Buying first snake, a MBK and should be getting it shipped next week

Hi I am new to snakes and am getting a MBK hopefully next week, I have one on hold with an online seller and IIRC it was hatched around august 2019. It is a male and is listed at approx. 46 grams, I am unsure if that is an respectable weight for them at that age and was hoping for feedback if that sounds right. The person on the phone said they were still being fed a pinky a week and that when I get it I might want to start feeding it 2 a week and so I bought 80 frozen pinkies that should be arriving today. I have done some research and from what I've seen they should be at fuzzies at this point? I was wondering if given the fact that I have all these pinkies should I just swap the one I have on hold for on of the newer 2020 hatched MBKs they have at about 14-15 grams and go through my supply of pinkies then get fuzzies for when they are around the age of the one I have on hold. or is 45 grams healthy for 8 months and should feeding 2 pinkies a week be fine? Thanks!

Either way 80 pinkies are too many for 1 MBK. My Kingsnake was 19 grams when I got her and she only had 10 pinkies before moving up to fuzzies.
The thing with pinkies is that they don't have much nutritional value to your snake, even if you were to feed 4 at each meal. Better to move them up to fuzzies as soon as you can because fuzzies are better nutrition wise.

I would get the 2019 MBK and not feed him pinkies at all. I would feed 1 fuzzy at each meal.

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Originally Posted by RickyNY

Either way 80 pinkies are too many for 1 MBK. My Kingsnake was 19 grams when I got her and she only had 10 pinkies before moving up to fuzzies.
The thing with pinkies is that they don't have much nutritional value to your snake, even if you were to feed 4 at each meal. Better to move them up to fuzzies as soon as you can because fuzzies are better nutrition wise.

I would get the 2019 MBK and not feed him pinkies at all. I would feed 1 fuzzy at each meal.

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Agree 100%

Pinkies are primarily water since they're not developed yet. Unfortunately, unless you buy a few more hatchling/juvenile colubrids the vast majority (if not all) of those pinkies are going to be wasted.

Thanks for the feedback! so 45 grams is a healthy weight at that age?

also if they have been underfeeding him (maybe the person on the phone just misspoke?) will that impact his long term growth and size?

I think it's too late to cancel your order and most frozen feeders don't give returns unless the rodents came not frozen. This is a question you should've asked before you ordered, but it's too late now. Throw out the pinkies or sell them.

Don't worry about his weight. Breeders keep their babies small by feeding small prey item and longer intervals.
You on the other hand, will feed and appropriate size meal (Fuzzy mouse) every 5-7 days and he will put on more weight in no time.

OP doesn't necessarily have to toss the pinkies if he can't find someone local who wants them. It won't be long before his MBK will grow up to where it could eat a fuzzy + a pinky or two at every meal.

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Originally Posted by vivi

...Throw out the pinkies or sell them.

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I agree that this snake should probably be on fuzzies now, but I'd not waste the pinkies you're stuck with. I'd start this MBK on a few meals of 2-3 pinkies, then go to fuzzies.

After he eats the fuzzies a few times, add in a pinkie or 2 with his fuzzies... It will take a while, but I'd not just discard them...most king snakes are voracious eaters that won't turn down any "snacks". ;)

I did ask and they said to get pinkies, I made this post because my further research indicated they should be old enough for fuzzies. I wasn't talking about canceling the order of mice but swapping the mbk that I have on hold for one of the available younger ones that they have listed as it hasn't been shipped yet. I guess I will order fuzzies :sigh2:

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Originally Posted by RickyNY

Don't worry about his weight. Breeders keep their babies small by feeding small prey item and longer intervals.
You on the other hand, will feed and appropriate size meal (Fuzzy mouse) every 5-7 days and he will put on more weight in no time.

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why do breeders keep them small? does this not have an impact on long term growth?

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Originally Posted by erago

I did ask and they said to get pinkies, I made this post because my further research indicated they should be old enough for fuzzies. I wasn't talking about canceling the order of mice but swapping the mbk that I have on hold for one of the available younger ones that they have listed as it hasn't been shipped yet. I guess I will order fuzzies :sigh2:

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As already mentioned, this snake was fed on the light side, so he's probably not as big as he'd otherwise be & not quite up to fuzzies, though most king snakes won't be deterred.
To go easier on his gape & his stomach, I'd first feed some pinks in multiples, as already stated, unless you really want to switch the snakes...that's up to you. :confusd:
Usually less risk of issues, the older the snake is....ie. better (stronger) start in life.

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Originally Posted by erago

why do breeders keep them small? does this not have an impact on long term growth?

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Babies of all species are cute & appealing, plus they don't out-grow their smaller quarters, & their food costs less... For the most part, their growth will catch up ok...bear in mind that nearly ALL c/b snakes eat better than do their wild counter-parts, though personally I would never under-feed any snake in my care...but it's a rather common practice among those with commercial interests.

Wow, that's crazy! Does this affect the health long term? What's a normal size for a snake this age?

FYI, when I first got into snakes I can remember some sellers justifying the prices on various snakes by the cost of food that went into growing them to their current size-
the bigger they are, the greater the cost to recoup the seller's "investment".

But also, bear in mind that some hatchlings may just fail to survive for various internal imperfections that NO one can see or know about, so the longer that hatchlings are
raised prior to being sold, the less risk there is of some unforeseen death AND the stronger their overall health usually is...assuming they aren't coming from a breeder with a dirty & mite-infested facility. (The older hatchling is probably the better option.)

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Originally Posted by Bogertophis

FYI, when I first got into snakes I can remember some sellers justifying the prices on various snakes by the cost of food that went into growing them to their current size-
the bigger they are, the greater the cost to recoup the seller's "investment".

But also, bear in mind that some hatchlings may just fail to survive for various internal imperfections that NO one can see or know about, so the longer that hatchlings are
raised prior to being sold, the less risk there is of some unforeseen death AND the stronger their overall health usually is...assuming they aren't coming from a breeder with a dirty & mite-infested facility. (The older hatchling is probably the better option.)

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The breeder has like 98% positive reviews on morphmarket with about 50 reviews and the other is neutral because of communication in the year so I think the animals are kept at least healthy and yea my hesitation on switching was the fact that apparently the younger they are the more likely they wont make it so I think I will take the one from 2019 and just try to feed him well, thanks for all the insight. I will put an order in for fuzzies and give him a couple pinkies until he is big enough to comfortably able to handle fuzzies then after a little more growth maybe add some pinkies as a little add on. I guess if I have to throw some of them out when they sart getting old I will. better then feeding him poorly. Thanks again everyone for the feedback, any more feedback is welcome! Happy I joined the forum!