Feeding in multiples

[skybronco]

Hi all. Was having a problem with my BP Bitey and some of the suggestions were to up its diet, thinking its food was perhaps to small. Well when I went to the store the "small" rats were about 4 times the size of the adult mice, so just decided to try two mice as i dont think Bitey could eat one of those. Well she ate the first mouse instantly like always, but wont touch the second one and wants to go hide. Am i supposed to give her more time before the second mouse and how long? Or is she just good with one adult mouse a week for now? Thanks again for all the help.

[blackcrystal22]

Hi all. Was having a problem with my BP Bitey and some of the suggestions were to up its diet, thinking its food was perhaps to small. Well when I went to the store the "small" rats were about 4 times the size of the adult mice, so just decided to try two mice as i dont think Bitey could eat one of those. Well she ate the first mouse instantly like always, but wont touch the second one and wants to go hide. Am i supposed to give her more time before the second mouse and how long? Or is she just good with one adult mouse a week for now? Thanks again for all the help.

I only suggest feeding two prey items if they are both f/t. Feeding live twice is a huge expanse of energy for the snake and could cause regurgitation.
Are you feeding him inside or outside his enclosure? If your feeding him in a separate enclosure, this may be enabling him to bite you more.
If he's a strong eater, try getting some f/t mice and see if he eats them. Most likely a jump from a adult mouse to a large rat will be too large of a jump. On f/t, you can find more of a variety of rat sizes. A weanling rat would probably be a good size for him.

[Dave763]

A good rule of thumb is, to size the prey item by the girth of your snake. The other thing I would mention is a mouse eater may not eat a rat the first few times offered.
Better to up the prey size rather than feeding multiple items.

[sum182]

i feed my BP 3-4 mice a sitting, and they are live. shes never regurged or nothing. I dont really like doing it, but she wont take a rat nor ASF, so if you REALLY need to do it, i dont think it'd be a huge problem.

[SatanicIntention]

I only suggest feeding two prey items if they are both f/t. Feeding live twice is a huge expanse of energy for the snake and could cause regurgitation.
Are you feeding him inside or outside his enclosure? If your feeding him in a separate enclosure, this may be enabling him to bite you more.
If he's a strong eater, try getting some f/t mice and see if he eats them. Most likely a jump from a adult mouse to a large rat will be too large of a jump. On f/t, you can find more of a variety of rat sizes. A weanling rat would probably be a good size for him.

Feeding live multiple times does not cause the snake to regurgitate. I did it every week when I had live mice to feed off. Now I just feed frozen as it's cheaper. They hit the mice just as hard, if not hard, than the live mice and expend the same amount of energy. No regurges. Don't know where you might have heard that.

Two adult mice at a time should be fine. If he/she eats the weaned rat, fine, if not, that's fine too. They do just as well on mice as they do on rats. If the snake is male, two large mice every 10-14 days is fine. If female, try 3 large mice. If the snake isn't an adult yet, just go with two and work up from there.

[stratus_020202]

I've done three fuzzies before, and two hoppers. It's whatever the pet store has (until i can get my own). Mine does fine on them. I give her 10-15 min between to get them fully swallowed. If I don't give her enough she sits in the middle of the cage and stares at me, looking up at her top waiting for more.

[SatanicIntention]

10-15 minutes in between? Mine would lose their feed response by then and go back to sleep.

Wait until it's swallowed with the prey in the middle of the body and you see them S-ing back up. THEN offer another one.

[stratus_020202]

10-15 minutes in between? Mine would lose their feed response by then and go back to sleep.

Wait until it's swallowed with the prey in the middle of the body and you see them S-ing back up. THEN offer another one.

oh. lol. she didn't, but she's a pig. She would eat anything i put infront of her. I don't think there is a need to wait so long, i just did. As long as she acts interested she should be fine. Mine's a little one too, and it took her forever to eat when I bought her the larger prey.

[skybronco]

Well, she didnt seem interested in the other one right away, so my question is should i try again tomorrow, or is it better to let them digest what they have and wait a week before feeding again? Thanks again all. Oh and on a side note, some ppl told me i should get smaller hides, especially ones that i wouldnt think she would fit in. So I did... and she totally doesnt fit in it. But it is hillarious watching her try, and then just sit there half in and half out when she doesnt.

[stratus_020202]

Well, she didnt seem interested in the other one right away, so my question is should i try again tomorrow, or is it better to let them digest what they have and wait a week before feeding again? Thanks again all. Oh and on a side note, some ppl told me i should get smaller hides, especially ones that i wouldnt think she would fit in. So I did... and she totally doesnt fit in it. But it is hillarious watching her try, and then just sit there half in and half out when she doesnt.

lol. yeah, if she's not interested I would just wait. you can try different sizes. Like an adult and follow with a hopper, or fuzzy. I do think her hides should be a little bit bigger. lol. Just enough so they aren't wearing them as hats.