Just tried switching to rats, is this too big?!

Please tell me what you think. I couldn't find anything smaller than this rat and mice just arnt cutting it anymore. Im worried he might hurt himself....
https://ball-pythons.net/gallery/fil...0360_thumb.jpg

That might be a tad big yet...

well he has the head down and he doesn't seem like he wants to give up and spit it back out, what do I do?

did he eat that?

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Originally Posted by giaach

well he has the head down and he doesn't seem like he wants to give up and spit it back out, what do I do?

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ah ok. You would be surprised at what these snakes can swallow. It will take him a while, but he looks big enough to be able to handle it...if not, let him figure out what to do.

IMO, yeah too big.

I would think that would be a little too big. The girth of the rodent shouldn't be much bigger than that of the snake.

A little too big, but don't rip it out of his mouth. Did he eat it? You can try two adult mice instead in the future.

JonV

He hasn't eaten in 2 weeks (moved back home) and he weighs about 420 grams. When i was at the pet store that rat looked the smallest but of course when I brought it home and looked at him side by side with Kingsley I realized that rat was too too big. I gave it to him anyway thinking maybe it will be okay, he grabbed it and killed it right away but he's struggling to get it down as we speak.

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Originally Posted by nevohraalnavnoj

A little too big, but don't rip it out of his mouth. Did he eat it? You can try two adult mice instead in the future.

JonV

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2 adult mice arn't enough, the mice around here are all so tiny it takes 3 to satisfy him.

If that's the case you could put up the dough and buy the 3 adult mice until he gets big enough for the one rat (which may not take that long) or maybe try and get a breeding colony going?

Did he eat the rat?

JonV

What was the weight of the rat? I feed prey that is about 15% of the snake's weight. Some feed about 10% of the snake's weight. At the least, it is a good way to gauge the size.
Maybe you could bring your scale to the store?? You could also order on line perhaps??

You will be fine, looks like a small rat to me. I usually dont offer small rats to anything under 500g but I know some on here who offer them to 350g snakes.

Looks alright, maybe a tad too big. But absolutely no where near big enough to cause him any harm whatsoever.

Well he got it down fine. Now Ive been amusing myself watching him try and fit inside his hides ha.

The rule of thumb is to not offer prey with more girth than the snake.

Feeding large prey may seem like a good way to help your snake grow and bulk-up, but a common mistake people make is measuring their snakes health in relation to their weight. Snakes can become obese, too. If you feed a very large meal (in relation to the snake), give it time to really work it off before feeding again.

For future reference, you may benefit from this food chart.

I would also suggest you invest in a digital scale. It will help you keep track of your snakes general health, as well as the exact weight of the food items he is eating.

There are many good brands of digital scales, but this one seems to be far and away the most recommended: 7001DX Precision Digital Scale. I use one myself. Its also great for baking! Just use a different bowl. ;)

That things huge got any pics of the little guy now that he got it down. I wanna be amused at him trying to fit in his hide also. :)

Glad he got it down. he still may spit it up later... or in a day or two.

Be prepared. the number one reason IMHO NOT to feed too big like that, is now you don't know when he will eat again. Don't be surprised if he now refuses food for the next couple weeks or month, throwing his schedule even more out of whack!

one properly sized rodent (or 2 or 3 smaller ones that add up to equal the properly sized rodent) once per week is way better then the frustrations of having a snake completely off any kind of regular feeding schedule!!!

Mike

Another way to ensure you always have proper sized prey items to feed, would be to buy a larger number of mice, feed them and let them get chubby, THEN feed them off.

That's what I do. I buy 250 at a time, feed off 75 or so in the beginning when I first get them, and by the second week I need to feed, they are much bigger and healthier, especially the males.

Even my adult females do fine on mice(some are over 2000g). Your small Spider male would have been fine on 2-3 small mice a week(or less). Even my adult males only get 2 mice every week to 2 weeks, maybe 3 if they have been in with a female.

If you HAVE to handle him (avoidance would be best) be VERY careful. With a meal that large, there's the strong possibility that he could regurge in a few days. Just be diligent.


Just stick to the 2-3 mice for a while. He'll do plenty growing on those. You'd be surprised! :)

well I do have a digital scale, and I get a weight on him every month or so. He has grown pretty consistantly over the past 6 months and is now, like i said, 31 inches and 420 grams. He has never refused a meal and eats anything I throw at him. The reason I got a rat this past weekend was because all the feeder mice were hoppers, it would have taken like 5 to sufficiently feed him so the rat what my best bet. He seems to be doing fine, while a few of you say "hes gonna regurge" I don't think that's in his future. He has been in his hide and seems to be acting fine (poked his head out for some water, a look around, and back in the hide)

I agree its a "tad" big, but I have also made this mistake, sometimes its hard to eyeball it right off the bat, and you are sweating. And most of the time you dont want to err on the side of caution (well, at least not too much) because you don't want to "Starve" the snake. I would feed it a much smaller rat next feeding, and maybe step it back up just a little. I only reccomend the smaller rat to make it easier on the jaws assuming you feed weekly.

Ps. Snakes can survive off VERY little food, but lets face it we want our snakes a little fatter than some wild ones ;)

i once fed my bp who was 300+ grams at that time a rat that weighed 89grams. she looked so fat and full after that. lol.. didnt feed her for another 2 weeks. i just stick to 40-50g now. someone also suggested that in this forum. just cant rememeber who..

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Originally Posted by giaach

2 adult mice arn't enough, the mice around here are all so tiny it takes 3 to satisfy him.

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Question: how exactly does that work do u feed the mice one after another or do u wait a certain period of time b4 u feed em' the second one?

I just had the same kind of issue
I went to the petco today to get 2 mice for Uli because the one mouse just wasn't cutting it anymore, so I get there, and they're all out! All they had was small rats. The Petco around here is worthless...I wish I knew somewhere better to get feeders. (or somewhere else period)
So the rats all looked a *little* big, but I just took the smallest one they had. It was about the same size as her girth (maybe the tiniest bit bigger), but it was every bit of 15% of her weight if not more

well anyway she struck at it immediately and didn't have any more problems swallowing it than she ever does with a mouse, so it's fine I guess

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Originally Posted by Spider

Question: how exactly does that work do u feed the mice one after another or do u wait a certain period of time b4 u feed em' the second one?

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Feed one, let him consume it and then when he's moving around again or chillin, i drop the second one in. It doesn't even have to be back to back..sometimes 30 minutes later is fine.

Experiment and do what works for you :gj:

I was having the same problem.. but my pet store that I always go to had a woman there that was a lot of help. She grabbed me a small rat pup that was just the right size. My snake is 475g. Maybe ask for rat pups and find the smallest one in the bunch

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Originally Posted by giaach

well I do have a digital scale, and I get a weight on him every month or so. He has grown pretty consistantly over the past 6 months and is now, like i said, 31 inches and 420 grams. He has never refused a meal and eats anything I throw at him. The reason I got a rat this past weekend was because all the feeder mice were hoppers, it would have taken like 5 to sufficiently feed him so the rat what my best bet. He seems to be doing fine, while a few of you say "hes gonna regurge" I don't think that's in his future. He has been in his hide and seems to be acting fine (poked his head out for some water, a look around, and back in the hide)

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Not to say it WILL happen (the regurging) but it's more likely to happen with a reaaaally big meal. Just better to be safer, than sorrier.

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Originally Posted by Spider

Question: how exactly does that work do u feed the mice one after another or do u wait a certain period of time b4 u feed em' the second one?

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I usually wait til he's almost done swallowing the first tail, before I drop the 2nd mouse in...and a little bit away from him so he's not scared, or intimidated. Then I wait to make sure he'll actually HUNT the 2nd one.