Proper size meal

I'm looking for some advice, My boy is 215g, he's still a baby. He's eating well, but I'm worried his meals are too small. He's eating rat fuzzy's, but I'm not seeing a bulge. I haven't tried to change him to frozen, I'm trying to get him established. Then I will change from live to frozen. When is the best time to go up a size, or should I got to 2 times a week with smaller food?

I wouldn't feed any closer than every 5-7 days, they need time to digest, otherwise you risk seeing the meal again, in the form of a regurgitation.

And did you miss this? > > > it's the 5th "sticky" from the top, under "BP husbandry":

By this chart, you'd want to be feeding him either a rat pup (20-29 grams) or an adult mouse (18-32 grams).

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...%2F98qfzDH.png

Now obviously snakes in the wild don't follow charts, & some variation isn't going to hurt anything. For example, if you feed a slightly larger than usual meal, you might give a few extra days before the next meal, etc. A rat fuzzy is a bit small for him now, so if he's hungry, & you have more of this size to "use up", I'd feed him every 5 days- they should be digested pretty easily, & feeding smaller but closer together is less apt to cause a problem than trying to feed 2 of them together & causing trouble digesting for him. Snakes don't eat on schedules in the wild either- they eat when they find food, when they can.

I didn't see that, but thank you for posting this. I'll be honest, my time has been short, so I should have done more research before posting, thank you for giving a newbie a break. I'm just trying to do my best for my boy. Today was the first time he tried to strike me. I saw he was anxious, so I was cautious. Once I picked him up he was good. I'm thinking I spooked him, which I understand, He's a whopping 18" and I'm over 6 feet tall. I know he's in an unusual size so I'm trying to make sure he's taken care of.

Snakes seldom identify us visually- when we approach them (especially without giving them other cues, like our scent or touch), they're trying to decide "predator? or prey?" Don't take it personal, lol. And even if you weren't so tall, you'd still be scary to him. :D

And btw, he's not 18" tall, he's only about an inch "tall". :rofl::snake:

Reading your chart, I will move Kevin to a rat pup this week. I'm just hoping my local shop has food for him. I need to change him to frozen, but I'm trying to establish his feeding schedule.

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Originally Posted by Dzydvl

Reading your chart, I will move Kevin to a rat pup this week. I'm just hoping my local shop has food for him. I need to change him to frozen, but I'm trying to establish his feeding schedule.

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Frozen is for sure much easier & more convenient to ensure you have the best size on hand to feed your pet snake. Pet stores often run short of live sizes you need. But at least you have him eating regularly- all in good time, you'll get there. Some snakes (like BPs) may balk at changing the type of rodent also- rats & mice smell & taste differently, otherwise you could easily substitute a mouse of the right size for the rat pup they were out of. They tend to prefer mice, so if you can keep him on rats, it's more convenient for when he's bigger because rats come in bigger sizes that "fit" an adult BP. If you were still feeding mice then, it might take several, & then some snakes will only eat one item, even if it's too small. :rolleyes: LOL, some snakes can be goofy...

I agree that getting him on f/t is the best way to go. You won’t have to worry about finding the right prey size or type. I’d suggest starting the transition sooner than later. I start all my snakes on f/t as soon as I get them and they all transitioned within 3-4 months. I feed my snakes a little on heavier side for their first two years and then I scale back their feeding frequency. At 215g I’d offer him a rat pup every 5-7 days or a weaned rat every 7-10 days.

Thank y'all for the advice. I do want to switch Kevin to Frozen, I've been afraid since he's been eating on a decent schedule. I will bump him up to a larger size this week, then I will try and transition him to frozen the following week. The only reason I'm holding off is because it looks like he's going to shed soon. While his eyes aren't fully cloudy his skin has changed a bit, and I know he's grown, so it's about that time.

It's one of the biggest things for me with BP's is their eating and eating habits.

I remember the first time I sized up our first BP's feed. It looked huge in comparison and I doubted he would eat it in that sitting, but he smashed it!

This weekend is one of them weekends when I'm going to try a size up for BEL who's been on small weaners for a good while...

How I gauge it is if she strikes and constricts but doesn't eat, maybe she has decided it's to big for her liking. If she does do this, next week she'll be offered a small weaner again, and weekly for maybe 4 - 6 weeks before I consider trying a larger feed again.

With the hatchlings I have here, they're on their second helpings after being sized up since hatching. They are also on small weaners now, but the smaller side of small if you like, and gratefully my chosen food supplier allows me to sieve through the stock picking out what feeds I want.

What I'm hoping to offer you here isn't 'nailed-on' scientific advice, but reassurances that you can experiment one week and if it doesn't work, relax and revert back to what works the following week...

The suggestions made above are offered by people with fantastic experience and you can assured that anyone and everyone here has your little dudes best interest at the forefront of any replies given :gj:

BTW: I feed frozen-thawed!

Thank you all for your help. Since I'm going to jump up a size, I'm going to do live this time just because he's used to it. That way if he refuses a week I wont be an concerned. He just had a good shed, which I'm happy it was the first shed since I got him. I think this is why he snapped at me, he was ready to shed, BUT his eyes weren't milky. the only reason I noticed, his skin wasn't quite as soft, and I saw a VERY slight haze over his eyes. Y'all are amazing and I appreciate all you have to offer. That' s why I jumped to sub to the forum, I'm a firm believer in supporting the sites that give you something in return, so thank you. Now If I could convince the wife to let me buy this BEAUTIFUL baby green tree. She's an amazing color pattern, I will try and post a pic, you will understand when you see her.

My BP is now about 5ft long and I was told that I had to feed it rats. Well that seems to be untrue. Reptiles will usually eat anything that happens to come close enough that they can swallow so I tried mine in mice. Well, that worked. She is quite happy to inhale the little buggers and has changed the way she eats. When I got her from Reptile Rescue here in Vancouver, she was labelled a "problem feeder" so they were glad to get rid of her cheap. Snakes eat LIVE food and are activated by movement so feeding frozen thawed did NOT work out. She figured out live feeding pretty quick and now tells me when she is hungry by coming out of her hide and waiting at the front door to the cage when I come into the room. 30 seconds is a long time for a mouse to remain. I got a dozen from my supplier last week and she has eaten 5 already and will likely be looking for more in the next day or so. She took 2 yesterday. Size does not usually matter to a hunter, whatever is available will do as there is no guarantee the right size bite will come along. Try for sizes and breeds to see what it likes or will accept. I was told that live feeding was dangerous and they would get damaged. Yeah, right. There have been live feeding for millions of years and I can tell you from observation that if you blink, you missed it. The pray has NO time to fight back. Damn but they are quick.
Oddly, when I was feeding her rats she took a fair bit of time to actually take them unless they were small. With mice it is over pretty fast. Always.

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Originally Posted by bogie

My BP is now about 5ft long and I was told that I had to feed it rats. Well that seems to be untrue. Reptiles will usually eat anything that happens to come close enough that they can swallow so I tried mine in mice. Well, that worked. She is quite happy to inhale the little buggers and has changed the way she eats. When I got her from Reptile Rescue here in Vancouver, she was labelled a "problem feeder" so they were glad to get rid of her cheap. Snakes eat LIVE food and are activated by movement so feeding frozen thawed did NOT work out. She figured out live feeding pretty quick and now tells me when she is hungry by coming out of her hide and waiting at the front door to the cage when I come into the room. 30 seconds is a long time for a mouse to remain. I got a dozen from my supplier last week and she has eaten 5 already and will likely be looking for more in the next day or so. She took 2 yesterday. Size does not usually matter to a hunter, whatever is available will do as there is no guarantee the right size bite will come along. Try for sizes and breeds to see what it likes or will accept. I was told that live feeding was dangerous and they would get damaged. Yeah, right. There have been live feeding for millions of years and I can tell you from observation that if you blink, you missed it. The pray has NO time to fight back. Damn but they are quick.
Oddly, when I was feeding her rats she took a fair bit of time to actually take them unless they were small. With mice it is over pretty fast. Always.

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@ Bogie- I have no issues with feeding live, or with feeding mice over rats, but your post reinforces why I feed f/t rats 😀. I don’t have the time, space, or patience to house 12 live mice. Storing f/t prey is a breeze. It’s also more efficient and less expensive to feed 1 rat every 2-3 weeks vs. 5 or more mice in a single week. Different strokes for different folks but I’ve NEVER seen the upside of feeding live prey.

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Originally Posted by EL-Ziggy

@ Bogie- I have no issues with feeding live, or with feeding mice over rats, but your post reinforces why I feed f/t rats 😀. I don’t have the time, space, or patience to house 12 live mice. Storing f/t prey is a breeze. It’s also more efficient and less expensive to feed 1 rat every 2-3 weeks vs. 5 or more mice in a single week. Different strokes for different folks but I’ve NEVER seen the upside of feeding live prey.

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Yea no disrespect Bogie but I'm with Ziggy. I can't imagine feeding much less housing that many feeders in the time frames you're talking about. Now I do feed live to my BP but that's because I only have one. No way if I had 12 snakes that I'd be going to a pet shop every week or two for 12 live rats to bring home. I'm an advocate for doing, safetly of course, whatever works best for your animal. That's why my BP eats live, while the hognoses and spotted python eat F/T, it's just what works for them. I couldn't imagine trying to keep a dozen mice in the house and feeding 5 times a week, but again if it works for your snake then who am I to question.