Feeding Question?

I dont know the exact age of my BP,but he is young Appx. 2ft fully stretched out. I have benn feeding him 2 fuzzies every 7 days. He has gotten a little bigger since i bought him and seems very healthy and satisfied. Should i be feeding him more or is that enough? he doesn't seem big enough to take a small mouse. Whats everyone's opinion on this?

2 feet? That's 24 inches. Imo, he should be on adult mice at that stage, because it's recommended that by 28 inches, he should be on small rats. Of course, it all depends on the particular snake, but you would really be surprised at what they could put in their mouths.

how do you go about feeding your bp 2 fuzzies?

do you feed him one, let him take it in for a while...then give him a second serving?

If that is what you do, typically how long do you wait before seconds?

I wait about about 5min for the second one.

If you can get your bp on just one prey item, i would definitely suggest you do so. It is better for them in the long run. One correctly sized prey is better for the digestive tract and when he/she gets bigger one rat is better for them, nutrition wise, than multiple mice.

Our BP is 37" and 1 year and 4 months old...she/he (thought/proven) eats live mice..depending on size, from 2 to 5 at a time..we raise our own. Lucy was 17 inches when we got him and has also eaten rat pups, but not anything bigger. He seems great, looks great, sheds great, and eats only about once a month now, down from the every 2 week frequency in the spring.

he is actually 16 1/2 to 17 inches long fully extended (not 2ft.....sorry)
is he big enough for an adult mouse?

seems to be a little guy,,, when Lucy was that small he ate about 3 fuzzies, one right after the other, live, every 5 to 8 days

DiverDown .. just make sure that the mouse just as big, or just a very tiny bit bigger or smaller than his girth and you're good to go. If its too big, then you're bp either wont take it or could regurge it. If its too small it wont make much of a meal. Make sure you get to pick out your mouse personally. Do you feed live, pre-killed, or f/t?

The general guideline is to feed prey slightly smaller than the thickest part of your snake. My buddy is about year and three quarters/ two years old and feeds on small rats... I would say look at the thickness of the mouse and just be sure that it is slightly smaller than the thickest part of your snake. Feeding one prey item rather than two is a good idea because digesting two mice is much harder on the digestive tract than digesting one. Glad to hear that your BP is a good feeder though :)

I feed him f/t. The problem is the fuzzies are just a bit smaller the tut's girth which is why i give him 2, but the adult mice are a bit bigger than him. I quess im in the "bad mouse size" age.

i would give him one that is a bit bigger, im sure he can handle it as long as it isnt to huuge

My baby is about the same size as yours. She's 3 months old tommorrow, and already on adult mice. She's been eating adults since early August. I wasn't sure how big an adult mouse was, so when I went and got a few frozen mice from the petstore, I asked for smallish adult mice. I ended up getting hoppers/weanlings. They were a bit smaller than my Pelota's girth, so I gave her two for that feeding time. Right after that, she put on some girth, so now I'm hoping to get my hands on an adult mouse for this friday. Then after that's done, hopefully next week I can find some rat pups(if I can get a ride to windsor and find a petstore that carries them), and she'll be growing like a weed.

So anyway, if you ask me, I'm sure your baby can take an adult mouse. They're really not as big as I thought(I hear adult mouse and expect something big I guess..but they're tiny) and as long as they're the same size, or a bit bigger than the girth of your bp, it'll go down fine.

Ok here's another feeding question:

I would like to keep my bp healthy, yet not have him grow so fast. So what would you recommend for me to feed him properly, yet not over do it? And approx. how fast do they grow to full size?

I dunno..I would say just regular feedings of appropriate sized meals would be a normal healthy growth. And it's not always the same, but usually around 3 years old they're full grown. They'll still put on a little girth, but I think length-wise, they're full grown by then.

It would be safe to only feed every 10-14 days. There's a breeder up here that only feeds his bp's once every two months after the initial 3 meals, normals and spiders alike. He believes this is the key to ensuring a good eater, by imprinting the sensation of hunger in their primitive brains. I got some of my females from him, and I have to say they all literally eat like boas. Now, I wouldn't go as extreme as two months, but your BP wouldn't be any worse for wear if you only fed it every 2 weeks. In fact, limiting caloric intake may even prolong its life.

Def feed regularly - one appropriate sized rodent - as they'll only max out at 5 feet or so you really don't have much to worry about size wise. Anything you'd do to try and restrict growth through diet could only be detrimental IMO - just flies in the face off nutrition.