Feeding

[betoiguanas]

My ball is 3'3 long. I've been feeding him with 2 large mice in one sitting every 7 days. This past weekend offered 3 and he ate them also in one sitting ! Is this ok for his size or he is getting overfeed ? When I brought him home, he didn't eat for a month, but now he is eating like crazy ! I don't want to offer him rats, because he only takes live, and rats tend to bite to defend themselves. So I'm ok with mice, but maybe he needs bigger prey.

[blackcrystal22]

Rats will not bite any more than mice. In fact, people who've had ANY issues with feeding live tend to have more problems with mice than rats.

The only time you have to worry about anything biting or injuring your snake is if you don't keep an eye on the feeding or leave it in there for too long.

Feeding a small/medium rat would be sufficient. Feeding multiple food items can be difficult on their system and it's generally cheaper and easier to feed one item per round.
Use the rule of thumb; feed prey thats about the same thickness as the thickest point on the snakes body. A little more or less isn't going to do any harm, but going too high over or below can be dangerous.

:]

[SatanicIntention]

My males, regardless of what size as adults, do fine on 2 mice a week or every 10 days(sometimes 14 if they aren't in a breeding rotation). If they are in a breeding rotation, then they may get 3 mice for the extra energy.

[betoiguanas]

Thanks !
The thing is that where I live is very difficult to find small rats, the mice are from Petco, and sometimes I can see that some of them are sick, however that's the only pet store around. But I will try to get him to feed on small rats, but first I need to find out where.
Rats in Petco are way too big for my ball.

[betoiguanas]

My males, regardless of what size as adults, do fine on 2 mice a week or every 10 days(sometimes 14 if they aren't in a breeding rotation). If they are in a breeding rotation, then they may get 3 mice for the extra energy.

Do you offer them in one sitting ?

[SatanicIntention]

Yes, all in one sitting. They get the first one, finish swallowing, then start giving me the evil eye, then they get tossed a second. No chubby males here.

[kid_mustango02]

Feeding multiple food items can be difficult on their system

Crystal, can you tell me where you read this?

Hey Beto, you can always see if he'll eat a F/T small rat. They sell those at Petco too. If so, you can mail order more frozen rats which will be the size you're looking for and much cheaper than the elevated petco retail price.

I feel you're pain about the availability of rats. You can see if there's some kind of herp group in your area and surely somebody there will be breeding their own rats.

If you feed him 3 petco mice a week that'll be about 10 bucks, or you can feed him 3 mail order rat pups for about 3 bucks. Unless money isn't an issue...

[betoiguanas]

Crystal, can you tell me where you read this?

Hey Beto, you can always see if he'll eat a F/T small rat. They sell those at Petco too. If so, you can mail order more frozen rats which will be the size you're looking for and much cheaper than the elevated petco retail price.

I feel you're pain about the availability of rats. You can see if there's some kind of herp group in your area and surely somebody there will be breeding their own rats.

If you feed him 3 petco mice a week that'll be about 10 bucks, or you can feed him 3 mail order rat pups for about 3 bucks. Unless money isn't an issue...

First , thanks for your help.
And yeah, in these days, the economy is so bad, gas price, etc.
I have been spending some money in my ball's feeding, that's almost 40 bucks monthly, the thing is that he didn't want frozen food, and I don't like to keep live mice or rats, if he doesn't take them. Maybe I should try more to get him to take F/T. Any tips ?

[blackcrystal22]

Crystal, can you tell me where you read this?

Hey Beto, you can always see if he'll eat a F/T small rat. They sell those at Petco too. If so, you can mail order more frozen rats which will be the size you're looking for and much cheaper than the elevated petco retail price.

I feel you're pain about the availability of rats. You can see if there's some kind of herp group in your area and surely somebody there will be breeding their own rats.

If you feed him 3 petco mice a week that'll be about 10 bucks, or you can feed him 3 mail order rat pups for about 3 bucks. Unless money isn't an issue...

When I mean feeding multiple food items, I meant feeding the appropriately sized prey (or too large of prey) in multiples, which is a lot to digest. Sometimes too, if the snake decides he wants to constrict it for some reason, it can upset the previously swallowed prey.
Sorry for the confusion.

If you only have the availability of mice, many people feed bps their whole life on multiple mice. Just make sure not to over/underfeed! :]

[kid_mustango02]

When I mean feeding multiple food items, I meant feeding the appropriately sized prey (or too large of prey) in multiples, which is a lot to digest. Sometimes too, if the snake decides he wants to constrict it for some reason, it can upset the previously swallowed prey.
Sorry for the confusion.

Understood crystal. I was just wondering if that was something you found cause I wanted to read up on it out of curiosity.