mmm, yummy fuzzy

so tonight was my first attempt at feeding nellie. when i got her they said that she was eating live pinkies, but i resolved to switch to f/t pretty much right away no matter what it took. i was all prepared to do the little mousey song and dance. so i lowered the fuzzy down into the cage and her tongue immediately started flicking. i BARELY moved the fuzzy, when BAM! it took her a while to figure out where its head was but she downed that little fuzzy with all kinds of enthusiasm. i am SO relieved. i hope this means i have a good little eater on my hands :D

Congratz on the feeding, :)
Tomorrows feeding day for my little beauty :)

Congrats on the first feeding! Its great when they take f/t isnt it?

Congrats! :D

right on! grats!

it's totally great! i feel like i should go out and celebrate or something :D

i think one of our snakes had a bit of trouble finding the head too when we did the f/t the first time. 1 time so far. odd thing is roswell actualy ate his head first for the first time i have ever seen. he likes the butt.

Hey, congrats! CBB are often easier to get on f/t than imports, which is another good reason to choose them. It's always a relief when they take to it easily.

I know how you feel, congrats!

i fed fuzzies for a while also but he can easly take down a hopper sized mouse. I told somebody on here i was feeding fuzzies and they said to just give him hoppers

i wasn't sure so the pet store where i got the mice told me to try fuzzies to start with but that she would probably move up to hoppers pretty quickly... she is five weeks old now, so should i just go ahead and give her a hopper at her next feeding?

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Originally Posted by mlededee

i wasn't sure so the pet store where i got the mice told me to try fuzzies to start with but that she would probably move up to hoppers pretty quickly... she is five weeks old now, so should i just go ahead and give her a hopper at her next feeding?

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As long as the prey is the correct size, go for it.

i would. if it doesnt look TOO big then it should be fine, how long is she ? i aksed about feeding frozen thawed fuzzies and people said that dont waste your time cuz fuzzies are irrelevant becuase when they are hatchlings they can take bigger than fuzzies, so i would try that, ever since i got rocky on hoppers and small adults i have notcied a little change in his growth. most fuzzies are just skin and bones hoppers have more meat and fat on em.

she is 17 inches long now. it seemed like the fuzzy i gave her was about the right size, comparing it's width to the width of her girth. i may go to the petstore and ask to see a hopper for size comparison and go from there.

She can definitely handle a hopper or juvenile, and could most likely take a small adult. Keep in mind, a rodent isn't nearly as thick when stretched out. I find the best way to see the real girth of a rodent is when it's inside your BP's neck. So, if your BP's neck with the prey item inside it is thinner than the thickest part of the BP, then I guess it's safe to say you can try feeding something bigger. Another way to determine good feeding size is by weight. Somewhere around 20% of a snake's weight is probably good.

Also, keep in mind that using the thickest part of your snake to equal the girth of the mouse is IDEAL sizing, not the limit. A BP can easily take something much bigger, so if it's just a bit bigger than the ideal size, it's nothing to worry about.

I was under the impression that BP's can take Hoppers right from birth o_O

For a comparison, my MBK eats Fuzzies and they are perfect size for her at the moment. Elysia is 9 months old and probably twice as skinny as your BP most likely is. I would think about giving a hopper the next time. Knowing the size of a fuzzy, I can't imagine giving a BP one as an appropriate meal, but thats just me.

when rocky takes a adult you can make out a litte lump in his widest part. its not huge but if you look close you can tell that he just had a meal.

ok, well i have two more fuzzies in the freezer for her but i don't want her to not be getting enough of a meal out of them. should i feed them both to her at the next feeding if she will take them or should i give them to her at closer intervals--like one tuesday and then another saturday--and then switch to the hoppers? i don't want to waste what i already have either when there is a perfectly hungry snake in the next room...

What you can do is, feed them to her 24-48 hours apart. I don't suggest multiple feedings at the same time cause it can be extremely stressfull for the snake I think. Wait till her next feeding, whatever day it might be, then feed her 1 fuzzy. Then 1 or 2 days later, go ahead and feed her the other one. This should be a sufficient meal for her, and it should give her enough time to properly digest the first mouse. If anyone else wants to "critique" this advice feel free to. I'm just saying what I've heard before here ^_^

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Originally Posted by Alkaurkharim

What you can do is, feed them to her 24-48 hours apart. I don't suggest multiple feedings at the same time cause it can be extremely stressfull for the snake I think. Wait till her next feeding, whatever day it might be, then feed her 1 fuzzy. Then 1 or 2 days later, go ahead and feed her the other one. This should be a sufficient meal for her, and it should give her enough time to properly digest the first mouse. If anyone else wants to "critique" this advice feel free to. I'm just saying what I've heard before here ^_^

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I would try not to feed two meals that close together, or even two prey items at the same time.

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Originally Posted by mlededee

she is 17 inches long now. it seemed like the fuzzy i gave her was about the right size, comparing it's width to the width of her girth. i may go to the petstore and ask to see a hopper for size comparison and go from there.

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If they are still a good size for her, feed them to her on the regular schedule. Then you can switch to another size if those are no longer big enough for her.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by mlededee

ok, well i have two more fuzzies in the freezer for her but i don't want her to not be getting enough of a meal out of them. should i feed them both to her at the next feeding if she will take them or should i give them to her at closer intervals--like one tuesday and then another saturday--and then switch to the hoppers? i don't want to waste what i already have either when there is a perfectly hungry snake in the next room...

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Sounds like a perfectly good idea to me... just as it's okay for a prey item to be a bit bigger than ideal, a bit smaller is perfectly fine too. You could just feed them according to your regular schedule, or perhaps a little bit sooner than usual.

Two at a time is fine too, in my personal opinion. Once the feeding response kicks in from the first fuzzy, she'll most likely take the 2nd one as well, especially if you offer it just as she's finishing the first one.

I wouldn't do the 1 day apart thing though; she will have only just finished or still be digesting and there's a chance she'll refuse the 2nd fuzzy.

thats great mlededee, i fed mine a couple days ago for the 1st time too! i do have a question though, the place i got my bp from said they were feeding it 1 pinky once a week and they said hes about three months old. i havent measured him really, but hes only about 12 inches. does this sound right??? should i think about feeding him something bigger or should i just stick with the pinky? thanks in advance for any advice :lol:
-jess

the more i think about it maybe they meant to say three weeks instead of months? i dont know, does like sound more like the right age for being 12 inches long?
-jess

Unless a ball python is significantly smaller than a normal hatchling or is very reluctant to eat but seems interested in pinkies, there is no reason to ever feed them a pinky. Just 12" would be a bit smaller than usual, but it's easy to underestimate a hatchling's length when not measuring them.

At any rate, Jess, if I were you I'd switch him over to hoppers or small adult mice. The size of the biggest-around part of the prey should approximately match the biggest-around part of the snake, with a little bigger or a little smaller also being okay.

after reading several other posts from first time snake keepers here on the site, i think that we just totally don't realize how big of a prey item our snakes can handle. like, i was feeling a little doubtful about whether nellie was going to be able to down the little pinky mouse or not when i fed her, and then i was pretty surprised by how quickly she did get it down once she found its head. it just doesn't look like something that size could fit down that slender little bp neck...another way in which nature is just truly amazing :mrgreen:

looks like I'm going to have to bust this picture out again.....

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/...1/f81bcdf3.jpg

any questions?

yeah see now that is borderline freaking me out :shock: i have much to learn 8)

Yeah, I took that picture the first time I offered Amber a rat. It was a small rat, but the largest prey item she's even coem across. It was probably exactly equal to her largest point of girth, and she had no problems whatsoever getting it down.

Very impresive picture Brad.

I remember a while back I fed Jojo medium sized rat because they gave me the wrong size (which I was reamed for BTW) anyway, its amazing much their skin can stretch. Nature designed them to take wider prey animals hence the wide head and the articulating jaws. Now that jojo is larger he takes small rats like nobody's business. he has it constricted and swallowed in at least 15 minutes.

In my experience, all the ball pythons I ever had were never interested in a pinky who knows why maybe its because they have no fur thus they dont have that "mouse" smell to them. I usually get a stubborn baby ball to eat with a live fuzzy mouse then a fresh killed hopper and go from there.

God I love these snakes.