out of hoppers

hey guys quick answer appreciated here cuz my ball has to eat in like an hour. hes on hoppers right now but the store said they are out because of the recent weather. i have two pinkies in my freezer however. the guy said more hoppers should come in on tuesday. my ball is underweight so i wanna do whats best. should i give him both pinkies tonight or wait until tuesday/next feeding time to give him a hopper?

I say both. If you're trying to bulk it up, then definitely feed it now and then again when they restock. Also, the store might sell out before you get there and then you made the snake wait for nothing

true.. but i feel like if i feed him now and tuesday i might be stuffing him

A mouse pinkie is practically a bag of water. Two mouse pinkies today with a hopper on Tuesday won't hurt him.

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Originally Posted by bcr229

A mouse pinkie is practically a bag of water. Two mouse pinkies today with a hopper on Tuesday won't hurt him.

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I've always thought of a pinkie as a living gummy bear

Do they have any rat fuzzies? A small one is pretty close to the size of a hopper. I made the change for that reason and a rat fuzzy is less likely to hurt my snake and easier for the snake to kill because they are slow and don't resist the inevitable

they did i actually bought one but it was way too big it was 22 grams and 15 percent of his body weight is 10 grams

I never weight the ones I was getting but I always picked the smallest pups they had and some were smaller than the hoppers, just with a bigger head.

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Originally Posted by pretzelpretzel

they did i actually bought one but it was way too big it was 22 grams and 15 percent of his body weight is 10 grams

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It's more important to match the food to the thickest part of the body and less important to go by weight

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Pinkies and hoppers are too small. Hatchlings eat hoppers out of the egg, usually on their first 3 meals or so.
This chart is an awesome guideline...https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...0b1781d339.jpg

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I know people will frown on it, but I ran out of rat pups and have been feeding my 6 month old hatchling 40 gram+ weaned rats, which are too big according to the chart.
He’s been scarfing them down no problem the last few weeks, but i am buying more rat pups tomorrow, because I can’t feed him giant meals forever without consequences!
It seems the majority of new snake owners are feeding their snakes prey that it is too small, and accidentally starving the little noodles.


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According to the chart he should be eating eat fuzzies, I started him in those, but he was never satisfied.


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Originally Posted by Godzilla78

I know people will frown on it, but I ran out of rat pups and have been feeding my 6 month old hatchling 40 gram+ weaned rats, which are too big according to the chart.
He’s been scarfing them down no problem the last few weeks, but i am buying more rat pups tomorrow, because I can’t feed him giant meals forever without consequences!
It seems the majority of new snake owners are feeding their snakes prey that it is too small, and accidentally starving the little noodles.


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Originally Posted by Godzilla78

According to the chart he should be eating eat fuzzies, I started him in those, but he was never satisfied.


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That's a great example of the chart being used as a general guideline. It's not set in stone, but a great starting point, especially for new keepers. I feel like new snake keepers are often surprised by the meals snakes can consume.

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Originally Posted by craigafrechette

That's a great example of the chart being used as a general guideline. It's not set in stone, but a great starting point, especially for new keepers. I feel like new snake keepers are often surprised by the meals snakes can consume.

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Thanks for that. I figured I’d get crucified here for confessing that I’ve fed my hatchling 25% of his body weight in a single meal.
I’m dropping back down to 15% from now on though, as I’d be really upset if he regurgitated or got a fatty liver.


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I feed my rosy boa every 5 days and large pinkies. If I don't feed on the 5 day mark he gets destructive and starts tearing things up. He is growing like a weed and already just about ready to upgrade to small fuzzies. I think young snakes can handle the little bit larger meals without issue. Of course every genus is different.

yes i know but my ball is only 63 grams so i don’t think he could handle a rat fuzzy or small mouse it would be too big

wait really? so i should be feeding him a fuzzy he’s only 60 grams lol

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Originally Posted by pretzelpretzel

wait really? so i should be feeding him a fuzzy he’s only 60 grams lol

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Yeah, pythons can eat huge meals. Did you read my posts? I fed my hatchling who is 188 grams, fully furred weaned rats that were 40-50 grams! This is extremely large meals, but I was making a point that most new people have no clue how large the rodents should be.
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...512d594365.jpg


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Don’t feed them this extremely large though, lol, better to stick to the chart. Or the 10-15% of body weight rule.


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https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...1c594d5d10.jpg
Another ridiculous large meal. Again, this is extreme and not recommended, but they don’t eat baby mice, they are pythons, they can eat huge stuff.


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https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...cfe1b76eb3.jpg
Btw, this hatchling is a killer piebald I named CHUCK NORRIS, as he can kill anything. Lol


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A tip of advice for the future.... :)
If you want to save tons of money buy your mice online in bulk. You will spend more upfront but will save hundreds of dollars a year or more depending on how many snakes you have. Even with a single bp, you will save upwards of $500 a year.


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