What size rats for juvi Sumatran Short Tail?

[FatPython]

I recently bought my SSTP some rat pups and weaned rats (all FT), and have been offering her 1 pup every 5 days. The ones she's received this month have been 16-20g. She hatched in November and her last weigh in this weekend has her at 142grams, right after a poop too.

Does her weight seem low for her age? The weaned rats are 30-50g, according to the feeder breeder, but I wonder if even the smaller of these may be too much for her. I've seen people say that young pythons should reach at least 1000g by a year old, but she seems tiny for her age and I am worried about stunting her growth.

Also, is it better to feed smaller but more frequent meals than it is larger, infrequent ones since she is young? I try to go by the 15% rule of bodyweight, but her last two meals are more like 13% (yes, I know I'm anal about it, I weigh both my snakes' dinners lol).

[Aedryan Methyus]

Hey there Fat Python,
Congrats on your little Sumatran! I am also the proud new owner of a pair of Sumatrans and i'm crazy about them! They were hatched sometime between June and September, 2016. The male has been eating frozen/thawed hoppers, but the female has refused frozen/thawed thus far. So she has been eating live mice. I feed them every 7 days and they seem to be doing great. Myself, I have never went by weight when it comes to feeding any of my snakes. I simply go by the girth of the snake. I try to feed my snakes rodents that are approximately the same thickness as the fattest part of the snake's body (give or take) and they have always done well. With Blood Pythons, you obviously can't go by that when they have reached adult size, though or you would have obese snakes and you would be broke from buying rabbits. They shouldn't ever eat anything larger than a large or jumbo rat even when they are full grown. I have heard some people say that prey items should never be any larger than the widest part of a snake's head. In my opinion, that simply isn't true. I don't feel like that would be nearly enough for most snakes unless you were feeding multiple prey items per feeding, which wouldn't be very efficient for either you or the snake.

My advice would be to not worry so much about the weight of the prey item versus the weight of the snake, but rather the girth and just keep an eye on them. As i'm sure you know, Blood Pythons can easily become obese. They will get fat, because they are a very girthy species, but you should still always be able to see a Blood Python's spine. The general rule is, if you can't see a Blood Python's spine, the snake is overweight and needs to have feedings cut back from every 7 days to every 10 - 14 days (or more) accordingly.

I hope this helps...