Feeding Too Much?

I feed my snakes every Wed. and Sat. The python is eating 1 adult mouse; the corn snakes eat pinkies. Dilyn is older and bigger than baby Calypso, Dilyn gets 2 pinkies (because a fuzzy looks too big). Calypso gets 1 pinky because she's a little bitty thing.

They each get their amounts each Wed. and Sat. Is this too much? I don't want to overfeed; however, I don't want to under feed either.


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I cant talk about the cornsnake but the BP doesnt need to eat so often. Depends on the size but 5-7 days is a good feeding schedule. I use the "eyeball" test to pick food items. I look at the widest part of the snake and match that with the hips of the feeder. Thats the way I do it. Others may do it differently.

Yeah the other guideline is feed every 5-7 days until adult 10-15% body weight of snake :) You're not doing wrong, specially BP will refuse to eat if not hungry or not at will :P No clue about cornsnake tho.

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Originally Posted by Gerardo

I cant talk about the cornsnake but the BP doesnt need to eat so often. Depends on the size but 5-7 days is a good feeding schedule. I use the "eyeball" test to pick food items. I look at the widest part of the snake and match that with the hips of the feeder. Thats the way I do it. Others may do it differently.

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U know what I started doing is feeding a little smaller but more often and ive seen my girls putting up weight like crazy one jumped from 600 to close to 800 in about a month and I also got her eating live more ...

What Gerard said about the BPs.

Your corns are getting 4 pinkies and 2 pinkies/week respectively? Is that correct? That doesn't sound like overfeeding at all. You could probably offer more to see if they'll eat it to find out how they may progress to a larger size or quantity.

I think the 10-15% rule is for hatchling (not 100% sure) Ive never weighed the rodents. At first I was freaked out all the time about the right size food but after you have more experience you learn to just look at the rodent and know what is a good size. I havnt tried feeding smaller more often but like I said there is more than one way to do it. If it works for you then go for it.

10-15% rule goes for hatchling and also somewhat sub adults ;) there was no specification to the post what size, weight and age are snakes at.

I think ball pythons and corns vary here.
I have both, and I feed my young ball every 6 days, at 10-15% body weight right now (as mentioned above).
Young corns can be fed every 5-7 days, but I don't think either should be fed more often than every 5 days. If it is easier for you to feed on a regimented schedule weekly, then go ahead and feed them once on the same day every week. Probably better than feeding twice in the same week!

Here is a helpful guide for corns:
http://medusa-corns.webs.com/feedingchart.htm

It can be seen as somewhat of an aggresive feeding plan. I follow it pretty closely, or somewhat on the lower end. If you are feeding more than the chart though, I would cut back to at least what the chart suggests.

Best of luck :)

I wouldn't worry too much about overfeeding a ball. They will not generally over eat on there own. Force feeding or adding a second item while they are swallowing the first is totally different and shouldn't be done, but if they are eating it on their own you are ok.

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Originally Posted by Jay Mechtly

I wouldn't worry too much about overfeeding a ball. They will not generally over eat on there own. Force feeding or adding a second item while they are swallowing the first is totally different and shouldn't be done, but if they are eating it on their own you are ok.

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You may not want to keep it up for too long though. Sounds a bit like power feeding to me :confusd:
But it is different for corn snakes. They will get fat. It sounds funny (and it kind of is... :oops:) but it's not healthy! I don't think OP is in danger of that now, but for the future when they're closer to adulthood.

Thanks, everyone! Rizzo and Dilyn are 1 yr. old, with Riz weighing in at 409g and Dilyn weighing in at 50g. Calypso is only a few months old. I haven't been able to obtain her weight yet; she a wiggly sucker. lol

I'll start feeding Rizzo only once a week then, and keep the cornies as-is, unless I see they're getting fat.

I'm definitely NOT power feeding, as I've heard it does more harm than good. For Dilyn, (she's the only one who gets 2 pinkies at a feeding), I wait until the first one is completely down, let her take a drink if she wants, then I feed her the second pinky.


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I feed my BP every 5-7 days, plan on doing the same for my other one i just got... I find she is very happy with the schedule, if she isn't hungry she just won't be interested So i wait for the next feeding cycle. Which has only happened twice.

Cant speak for the corn however..


Shifty

I've never had them turn down a meal. But what do I do with the mouse if one of the snakes declines? Just keep it in a ziplock in the fridge, or throw it outside, where a wild animal can have a free meal?

I am not sure how many times you can thaw it and freeze it again. But healthy BPs usually dont refuse until they are about twice that size. Unless its already a piccky eater which is not the case with you.

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Originally Posted by Gerardo

I am not sure how many times you can thaw it and freeze it again. But healthy BPs usually dont refuse until they are about twice that size. Unless its already a piccky eater which is not the case with you.

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My bp is only 200 grams and he refuses anything that is above a small mouse he won't eat medium or adult i have gotten him 2 times to eat mediums , he struck at a rat pup and spit it out he has some weird eating habits … i think he is scared of the bigger rodents, even tho they are still smaller then him in width, my new girl selene was on live mice the day after i got her i gave her a f/t rat pup gone in a second then i gave her another she eat them both she is the same weight as my other.. she is awesome eater and so was he when he was 100g now a few weeks later he can eat bigger and won't and sometimes he will strike miss and get discouraged and not strike again

NEVER refreeze a thawed mouse or rat! Throw it out if it is refused. Think of it like our own food... we don't thaw and refreeze chicken (unless it's cooked maybe, but I digress).
Wasting one is not worth the health risk to your animals. I can't remember the specifics, but something to do with it starting to decay, and the bacteria inside... Maybe someone with more bio knowledge can jump in but definitely DO NOT reuse that mouse!

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Originally Posted by NH93

NEVER refreeze a thawed mouse or rat! Throw it out if it is refused. Think of it like our own food... we don't thaw and refreeze chicken (unless it's cooked maybe, but I digress).
Wasting one is not worth the health risk to your animals. I can't remember the specifics, but something to do with it starting to decay, and the bacteria inside... Maybe someone with more bio knowledge can jump in but definitely DO NOT reuse that mouse!

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I will just toss it outside so a wild animal can eat it then. Thanks!



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I feed mine every 5 days, but I have a friend that has been keeping and breeding balls for 20yrs and he feeds his snakes every 3 days to get them up to weight and all his snakes are perfectly fine,healthy and always ready to eat. So anything around that range is totally fine.


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