Weight/feeding

[MarcsReptileShed]

2 month male spider, 140g feeding every wednesday and friday small f/t mice, is that a good weight gor his age? Am i feeding to much? Rat pups online anywhere? Let me know thanks, recent pics are on my instagram @marc_diaz96 if interested thanks

[Pythonfriend]

usually for small ones, the rule of thumb is 10-15% of body weight every 5 to 7 days.

i think you should bump up the food size a bit, and go to a 5 day scedule. the wednesday and friday feeding scedule seems quite unusual, people usually advise against feeding more often than every 5 days.

so somewhere around 14-21 grams per feeding. if the food you have stored is too small, you can feed one small item, and a second one 10 minutes later and so on, to get there. and then do that every 5 days or every 7 days.

for food item weight reference:
http://www.rodentpro.com/catalog.asp...el=frozen_mice mice
http://www.rodentpro.com/catalog.asp...el=frozen_rats rats

so you can go for weaned or adult mice, or go for rat fuzzies / rat pups.

[Kodieh]

I always think mice are just to small for a snake, to me it isn't enough. I just fed off an adult mouse to a 6 week old ball.

[grcforce327]

I just weighed my Coral Glow the other day and he tipped the scale at 345g. His birth date was 7/14. I feed my hatchlings every 3 days.

[Neal]

usually for small ones, the rule of thumb is 10-15% of body weight every 5 to 7 days.

i think you should bump up the food size a bit, and go to a 5 day scedule. the wednesday and friday feeding scedule seems quite unusual, people usually advise against feeding more often than every 5 days.

so somewhere around 14-21 grams per feeding. if the food you have stored is too small, you can feed one small item, and a second one 10 minutes later and so on, to get there. and then do that every 5 days or every 7 days.

for food item weight reference:
http://www.rodentpro.com/catalog.asp...el=frozen_mice mice
http://www.rodentpro.com/catalog.asp...el=frozen_rats rats

so you can go for weaned or adult mice, or go for rat fuzzies / rat pups.

@OP Don't pay attention to this above. People have tried to explain to him about this rule and he just ignores it.

Like Kodieh said, mice are too small, even an adult mouse. My black pastel doesn't weigh 140 grams and he can eat a f/t rat pup, so you should be okay with doing rat pups versus mice. Personally, another reason to get away from mice if possible is because once they get breeding size there just isn't really a mouse big enough to sustain them properly. Generally all my snakes have taken a mouse hopper as a baby, just because of the movement and triggering feeding response plus it being a good size for them, but after that they go to rat pinkies, fuzzies for a few feedings. This is only because they can be shy to bigger feeders and once they've got a few of those meals or I think their feeding response is up then I'll go up in size, as long as they have the size to handle the next prey item.

When I got my spider on 8-7-2013 he was exactly 100 grams. I haven't weighed him because I only do it when they shed but he's going into shed as of yesterday or the day before so I'll tell you a weight once he digests his meals and sheds.

One last thing I will say is he may not switch to rats right away, or may never but I would definitely try.

[Rickys_Reptiles]

I just weighed my Coral Glow the other day and he tipped the scale at 345g. His birth date was 7/14. I feed my hatchlings every 3 days.

[MrLang]

I would not feed more often than 3 days after the previous feeding. You don't want your snake to get backed up. They definitely get visibly uncomfortable when they're too full.

[Pythonfriend]

@OP Don't pay attention to this above. People have tried to explain to him about this rule and he just ignores it.

Like Kodieh said, mice are too small, even an adult mouse. My black pastel doesn't weigh 140 grams and he can eat a f/t rat pup, so you should be okay with doing rat pups versus mice. Personally, another reason to get away from mice if possible is because once they get breeding size there just isn't really a mouse big enough to sustain them properly. Generally all my snakes have taken a mouse hopper as a baby, just because of the movement and triggering feeding response plus it being a good size for them, but after that they go to rat pinkies, fuzzies for a few feedings. This is only because they can be shy to bigger feeders and once they've got a few of those meals or I think their feeding response is up then I'll go up in size, as long as they have the size to handle the next prey item.

When I got my spider on 8-7-2013 he was exactly 100 grams. I haven't weighed him because I only do it when they shed but he's going into shed as of yesterday or the day before so I'll tell you a weight once he digests his meals and sheds.

One last thing I will say is he may not switch to rats right away, or may never but I would definitely try.

how would you change the percentages or the other numbers in the rule in order to improve it?

you may also adapt it into two rules, for BPs falling into two different weight categories, if you feel the rule is wrong only for a certain weight range of BPs.

[anatess]

how would you change the percentages or the other numbers in the rule in order to improve it?

you may also adapt it into two rules, for BPs falling into two different weight categories, if you feel the rule is wrong only for a certain weight range of BPs.

Dunno what's between you and Neal... but both of you are right, so I don't know why all the pow-wow between you two.

10-15% of the snake's weight is an okay guide for juvenile snakes. I've used them myself. I've fed up to 20% to my juvies too if that's the only size I got on hand and they can chomp down on that without an issue. Ball pythons usually are born within around the 70gram range so they get started on rat fuzzies (about 12 grams) right off the bat. There's really no need to go on mice unless it's the only thing you can get your hands on or you just want to have your snakes not hooked on just one prey item in case the store runs out of something. I breed my own ASFs, so I don't worry about this and newborn ball pythons can chomp down 2 week old ASF (about 10 grams) no problem.

If you notice, rats are usually within an average proportion of girth to weight. It's rare to find a rat that is bigger around than it is long. So, you can also go by visually comparing the rat to the girth of your snake. I go by the widest part of the juvie snake to be about the same as the rat, the rat can be a tad bit bigger and it's okay. This usually ends up with the rat within the range of 10-20% of a juvie snake's weight.

As I feed ASFs, I don't worry that the rats get to be too big for the adult bps. The adult ASFs, including the retired breeders, are about the size of a medium rat which is within the size prey adult ball pythons eat. As my snakes become adults I get to grow out my ASFs for at least 6 months before I feed them off. At this age, the ASFs are somewhere between 80 grams - 100grams. I had a 2 year old ASF and she only got to 140grams. So as you can see, they're a lot smaller than the 10% thing I used when the snakes were juvies as I have adults that are over 2200 grams. A lot of people feed their snakes every 2 weeks at this size. I continue to feed every 7 days. Of course, my snakes tend to go on months-long fasts usually around the winter time so my ASFs get to enjoy a longer life.

I bred my female once and she never quit eating even while laying on her eggs (went with maternal incubation).

Okay, to the OP: My opinion for a 140g snake... I'd go with a rat fuzzy or a rat pup and feed every 5 days. Wednesday and Friday is too close together. The snake may not be done digesting by Friday. I used a wall calendar and marked each feeding day with an X so I know when to feed next.

[grcforce327]

Where's a middle finger smiley when you need one!