caution and savanna weights..

[ADEE]

i weighed them before feeding (and caution after feeding too)

caution: approx 75g, after feeding was 115g
savanna: approx 130g before feeding.

i wasnt using a digital scale but at least we have a rough estimate.. the snakes did have a larger than normal meal today for no reason other than i asked for two rat pups and thats what i got. so thats their weights... any comments?

[frankykeno]

At 75 grams you would want to be offering Caution a small rat fuzzy (about 8 to 12 days old) or even a large pink (5 or 6 days old). A pup's a bit much for a snake that size to manage. Give him an extra day of digestion since he fed so large but it's a good idea to not overdo it with this small male too quickly.

Savannah sounds likes she's doing well at 130 grams and could take a small pup or large fuzzy easily. Pups can range quite a lot in size as you'll come to see from the young pups of barely 15 or so days of age to huge pups that are almost to weaning age (about 4 weeks of age).

Try to go by the empty girth of both snakes compared to the hips/butt of the rodent for the best "fit". If you need weights for feeders for the size of those snakes just ask. Two of our 07's are around Caution's weight, the other two 07's are about Savannah's weight. I'll be feeding babies tonight so I'll note prey weights just in case you need them.

[ADEE]

that wouldbe great to hear what the weights of your prey tonight. its good to know that your 07' babys are around the same size. i have no idea what the age difference is between the two. gotta love those "shops" eh

[frankykeno]

Well it can be quite a range depending on actual hatch date, genetics of each snake and how well they took to feeding. As of yesterday here's the weights on our four 07 females (all are captive hatched btw so I only have approximate, basically guesstimated hatch dates on them).

Niamh - 192 grams
Fianna - 167 grams
Darra - 77 grams (she had to be assist fed a couple of times to get going on her own)
Kennis - 84 grams (she had to be assist fed numerous times and 5 days ago was her first independent feeding of a live prey so cross your fingers for this girl eating again tonight without help please).

We should be feeding them in the next hour an hour so I'll post those prey ages and weights for you.

[ADEE]

wow, sounds like your bigger ones are in great shape!!!

good luck with the tough eaters.. thankfully caution didnt get that bad although he is a cautious feeder. i love your snakes names!

[frankykeno]

Thanks Ashley. Niamh (pronounced Neeve) and Fianna are both stupendous feeders and hit anything that moves basically and always have. Little Darra was slow to feed, and Kennis was a write off as far as feeding instinct but hopefully now they are both over that hump. Darra's taken a few feeds independently and Kennis finally got the concept of feeding herself 5 days ago so I'm praying she'll take a nice juicy live fuzzy tonight....crossing all my crossable bits.

All our ball pythons have either irish celtic or scots gaelic names. Mike has an Irish/Italian background, mine is Scots/Ukranian so we love the celtic/gaelic names for our ball pythons. Some of them are hard to spell and pronounce though LOL.

[frankykeno]

That went well...all the babies ate and so did Danu our adult WC female!

Prey sizes for the babies were as follows....

For Niamh - 41 gram rat pup (about 18 days old)

For Fianna - 38 gram rat pup (about 18 days old)

For Darra - 22 gram rat fuzzy/very young pup (about 14 or 15 days old)

For Kennis - 20 gram rat fuzzy/very young pup (about 14 or 15 days old)

[ADEE]

great to hear it went well!! now i have a refrence to go by.. its crazy confusing to see them in the store they look small till you get them next to the snake lol, im sure ill get it figured out soon enough and by the time i do im sure they will get bumped up a size lol!

[frankykeno]

Here's a little trick I used to use when buying pet store feeders. Make a circle with your fingers (like an OK sign) and figure out which fingers it takes to make the right size circle that fits that snake's empty girth. Now you have an instant reference at the pet store to compare a rat's hind end to. The other option is to grab a shoelace, wrap it around the snake's girth and make a knot. Make another knot for the other snake. Again now you have a way to actually compare.

It takes a while to be able to eyeball prey sizes. I know, I've been there and stuck with a totally incorrect size once I was home from the pet store. Darn feeder tubs should be marked "rats may be larger than they appear" LOL

[ADEE]

great ideas, thanks!