How Frequently Do You Feed Your BPs?

[51-50 Python]

Feeding should never be for the entertainment of the owner. It's not healthier or more exciting for the snake to feed live.

I do feed live exclusively myself, because I breed my own rats, but I didn't choose live for any of those reason.

Each owner should decide what works best for them.

ur right each owner should decide what works best for them. But how would you know if feeding live isnt healthier i mean if u feed it frozen.. that thing has been frozen and then thawed its a whole process compared to feeding live which is fresh and more nutritious in my opinion.. and whats wrong with getting entertainment out of it i mean its ur snake u would like to think that its aggressive and could easily kill a mouse or rat.. to me i think its impressive.. my snake usually strikes at the rat the first second or two i toss it in there so it makes me feel good everytime it does

[rabernet]

ur right each owner should decide what works best for them. But how would you know if feeding live isnt healthier i mean if u feed it frozen.. that thing has been frozen and then thawed its a whole process compared to feeding live which is fresh and more nutritious in my opinion.. and whats wrong with getting entertainment out of it i mean its ur snake u would like to think that its aggressive and could easily kill a mouse or rat.. to me i think its impressive.. my snake usually strikes at the rat the first second or two i toss it in there so it makes me feel good everytime it does

Can you point me to a study that says that live is healthier and more exciting for the snake than f/t? The fact that there are thousands of animals feed f/t that are thriving in collections around the world is proof enough that f/t is no less healthy than feeding live.

I am impressed with my snakes and the fact that they are perfectly designed to dispatch their prey - but if entertainment value is the reason to choose to feed live, the keeper might want to re-think their reason for having a snake.

[littleindiangirl]

We feed our young snakes that size every 5 days

[Jenn]

I'm going to have to agree with Robin. I feed live, but not for MY entertainment. In fact, once I'm sure everything's OK, I shut the lights off and let my snakes eat in privacy.

[Danegerous]

at the recommendation of a good friend, Brian from Chicago Reptile House, I feed my little guys (<600 grams) every 3 days. That's my schedule, that doesn't meant they follow it. I am very consious of who likes to eat often and who doesn't. I have one Mojave that will eat every two days if I put it in front of him. He has healthy stools, too, so he digestions just works a little faster. But then I have some that will only eat every 8-10 days. So, it all evens out. I'm on day 4 right now and I'm starting my feeding today.

I also breed my own rats, so I feed live. Even though I keep my rats in the same room, my guys and gals are real god about feeding time. Quick, successful kills everytime, right away.

[JoshJP7]

I feed babies every 5 days till they hit 200g and then they go to every 7 days... Fed an appropriate sized meal once a week my snakes grow at about 100g per shed cycle (4-6 weeks)

[missi182]

I feed f/t weaned rats (30 grams) to my juvenile bp who is just under 200 grams. He is currently being switched from 5 days to 7 days, a few feedings at a time. Hes at 6 days right now. I think he will need 30-40 gram rats to not be hungry for a full 7 days at this point so he is being worked up to that size.

The reason I feed f/t is because it is much easier for me to keep frozen rats in the freezer than live, and I have witnessed a few bites from feeding live myself. On the other hand if my bp were to refuse f/t or stop eating I would feed live.

[WaRocker]

Maybe mine eats like a horse? He eats about every 4 days and downs 2 fuzzies. Usually I can tell on the 3rd night or so he is hungry because he is hunting in the tank for food all night long.
He is about 16" long.. weight unknown... He looks fat and happy..

[missi182]

Maybe mine eats like a horse? He eats about every 4 days and downs 2 fuzzies. Usually I can tell on the 3rd night or so he is hungry because he is hunting in the tank for food all night long.
He is about 16" long.. weight unknown... He looks fat and happy..

Instead of feeding so frequently perhaps you should up your prey size. You can grab a digital scale for $20 from wal-mart to weigh your snake to help get a better idea of what size prey he should get. I was feeding my juvenile bp fuzzies for a few weeks when I first got him (fuzzy mice) and quickly noticed he was simply still hungry all the time. That was because I wasn't feeding him enough... I moved him up to hoppers that were about 20 grams and he was still hunting every few days so now he is at 30 gram rats.

It is also easier for you to feed a bigger prey item then several small, but of course it is up to you how you want to feed your bp. As long as he has a full belly and is putting on weight (another reason a scale is a good idea) then its all good.

[FireproofGorilla]

Maybe mine eats like a horse? He eats about every 4 days and downs 2 fuzzies. Usually I can tell on the 3rd night or so he is hungry because he is hunting in the tank for food all night long.
He is about 16" long.. weight unknown... He looks fat and happy..

I've got the same deal with mine. She's 21" & 140g now. She was 19.5" & 120g when I got her 3 weeks ago. She's not obese, but she'll down 2 fuzzies and she's on the prowl again by day 3. I took her to the vet for her intial (general) checkup and the vet said she's pretty healthy but I could bump her up to two feedings a week. Now I feed her 2 fuzzies every 3-4 days. She's in her first shed right now.