Help? I fed my BP a F/T Rat for the first time, too big?

My BP is about 1 yrs old, I've been feeding her small mice and i figured they are way too small for her as she isn't even growing much over the last 6 months i've had her. Gave a small rat a try, and she just finished eating it but had a bit of trouble finding the head to start eating lol. Not sure if it's too big but heres a pic. And also, I have Eco-Earth in her tank, does it hurt for her to be swallowing some of it because it's hard to keep it from sticking to the rat

edit: she's about 200g in weight

http://i398.photobucket.com/albums/p...2/IMG_0700.jpg[

bump:confusd:

Looks fine to me. If she was able to swallow it with no problem the she shoulf be ok

Can't tell how big the rat really is, but it looks pretty big for her. How many grams was the rat?

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Originally Posted by Tunechi

Can't tell how big the rat really is, but it looks pretty big for her. How many grams was the rat?

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Yeah i guess it was a little bit big, but there's really no in between a small mouse and a small rat in my area, all I have is petco. I bought 3 in a pack, 40G each

are you sure about that weight? if so, at a year old, I think she has been significantly underfed for a long time. From the pic, the rat does not seem to large to me but I will let others chime in on that. I'm not sure about eco earth but I'm sure a little sticking to the rat won't bother her much, they do eat in various environmental conditions in the wild.

I don't know where you got the info to feed you bp small mice from but you should check the forum for more info on feeder size by age.

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Originally Posted by tomjones456

Yeah i guess it was a little bit big, but there's really no in between a small mouse and a small rat in my area, all I have is petco. I bought 3 in a pack, 40G each

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For a growing bp I usually go 10-15% of their body weight, so at 200g the most id feed is 30 grams but I'm sure she'll be just fine. As said above a year old being that small May be better she's getting it.

If she took it, I personally wouldn't worry too much.
Eco Earth is a very natural substrate, more dirt like in texture, I wouldn't worry about a little ingested. I had mine on Eco Earth when she was in a tank and I fed in the enclosure all the time. They eat dirt and such in the wild.
She has definitely been underfed but consistent correct meals will have her catch up in no time.

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Originally Posted by tomjones456

My BP is about 1 yrs old, I've been feeding her small mice and i figured they are way too small for her as she isn't even growing much over the last 6 months i've had her. Gave a small rat a try, and she just finished eating it but had a bit of trouble finding the head to start eating lol. Not sure if it's too big but heres a pic. And also, I have Eco-Earth in her tank, does it hurt for her to be swallowing some of it because it's hard to keep it from sticking to the rat

edit: she's about 200g in weight

http://i398.photobucket.com/albums/p...2/IMG_0700.jpg[

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You might want to go a touch smaller, but I don't think this was too bad. Give her an extra day or so to digest it.

As someone else said, you're generally aiming for something around 10% to 15% of their weight. If you go outside of that within reason you'll be good, though.

200g is kinda small for her age. That's about rat pup territory, so you might want to start getting her some rat pups and feeding her every 5 days. She'll catch up in size in no time.

They can ingest some eco earth without problem. They can digest bone, nails and fur, so a little dirt or earth or whatever isn't really gonna do much.

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Originally Posted by Tunechi

For a growing bp I usually go 10-15% of their body weight, so at 200g the most id feed is 30 grams but I'm sure she'll be just fine. As said above a year old being that small May be better she's getting it.

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is she too small for her age :( how often should I be feeding her these rats? I've been feeding her a small mouse a week but i feel real bad cuz it seems like I haven't been feeding her big enough meals

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Originally Posted by Crazymonkee

If she took it, I personally wouldn't worry too much.
Eco Earth is a very natural substrate, more dirt like in texture, I wouldn't worry about a little ingested. I had mine on Eco Earth when she was in a tank and I fed in the enclosure all the time. They eat dirt and such in the wild.
She has definitely been underfed but consistent correct meals will have her catch up in no time.

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Will she be ok that i've been underfeeding her? A small rat every week ok or should I feed her more often than 7 days

She,ll be fine. :) I don't use the 10-15% rule, I go by the widest part of my snake and they prey should be equal to or a little bigger.
It should leave a small noticeable lump when in the stomach.
If you can't get anything smaller than the small rat... I'd stick to every 7 days

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It's hard to tell in that pic but she doesn't look skinny, just small, hence she looks fine. Not that you should ever compare, but my year old female is just over 700 grams and eating medium rats. I feed her weekly and generally stick to the 10-15% method.

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Originally Posted by Crazymonkee

She,ll be fine. :) I don't use the 10-15% rule, I go by the widest part of my snake and they prey should be equal to or a little bigger.
It should leave a small noticeable lump when in the stomach.
If you can't get anything smaller than the small rat... I'd stick to every 7 days

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lol thanks ill feed her every 7 days then. I wonder how long it will take for her to get noticeably bigger in size? this sure is a huge step up for her from mice

Another thing you might want to do is feed outside the enclosure. I don`t feed mine in the tank. I always remove them. That way they don`t think you have food everytime you open the tank.

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Originally Posted by blk02ssmonte

Another thing you might want to do is feed outside the enclosure. I don`t feed mine in the tank. I always remove them. That way they don`t think you have food everytime you open the tank.

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I disagree: it's totally fine to feed in the enclosure. My snakes (even the food crazy boas, short tails, and retics) know when it's food time vs handle time and they're all fed in the enclosure/tub.

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Originally Posted by blk02ssmonte

Another thing you might want to do is feed outside the enclosure. I don`t feed mine in the tank. I always remove them. That way they don`t think you have food everytime you open the tank.

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I tried that a couple weeks ago, but she didn't want to eat. I guess she's used to eating in the tank, but she hasn't bit me yet :cool:

She looks fine. You'll notice a significant growth spurt now that she's on rats.

Feed in the enclosure for all the reasons Daybreaker said. Not to mention, you have a higher chance at getting bitten when you try to handle a snake still in feeding mode.
Plus some ball pythons are not comfortable enough to eat out of their enclosure any way.

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Originally Posted by satomi325

She looks fine. You'll notice a significant growth spurt now that she's on rats.

Feed in the enclosure for all the reasons Daybreaker said. Not to mention, you have a higher chance at getting bitten when you try to handle a snake still in feeding mode.
Plus some ball pythons are not comfortable enough to eat out of their enclosure any way.

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how big of a growth spurt? i'm guessing she's gonna grow alot, i mean since i've got her she's only been on mice and she's already 1 year and 2 months old. Small rat might be 3-5x the size of what I was feeding her honestly

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Originally Posted by blk02ssmonte

Another thing you might want to do is feed outside the enclosure. I don`t feed mine in the tank. I always remove them. That way they don`t think you have food everytime you open the tank.

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Makes NO difference.

tomjones456, she looks fine but yes you have been under feeding her. Give her time and she will start growing. My general rule is that of the poo, I keep track of who ate what and how many. If there is a large poo then that is food going to waste so if they ate 2 or 3 of something then I cut it back to 1 or 2 on the next feeding.

I have heard of some people deviating from the 10-15% rule and feeding 20%. She has eaten it so I wouldn't be concerned. There is every chance she may have refused it if it was too big and as she has taken it I would say you're doing just fine! I have my little het gs who has hit 200g recently on rat fuzzies (in the UK it goes pinks, pups, fuzzies, small weanlings etc etc)

Don't be concerned about slow growth, as long as she is eating regularly and gaining weight I don't think you have to worry, switching to rats was a good idea and you may see an increase in her from this as rats provide better nutrition due to the fat content. I have my spider (107g) on small mice and I'll be switching him to rats soon :)

I feed all 8 of mine in their enclosures - well I feed all 6, the most recent two haven't yet had a feed from me but they too will be getting fed in their respective tubs. I handle them so they haven't had a chance to decide that the only time I come in is to feed them. I believe "cage aggression" from feeding in an enclosure to be a myth personally.

You're doing just fine with your BP :)

I must say she looks bigger than 200g and if she managed to eat it I wouldn't worry. Maybe next time provide her a bit smaller :P

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Originally Posted by blk02ssmonte

Another thing you might want to do is feed outside the enclosure. I don`t feed mine in the tank. I always remove them. That way they don`t think you have food everytime you open the tank.

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I never had a problem with feeding in enclosure and snake mistaking me for food ;) It seems they know when it's feeding time or handling time :)

Feeding in the enclosure is not going to make it cage aggressive, I feed in the enclosure and have no issues. They know when feeding is, and I take the prey in for about half hour before I feed to scent the room.


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