Help? I fed my BP a F/T Rat for the first time, too big?

[tomjones456]

My BP is about 1 yrs old, I've been feeding her small mice and i figured they are way too small for her as she isn't even growing much over the last 6 months i've had her. Gave a small rat a try, and she just finished eating it but had a bit of trouble finding the head to start eating lol. Not sure if it's too big but heres a pic. And also, I have Eco-Earth in her tank, does it hurt for her to be swallowing some of it because it's hard to keep it from sticking to the rat

edit: she's about 200g in weight

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[tomjones456]

bump

[exoticballs]

Looks fine to me. If she was able to swallow it with no problem the she shoulf be ok

[MJT_23]

Can't tell how big the rat really is, but it looks pretty big for her. How many grams was the rat?

[tomjones456]

Can't tell how big the rat really is, but it looks pretty big for her. How many grams was the rat?

Yeah i guess it was a little bit big, but there's really no in between a small mouse and a small rat in my area, all I have is petco. I bought 3 in a pack, 40G each

[ewaldrep]

are you sure about that weight? if so, at a year old, I think she has been significantly underfed for a long time. From the pic, the rat does not seem to large to me but I will let others chime in on that. I'm not sure about eco earth but I'm sure a little sticking to the rat won't bother her much, they do eat in various environmental conditions in the wild.

I don't know where you got the info to feed you bp small mice from but you should check the forum for more info on feeder size by age.

[MJT_23]

Yeah i guess it was a little bit big, but there's really no in between a small mouse and a small rat in my area, all I have is petco. I bought 3 in a pack, 40G each

For a growing bp I usually go 10-15% of their body weight, so at 200g the most id feed is 30 grams but I'm sure she'll be just fine. As said above a year old being that small May be better she's getting it.

[Crazymonkee]

If she took it, I personally wouldn't worry too much.
Eco Earth is a very natural substrate, more dirt like in texture, I wouldn't worry about a little ingested. I had mine on Eco Earth when she was in a tank and I fed in the enclosure all the time. They eat dirt and such in the wild.
She has definitely been underfed but consistent correct meals will have her catch up in no time.

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[200xth]

My BP is about 1 yrs old, I've been feeding her small mice and i figured they are way too small for her as she isn't even growing much over the last 6 months i've had her. Gave a small rat a try, and she just finished eating it but had a bit of trouble finding the head to start eating lol. Not sure if it's too big but heres a pic. And also, I have Eco-Earth in her tank, does it hurt for her to be swallowing some of it because it's hard to keep it from sticking to the rat

edit: she's about 200g in weight

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You might want to go a touch smaller, but I don't think this was too bad. Give her an extra day or so to digest it.

As someone else said, you're generally aiming for something around 10% to 15% of their weight. If you go outside of that within reason you'll be good, though.

200g is kinda small for her age. That's about rat pup territory, so you might want to start getting her some rat pups and feeding her every 5 days. She'll catch up in size in no time.

They can ingest some eco earth without problem. They can digest bone, nails and fur, so a little dirt or earth or whatever isn't really gonna do much.

[tomjones456]

For a growing bp I usually go 10-15% of their body weight, so at 200g the most id feed is 30 grams but I'm sure she'll be just fine. As said above a year old being that small May be better she's getting it.

is she too small for her age how often should I be feeding her these rats? I've been feeding her a small mouse a week but i feel real bad cuz it seems like I haven't been feeding her big enough meals