Proper size meal

[Dzydvl]

Thank you all for your help. Since I'm going to jump up a size, I'm going to do live this time just because he's used to it. That way if he refuses a week I wont be an concerned. He just had a good shed, which I'm happy it was the first shed since I got him. I think this is why he snapped at me, he was ready to shed, BUT his eyes weren't milky. the only reason I noticed, his skin wasn't quite as soft, and I saw a VERY slight haze over his eyes. Y'all are amazing and I appreciate all you have to offer. That' s why I jumped to sub to the forum, I'm a firm believer in supporting the sites that give you something in return, so thank you. Now If I could convince the wife to let me buy this BEAUTIFUL baby green tree. She's an amazing color pattern, I will try and post a pic, you will understand when you see her.

[bogie]

My BP is now about 5ft long and I was told that I had to feed it rats. Well that seems to be untrue. Reptiles will usually eat anything that happens to come close enough that they can swallow so I tried mine in mice. Well, that worked. She is quite happy to inhale the little buggers and has changed the way she eats. When I got her from Reptile Rescue here in Vancouver, she was labelled a "problem feeder" so they were glad to get rid of her cheap. Snakes eat LIVE food and are activated by movement so feeding frozen thawed did NOT work out. She figured out live feeding pretty quick and now tells me when she is hungry by coming out of her hide and waiting at the front door to the cage when I come into the room. 30 seconds is a long time for a mouse to remain. I got a dozen from my supplier last week and she has eaten 5 already and will likely be looking for more in the next day or so. She took 2 yesterday. Size does not usually matter to a hunter, whatever is available will do as there is no guarantee the right size bite will come along. Try for sizes and breeds to see what it likes or will accept. I was told that live feeding was dangerous and they would get damaged. Yeah, right. There have been live feeding for millions of years and I can tell you from observation that if you blink, you missed it. The pray has NO time to fight back. Damn but they are quick.
Oddly, when I was feeding her rats she took a fair bit of time to actually take them unless they were small. With mice it is over pretty fast. Always.

[EL-Ziggy]

My BP is now about 5ft long and I was told that I had to feed it rats. Well that seems to be untrue. Reptiles will usually eat anything that happens to come close enough that they can swallow so I tried mine in mice. Well, that worked. She is quite happy to inhale the little buggers and has changed the way she eats. When I got her from Reptile Rescue here in Vancouver, she was labelled a "problem feeder" so they were glad to get rid of her cheap. Snakes eat LIVE food and are activated by movement so feeding frozen thawed did NOT work out. She figured out live feeding pretty quick and now tells me when she is hungry by coming out of her hide and waiting at the front door to the cage when I come into the room. 30 seconds is a long time for a mouse to remain. I got a dozen from my supplier last week and she has eaten 5 already and will likely be looking for more in the next day or so. She took 2 yesterday. Size does not usually matter to a hunter, whatever is available will do as there is no guarantee the right size bite will come along. Try for sizes and breeds to see what it likes or will accept. I was told that live feeding was dangerous and they would get damaged. Yeah, right. There have been live feeding for millions of years and I can tell you from observation that if you blink, you missed it. The pray has NO time to fight back. Damn but they are quick.
Oddly, when I was feeding her rats she took a fair bit of time to actually take them unless they were small. With mice it is over pretty fast. Always.

@ Bogie- I have no issues with feeding live, or with feeding mice over rats, but your post reinforces why I feed f/t rats 😀. I don’t have the time, space, or patience to house 12 live mice. Storing f/t prey is a breeze. It’s also more efficient and less expensive to feed 1 rat every 2-3 weeks vs. 5 or more mice in a single week. Different strokes for different folks but I’ve NEVER seen the upside of feeding live prey.

[Hugsplox]

@ Bogie- I have no issues with feeding live, or with feeding mice over rats, but your post reinforces why I feed f/t rats 😀. I don’t have the time, space, or patience to house 12 live mice. Storing f/t prey is a breeze. It’s also more efficient and less expensive to feed 1 rat every 2-3 weeks vs. 5 or more mice in a single week. Different strokes for different folks but I’ve NEVER seen the upside of feeding live prey.

Yea no disrespect Bogie but I'm with Ziggy. I can't imagine feeding much less housing that many feeders in the time frames you're talking about. Now I do feed live to my BP but that's because I only have one. No way if I had 12 snakes that I'd be going to a pet shop every week or two for 12 live rats to bring home. I'm an advocate for doing, safetly of course, whatever works best for your animal. That's why my BP eats live, while the hognoses and spotted python eat F/T, it's just what works for them. I couldn't imagine trying to keep a dozen mice in the house and feeding 5 times a week, but again if it works for your snake then who am I to question.