Weigh day...

[Lolo76]

I weighed all the snakes yesterday, as they ate good meals on Tuesday & nobody had pooped yet. I think Toby needs bigger prey, because he's been losing/maintaining for the last month... but the others had a very nice gain! Since their last weigh-in (~August 1st) Delilah put on 34g, and Mona gained 155g. She is finally over 2000g now - yay!!

Based on the pictures and weights below, what do you think Toby should be eating now? I usually give him a rat crawler/weanling, but had to get 2 hopper mice last week (they were out of crawlers). And what about the others? Delilah gets 2 adult mice weekly because she hates rats, and Mona gets a medium rat. I know Mona's probably at the maximum, but I'm wondering if Delilah's ready for 3 mice. Anyway, here they all are on the scale:

Mona - woot woot!


Delilah


Toby (it says 331)


And a cool bonus picture of Delilah (from inside the bowl)

[chapskis1]

Do you know the weight of the prey that you are feeding Toby? My ball, Cleveland, is just a little bit bigger than Toby (about 400g). I've been feeding him "small" rats for the past three feedings. I buy them from Petco (they are gourmet rodent brand, I think?). The package says they are 40g, so that's what I have been feeding him once every seven days -- I have just been going by the 10-15% of the snake's body weight rule of thumb.

Anyway, just my $0.02 -- I'm definitley no expert, but it seems to be working so far...

Later,

George


BTW, Deliahla (sp?) is beautiful -- definitely a nice looking normal!

[Lolo76]

Thanks! Prior to the last feeding, he was getting something along these lines (maybe a little bigger): http://www.rodentpro.com/popup_size....00%20-%2029.00
This week he got two of these, which I now realize were too small: http://www.rodentpro.com/popup_size....00%20-%2012.00

So, should I bump him to this size? http://www.rodentpro.com/popup_size....00%20-%2044.00

[chapskis1]

http://www.rodentpro.com/popup_size.asp?img=size_r_weaned.jpg&len=3.50%20-%204.50&wt=30.00%20-%2044.00[/url]

I would think he should be able to take one of those no problem.

-- George

[Qetu]

wow they are getting big lol

[Lolo76]

wow they are getting big lol

I know, huh?! Delilah has more than tripled in size since February, Toby has doubled his size, and even the big girl's gained ~400g since June. Guess I'm doing something right, or I just have pigs for BPs...

[Lolo76]

I would think he should be able to take one of those no problem.

-- George

Thanks! They just look so big at the store, and I can't imagine Toby getting one down his skinny neck. I guess they won't try if it's too huge, right? Now if I could just get them all on F/T (Mona is being stubborn), I'd really be happy...

[Lolo76]

Btw, do you think Toby will be ready for breeding next season (early 2010)? He was growing really fast at first, but seems to be slowing down... I really want him to mate with Mona next year!

[chapskis1]

Yeah...their necks are kind of small and skinny. I'm sure that you know the guideline where you can feed them prey the same size as the largest girth on their body -- it's crazy how those necks can stretch!

As for breeding Toby -- I have no knowledge at all in that area.

-- George

[MarkieJ]

How old is Toby? Personally I would have him on the small rats listed on Rodent Pro's website. I have a female ghost that is similar in size that would eat a small rat every other day if given the chance (and yes I have done this on a couple of occasions). If he continues to eat on a regular basis, he should be able to make this breeding season.

Looking over my records, I have a mojave male that doubled in size from 310 grams to 608 grams from 4/27/09 to 8/1/09. He took 9 small rats total over the course of that time period. These guys will grow rapidly if fed an appropriate prey size on a consistent basis.