Feeding mice that are too big?

Okay so I recently went to a reptile convention and purchased f/t feeders for my albino cinnamon. The guy selling feeders ran out of adult mice and said if she’s big enough I could go for the jumbos. I miscalculated her girth and hadn’t weighed her since three meals ago. I fed her and it took her about 5 min to fully pass through her mouth/throat. I noticed it’s bigger than her size and I was wondering if there’d be any issues. Should I buy a smaller size for her or continuing feeding jumbos to her?

Here’s a picture after she ate for visuals:

(the hide on top of the black hide is just used for weight since she has a habit of moving it off the heat tape)
https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach..._D1_E927_D.jpg

My .02 would be to go back down a size. She looks really plump from that mouse. But I'm not really up on BP's, I'm only into Retic's and Bloods at the moment.

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Originally Posted by Stout76

My .02 would be to go back down a size. She looks really plump from that mouse. But I'm not really up on BP's, I'm only into Retic's and Bloods at the moment.

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Yeah I just read how this guy made the mistake of feeding his snake two meals that were too big for him and it regurgitated and died. :( Worst case scenerio and I hope she’s able to fully digest the big guy with no issues. I’ll definitely be going down a size after reading up on such heartbreaking experiences with feeding larger meals. :sigh2:

I've fed Pylox one size bigger out of desperation before, and it didn't have any side effects. Not sure about the proportions but your snake and the jumbo mousr look about the same size when I fed it to Pylox. All I did was skip a meal the next week to let her fully digest, then I just continued feeding normally, so maybe you could try that. Not sure if this will work but I hope it helped in some way!

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Originally Posted by Tonald Drump

I've fed Pylox one size bigger out of desperation before, and it didn't have any side effects. Not sure about the proportions but your snake and the jumbo mousr look about the same size when I fed it to Pylox. All I did was skip a meal the next week to let her fully digest, then I just continued feeding normally, so maybe you could try that. Not sure if this will work but I hope it helped in some way!

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That made me less worried! :) I was planning on skipping out on feeding her next week anyways, since I’ll be going out of state for a bit towards the end of this month. She usually poops sometime within the week before her next meal so I’ll definitely be keeping an eye out.

I would give her extra time to digest since this meal was larger than usual.

What's her weight and what is the weight of the prey?

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Originally Posted by craigafrechette

I would give her extra time to digest since this meal was larger than usual.

What's her weight and what is the weight of the prey?

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Yeah I planned on skipping next week’s feeding. Last time I weighed her was some time last month. She was around 200 grams. I’m not sure about the mouse though, I just knew it was a jumbo. I honestly didn’t think it looked much bigger than her until after she went for it.

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Originally Posted by Hannie

Yeah I planned on skipping next week’s feeding. Last time I weighed her was some time last month. She was around 200 grams. I’m not sure about the mouse though, I just knew it was a jumbo. I honestly didn’t think it looked much bigger than her until after she went for it.

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Ok, try to get a weight of both when you can. The "widest part of the body" rule of thumb can be double checked with the "10-15% body weight" rule.

hi OP! i haven't seen any other posts by you except this one, and you've already gotten good advice, so i just wanted to say welcome to the forum! :)

Yes, welcome! :) You should also know that "jumbo" mice are older retired breeders, higher in fat & not all that great to feed long-term. If I were you,
I'd get some regular size mice, and hold off feeding more jumbos for a while, then alternate them with regular mice. We've probably ALL made the same
"mistake" at some point, feeding a rodent that's bigger than we should have fed...usually the snake gets the job of digesting done, but don't handle for a
while, & don't rush for the next feeding.

Most snakes are more forgiving about prey size than most people realize, everyone tends to boil it all down to an exact science but in the end it's really simple. Pythons in general can eat some rather surprising meals, and in the wild nobody weighs or measures their prey for them, so they eat whatever they are lucky enough to catch. As long as you wait a few extra days between feedings and your temps are warm enough, prey that is a bit bigger than the norm is fine on occasion.

Gorgeous critter Hannie. If your BP is 200g then a 40g jumbo mouse is a large meal but not too big at all. I've fed jumbo mice to 125g carpet pythons with no issues whatsoever. I'd just wait 10-14 days before feeding her again.

He’ll be fine, just lengthen the interval for your next feeding and feed a slightly smaller item, he’ll be ready for the jumbos soon.We’ve all been there, this guy is a little over 300g’s and this was a small rathttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...45d8cca1f1.jpg


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Remember that a ball python, left to its own devices, is an opportunistic feeder. This means they will take what they can get, when they can get it. They don't have a scale or weight chart out there in the bush. Large pythons take down antelope and boars, etc., and while they may have to sit there in a vulnerable state to digest, it doesn't stop them from eating a large prey item. I would say you can continue to feed her the jumbos just as long as you increase the time between feedings. If the jumbo mouse is 50% bigger than what you would normally feed and you feed once a week, just stretch it out to once every 10 to 12 days. What will likely happen is she will grow pretty quickly with the extra nutrients and as she does, every meal will be less disproportionate. Soon it will be an appropriate size meal anyways.