Help with ordering feeders online. Growing snake/ what size rats to order

[MmmBanana]

Hello, I am working on placing my first order for frozen feeders online. I only have one ball python, and he is right around 200g currently. Right now he is on frozen adult mice that I am getting from petco. They are all around 20g. The next size up that I can buy locally is small rats. Which are 50-60g at petco and petsmart. Ive been told to feed around 10% of snakes body weight, so that'll leave quite a gap from 250- maybe 450g(still unsure on how exact that has to be). I am looking at ordering from perfect prey, and I am trying to decide if I should bother getting a pack of rat pups. They say they are between 20-29g and the best deal is the pack of 25. I can get just 5, but they are $.50 more per rat. Or, should I just go with weaned rats (30-50g) and feed the smallest ones I got to him first?

My guess is I should get a 5pack of the rat pups, and that should be enough to get him ready for the weaned rats. Then order 10-15 weaned rats, and that should have him ready for small rats which should be all he needs unless I have a oddly large male.

Sorry if my questions/post seem a little compulsive. I am just trying to do my best to take the best care of my snake.

[MissterDog]

Hoping someone will answer for you because I've been wondering the same thing about ordering rat fuzzies or pups from Perfect Prey since they have smaller pack options. I'd love to hear how your experience goes with whatever you decide to do!

[MmmBanana]

I will keep the thread updated. I fed my snake the last large mouse I had yesterday. So I wanna place an order by Monday night/ Tuesday morning.

[redshepherd]

You can actually feed 15% of their body weight until they're around 400ish~500g. I'd get 5 pups and a large pack of weaned, and then some smalls. There's no problem feeding off multiple rats of smaller sizes if he outgrows them, but if you run out of small enough sizes and your BP didn't grow big enough for the next size yet, then that's annoying.

Also, some frozen feeder sellers can have a really different size range they send out of what they consider "weaned" and "pups", so I'd look into that. the "weaned rats" I got from Layne Labs are actually large pups, and their "pups" were fuzzies. Big Cheese Rodent Factory has bigger/proper sizes and were what I used before, so when I got the rats from Layne Labs, I was pretty disappointed.

[MmmBanana]

I just placed my order. Here is what I went with. I know its not a HUGE order, but I only have one snake lol. My GFs BP will get some of the small rats too tho. 2.23 per rat is cheaper than the $5 per rat we have been paying. I will update the thread again when I get the order. Should be Thursday I believe.

Rat Pups (5/Pack) × 1	$7.50
Weaned Rats (20/Pack) × 1	$25.00
Small Rats (15/Pack) × 1	$26.25
Subtotal:	$58.75
Shipping:	$30.75 via FedEx Ground Home Delivery (2 days)
Payment Method:	PayPal
Total:	$89.50

[Neal]

I'm currently driving home, once I'm home I'll touch the subject with you. Too much to type while driving and it's storming here.

[EL-Ziggy]

Sounds like you got a good deal MB. You're getting 40 feeders for the normal price of 18.

[Neal]

Try finding a person local to you that you can do orders with to save you on shipping costs and get from a large frozen feeder place. I personally use Big Cheese Rodents because they're in the next state over. I usually place a $400 order, then I add shipping to the other stuff and sell the packs. This cuts into my cost a bit as well.

[MmmBanana]

Neal, that is a great tip! However, I don't know anyone locally that owns snakes. I will keep an eye out tho!

My order from perfect prey shipped this afternoon and shows a scheduled delivery date of Thursday.

[Neal]

Neal, that is a great tip! However, I don't know anyone locally that owns snakes. I will keep an eye out tho!

My order from perfect prey shipped this afternoon and shows a scheduled delivery date of Thursday.

Join some reptile groups or snake groups in your state. You'll find people, trust me.