Should I feed during shed cycle?

[Faith.luu]

My bp is 9 months old, and I typically feed her ft rat pups every 5-6 days. When I measured her a week ago she was 192g. Currently she just finished being in her ‘blue phase’ and is in that state where they look normal, so I’m expecting a shed in 2-3 days time. I’m just wondering if it’s worth feeding her now, or if I should just wait till after. It’s been 6 days since her last meal.

I figure she can definitely handle 2 or 3 more days without food, but I’m curious to know the likelihood of her accepting a rat during this time.

[Bogertophis]

Just wait until after, unless you want to risk (1) wasting food, or (2) messing up her shed. FYI, some snakes don't multi-task very well, & since both digestion & shedding
uses up a snake's hydration, they can come up short & end up either barfing their meal or shedding in a zillion pieces & even needing help.

So the question is: Do you feel lucky?

And for 9 months old, you should not be feeding every 5-6 days anyway. You might end up with an overweight snake that suffers from fatty liver disease & dies young.

[Faith.luu]

Just wait until after, unless you want to risk (1) wasting food, or (2) messing up her shed. FYI, some snakes don't multi-task very well, & since both digestion & shedding
uses up a snake's hydration, they can come up short & end up either barfing their meal or shedding in a zillion pieces & even needing help.

So the question is: Do you feel lucky?

And for 9 months old, you should not be feeding every 5-6 days anyway. You might end up with an overweight snake that suffers from fatty liver disease & dies young.

I figured it might be hard to digest and shed at the same time. I was going to just leave her but was curious to see if it might be okay. Thank you for letting me know. I totally didn’t think about the hydration portion, but that’s very true.

Ive looked at multiple charts to figure out the right sized meal and have done a lot of research. I would try to wait till day 7, but I’ve noticed she becomes very active at night by day 4 or 5 after eating so I typically feed her by day 5 or 6. She also defecates by day 3 after eating. She’s maintained a healthy body wait with just a little point at the top. I’ve been checking on her and making sure I’m not over feeding. I think I’m going to use a different scale and weigh her again to see if i get different results. The frequency of eating and fast defecation makes me wonder if I should be upsizing her meal to reduce eating frequency, but I only want to do that if her weight is suitable for it. She might also just have a faster metabolism. There are so many factors that come into play, lol.

This is the best photo I have of her to show her overall condition.


If you notice anything strange about her I’d love to know too! Absolutely anything helps. I’m trying to learn as much as I can about this species, both wild and captive and learning all the different techniques and guidelines people have so that I can provide the best care for my snake.

[Bogertophis]

It sounds like your feeders might be a little small* for their category? That would explain her hunger, but keep in mind that many snakes are like "teenagers" and always
looking for more food. That's partly because in the wild, prey isn't so plentiful & certainly never "on schedule" so they instinctively grab it whenever they can & they don't
"worry about their weight"...they're more active in the wild anyway. So you can't always judge a snake's "need to feed" by their interest.

*have you weighed your feeders? Different sources label them differently, & not all weigh & sell them according to identical categories. She's very pretty, btw.

As far as her likelihood of actually accepting food while in shed, your guess is as good as mine. Some will & some won't.

[EL-Ziggy]

Your BP is smokin!! I'd say the odds of the snake eating during shed are 50/50. Some will and some won't. I'm pretty sure all of my snakes would but I very rarely feed them during the shedding process. I had no issues the few times that I did feed snakes in shed but now I usually just wait.
For BPs I used a 5-7 day feeding schedule for their 1st year, 10-14 days for the 2nd year, and every 2-3 weeks as adults. Congrats and best wishes with the new addition!

[Faith.luu]

*have you weighed your feeders? Different sources label them differently, & not all weigh & sell them according to identical categories. She's very pretty, btw.

Thank you! And that’s a really good point. I just weighed a couple of them and they’re between 27-32g, which is average for a pup(I’m pretty sure).

[christineho]

My bp is 9 months old, and I typically feed her ft rat pups every 5-6 days. When I measured her a week ago she was 192g. Currently she just finished being in her ‘blue phase’ and is in that state where they look normal, so I’m expecting a shed in 2-3 days time. I’m just wondering if it’s worth feeding her now, or if I should just wait till after. It’s been 6 days since her last meal.

I figure she can definitely handle 2 or 3 more days without food, but I’m curious to know the likelihood of her accepting a rat during this time.

I had a pretty terrifying experience feeding during this time with our 1.5 yo, so based on my experience I would definitely wait. Eating during shed ultra-dehydrated him and it was the worst shed he's ever had! I actually ended up taking him to the vet because I couldn't tell what was going on and they gave him fluids to help but she was able to see his dehydration just by looking in his mouth.

[Faith.luu]

I had a pretty terrifying experience feeding during this time with our 1.5 yo, so based on my experience I would definitely wait. Eating during shed ultra-dehydrated him and it was the worst shed he's ever had! I actually ended up taking him to the vet because I couldn't tell what was going on and they gave him fluids to help but she was able to see his dehydration just by looking in his mouth.

I’m very sorry that happened. Thank you for telling me this!

[Midwest]

I know all snakes grow at different rates but when I got our 1st BP it was 4 months old and weighed 214 grams. For all the pro's out there does 190 grams for a 9 month old seem really small? I haven't weighed mine in a couple months but at 9 months old he was around 400 grams and being a male I would they are "typically" smaller than a female. Is it normal for weights to vary that much at an early age?