Feeding in multiples

Hi all. Was having a problem with my BP Bitey and some of the suggestions were to up its diet, thinking its food was perhaps to small. Well when I went to the store the "small" rats were about 4 times the size of the adult mice, so just decided to try two mice as i dont think Bitey could eat one of those. Well she ate the first mouse instantly like always, but wont touch the second one and wants to go hide. Am i supposed to give her more time before the second mouse and how long? Or is she just good with one adult mouse a week for now? Thanks again for all the help.

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Originally Posted by skybronco

Hi all. Was having a problem with my BP Bitey and some of the suggestions were to up its diet, thinking its food was perhaps to small. Well when I went to the store the "small" rats were about 4 times the size of the adult mice, so just decided to try two mice as i dont think Bitey could eat one of those. Well she ate the first mouse instantly like always, but wont touch the second one and wants to go hide. Am i supposed to give her more time before the second mouse and how long? Or is she just good with one adult mouse a week for now? Thanks again for all the help.

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I only suggest feeding two prey items if they are both f/t. Feeding live twice is a huge expanse of energy for the snake and could cause regurgitation.
Are you feeding him inside or outside his enclosure? If your feeding him in a separate enclosure, this may be enabling him to bite you more.
If he's a strong eater, try getting some f/t mice and see if he eats them. Most likely a jump from a adult mouse to a large rat will be too large of a jump. On f/t, you can find more of a variety of rat sizes. A weanling rat would probably be a good size for him.

A good rule of thumb is, to size the prey item by the girth of your snake. The other thing I would mention is a mouse eater may not eat a rat the first few times offered.
Better to up the prey size rather than feeding multiple items.

i feed my BP 3-4 mice a sitting, and they are live. shes never regurged or nothing. I dont really like doing it, but she wont take a rat nor ASF, so if you REALLY need to do it, i dont think it'd be a huge problem.

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Originally Posted by blackcrystal22

I only suggest feeding two prey items if they are both f/t. Feeding live twice is a huge expanse of energy for the snake and could cause regurgitation.
Are you feeding him inside or outside his enclosure? If your feeding him in a separate enclosure, this may be enabling him to bite you more.
If he's a strong eater, try getting some f/t mice and see if he eats them. Most likely a jump from a adult mouse to a large rat will be too large of a jump. On f/t, you can find more of a variety of rat sizes. A weanling rat would probably be a good size for him.

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Feeding live multiple times does not cause the snake to regurgitate. I did it every week when I had live mice to feed off. Now I just feed frozen as it's cheaper. They hit the mice just as hard, if not hard, than the live mice and expend the same amount of energy. No regurges. Don't know where you might have heard that.

Two adult mice at a time should be fine. If he/she eats the weaned rat, fine, if not, that's fine too. They do just as well on mice as they do on rats. If the snake is male, two large mice every 10-14 days is fine. If female, try 3 large mice. If the snake isn't an adult yet, just go with two and work up from there.

I've done three fuzzies before, and two hoppers. It's whatever the pet store has (until i can get my own). Mine does fine on them. I give her 10-15 min between to get them fully swallowed. If I don't give her enough she sits in the middle of the cage and stares at me, looking up at her top waiting for more.

10-15 minutes in between? Mine would lose their feed response by then and go back to sleep.

Wait until it's swallowed with the prey in the middle of the body and you see them S-ing back up. THEN offer another one.

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Originally Posted by SatanicIntention

10-15 minutes in between? Mine would lose their feed response by then and go back to sleep.

Wait until it's swallowed with the prey in the middle of the body and you see them S-ing back up. THEN offer another one.

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oh. lol. she didn't, but she's a pig. She would eat anything i put infront of her. I don't think there is a need to wait so long, i just did. As long as she acts interested she should be fine. Mine's a little one too, and it took her forever to eat when I bought her the larger prey.

Well, she didnt seem interested in the other one right away, so my question is should i try again tomorrow, or is it better to let them digest what they have and wait a week before feeding again? Thanks again all. Oh and on a side note, some ppl told me i should get smaller hides, especially ones that i wouldnt think she would fit in. So I did... and she totally doesnt fit in it. But it is hillarious watching her try, and then just sit there half in and half out when she doesnt.

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Originally Posted by skybronco

Well, she didnt seem interested in the other one right away, so my question is should i try again tomorrow, or is it better to let them digest what they have and wait a week before feeding again? Thanks again all. Oh and on a side note, some ppl told me i should get smaller hides, especially ones that i wouldnt think she would fit in. So I did... and she totally doesnt fit in it. But it is hillarious watching her try, and then just sit there half in and half out when she doesnt.

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lol. yeah, if she's not interested I would just wait. you can try different sizes. Like an adult and follow with a hopper, or fuzzy. I do think her hides should be a little bit bigger. lol. Just enough so they aren't wearing them as hats. :)

Hmm... So how big is the snake? Generally, offering multiple prey items should be fine (maybe less meat and more hair), but it's usually easier and cheaper to do larger prey. My snakes don't relax or sleep after a while if they are still hungry and can still smell food. The older balls will stay restless and the younger ones will actually sometimes strike at the sides of the bin while I'm feeding others after they ate (if the meal wasn't big enough). So will my bloods, but that's expected no matter how much they've just eaten. :D So it would be my opinion that if they aren't interested any more, I wouldn't feed them any more.

Ok so not going to try feeding Bitey this other mouse till next week, so the next question is... what do I do with this mouse? I have it in a seperate plastic bin. Should i just put a little water and lettuce in there and hope its alive in a week? Maybe some carrots?

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Originally Posted by skybronco

Ok so not going to try feeding Bitey this other mouse till next week, so the next question is... what do I do with this mouse? I have it in a seperate plastic bin. Should i just put a little water and lettuce in there and hope its alive in a week? Maybe some carrots?

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This is likely to be a problem again for you. Sometimes they just don't want to eat and you are left with a mouse or a rat. Pet stores won't take them back for obvious reasons. If you plan to continue feding live you may want to think about setting up a ten gallon tank with a water bottle and a screen top. Bitey never ate a rat or multiple mice before so it may take a feeding or two for him to get it. I would wait a bit longer to feed next time (maybe 10 or 12 days and then try two mice. If it works then back to weekly feeding.

yeah i agree invest in some kind of cheap critter keeper. You can feed it dog food to get you through the week. Also I just started feeding my one snake multiple prey items this week also lol. I'm not sure how big your snake is, but they will take the second one when they are ready. I just offer one, then the other once she swallowed the first. Maybe give it another month until you add another mouse. ALSO! Did you offer the mouse after she COMPLETELY swallowed it. I offered mine too early and it seemed like she got startled when I introduced it, she was trying to move away from it with a mouse stuck in her throat. So i remvoved it immeaditly and waited till she looked like she was going to return to her hide, and then gave it to her and it worked so try that. Good luck with your furture feedings!

If you keep the mouse anywhere near where the snake is kept, you'll know when it's ready to take the next mouse. I would feed him when he's showing interest. Again, how big is the snake?