Large adult coastal feeding schedule

Hello all, I have a 2011 male coastal from Nick Mutton that is my largest snake. All of my other carpets are small locality animals that have settled into a consistent feeding pattern and have maintained nicely over the years. This guy is 8' plus and slightly thicker than a beer can. He would also eat said beer can if I glued some hair to it. He is in great shape and active but seems CONSTANTLY hungry. He gets a large rat every 2 weeks now with the occasional mouse that the balls don't eat. I have been keeping for many years but my other large snake is a male boa and carpet's metabolism is much faster. If he was YOUR snake, just a pet and not a breeder, what would your feeding regimen be? As stated, I don't have any other snakes of his size and was just curious of other carpet keepers opinions. Thanks!

I think a large rat every 10-14 days is pretty good. Especially if he's getting a snack occasionally. There are other keepers that feed less frequently but that's my schedule for adult carpets.

Thanks ziggy, that is what I thought, but he goes full retic after 7-8 days and even though he looks good I just wanted to see what others thought as I don't have any other big guys to go by. Thanks for the response

If it was mine I would do medium every 7 or 10 days or large every 10 to 14 days.

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I have a male and female Coastal the same size as yours. I feed them both an XL rat every 21-25 days.

I found that they were cage/hunger aggressive on smaller prey with a shorter schedule.

Of course they will eat more if offered, but they are reasonably content with this regimen.
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The schedule is fine. With a girth of a beer can he's clearly well fed, frankly if he got any wider, I'd say he was overweight.

Thanks for the replies. I will stick to the current regimen as my boa also eats large rats so it is easier to just deal with the one size for the two big boys. The coastal isn't only my largest snake, he has by far the most "personality". So much so that I really don't have anything to compare him to and wanted to make sure I was on point. Thanks again.

Coastal carpets are wonderful. My female is picky. Usually she eats once a month or once every two. That's just her gig. She is 7+ feet now and 4 years old.

You could offer rabbits (smaller sized) to your snake and stretch the interval out. Then come back with a smaller sized rat or quail for the next feed and shorten the interval.

I've come to realize the best schedule is really no schedule. That obviously leans toward less frequent feeding and variations in prey size and type.

No wild carpet eats every 14 days consistently year round but they may go 1-2-3 weeks getting lucky with feeding and several months with nothing.

If you are simply looking for a long lived, healthy pet try mixing things up and see how he responds.

If he is always in a constant state of hunger look into dropping your temps during the evening and even lowering them a touch with the change of season.

Look at the shape of your animal as well and remember, internally things happen before any external signs are displayed.

Once a captive snake hits adulthood and is healthy, feedings should stretch out.

This is just my opinion and there are certainly many ways to do things.

I will wager our royal that eats maybe 5 times a year will live well into her 20's if not longer.

Great post Gio. Makes you think that sometimes we make this harder than it needs to be. He is my least expensive snake but has become my favorite. Maybe I will offer him some variety. Thanks for the insight.