights. Usually a male I would consider an adult in the 1000+ range. Females in the 1600gm + range. Adult being able to breed consistently there are always exceptions just this is my general guid line.

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10% of what? I dont know how much he weighs. I havn't got a scale yet. I thought about breeding my own mice and maybe increade the rate to every 5th day as one suggested. Does that make sence?

Yes of weight, yes it does, it is hard to feed an adult snake enough mice. My adult males are averaging 1600gm the biggest mice I can get are in the 35gm area a full meal would be 4-5 per feeding I usually feed adults lighter than this but still 7% per week so that is still 3-4 extra jumbo mice.

I have a suspicion that you male is quite small for his age, that is just a guess on my part.

Ive heard that feeding multiple mice can affect their digestion. Is there truth to that? I feed like 580 gram male a small rat every saturday.

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Originally Posted by kitedemon

Yes of weight, yes it does, it is hard to feed an adult snake enough mice. My adult males are averaging 1600gm the biggest mice I can get are in the 35gm area a full meal would be 4-5 per feeding I usually feed adults lighter than this but still 7% per week so that is still 3-4 extra jumbo mice.

I have a suspicion that you male is quite small for his age, that is just a guess on my part.

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I will borrow a scale tommorow and weigh him and get back to you

The times he had a larger mouse he had quite a struggle to put him into right position for squuezing him down.