feeding every week

[jgras]

when I got my bp from a pet store I was told (at 6 months) he had been fed once a week for his whole life and with me for the last 6 months (hes about 1yr now) but recently have seen a few people suggesting people should feed every 5 days, is it to late to start doing that now he is a year old?

[The Serpent Merchant]

There shouldn't be a problem with trying to feed eery 5 days. Some BP's will eat that often, others won't.

[Neal]

One downfall about this is it risks the chance of them going off feed. What I do is during the year I feed on a 6 day schedule, the one exclusion for this is during winter. I then go to a 7 day weekly schedule.

[sorraia]

I've found with my snakes, the smaller (younger) ones eat more often, while the older ones will eat less often. For those less than 300 grams they've eaten every 5 days. Between 300 and 800 grams they eat every 7 days, and then beyond 800 grams they'll eat every 7-10 days. This has worked very well for me so far.

[Neal]

I've found with my snakes, the smaller (younger) ones eat more often, while the older ones will eat less often. For those less than 300 grams they've eaten every 5 days. Between 300 and 800 grams they eat every 7 days, and then beyond 800 grams they'll eat every 7-10 days. This has worked very well for me so far.

Nice of you. My 700 something gram bumblebee was eating every other week, a small rat. But now because I feel bad when I scent the room and he comes up looking for food, on his week that he's supposed to be off food I give him a rat pup. That way it's still something.

[sorraia]

Nice of you. My 700 something gram bumblebee was eating every other week, a small rat. But now because I feel bad when I scent the room and he comes up looking for food, on his week that he's supposed to be off food I give him a rat pup. That way it's still something.

My snakes are in the same room as the rats, so they almost always act hungry. I feel bad for them being teased like that... but I know there's no reason they need to eat daily. hehe

I guess I should also clarify a little... I don't follow an exact formula, where the snake hits 800 grams and now I only feed every 10 days. I judge by the snake's condition and hunger response. If they get less enthusiastic with meals every 5-7 days, I'll hold off a couple extra days next time. So far it's worked, I feed according to the individual snake's need/desire to eat, as long as they hold condition. The weight/feeding schedule is just the correlation I've noticed for my own individual snakes.