In my situation, am I underfeeding causing activity?

[rj1204]

Ok, I have a 10 snake rack with 41q Sterilite tubs, Flexwatt belly heat, newspaper substrate, and 8 oz water dishes. The only open side is the 18" front so it is good and dark in the back of the rack. I have one window in the room and it is on the side, so the room gets fair light during the day but not a lot. My temps are about 90-91 on the hot side and 80 on the cool side. My humidity stays right around 55%. I change the water every 7 days and clean the tubs with Chlorohexidine when cleaning is needed.

About a month ago, I received 3 sub-adult (900 gram) females from a breeder. The breeder advised me that he had not fed them in 3 weeks since he knew they were going to be shipped. He did many things that seemed shady (I didn't know until after I received them) and it showed in the aggressive nature of these girls. The good thing was these girls ate on day 1 and have not slowed down.

I fed them each one small (60-70 gram) F/T rat on day one. Two of them went back to the heat and one just sat at the front of the tub in strike position for 2 days. I went ahead and fed her another small F/T rat. The following week, I fed them each one medium F/T rat (90-100 gram rat). It seemed to satisfy all of them and they all went back to the heat. I read a lot of posts and posted a few myself seeking feeding advice. It seemed people were recommending I stick with the 60-70 gram rats so my girls keep an appetite and keep feeding well. So, 4 days ago, I fed each of them just one small F/T rat. Now, all three of them are at the front of the tub just waiting. When I walk in, they bring there heads to the opening of the rack to greet anything that comes into the tub.....and I don't mean a nice greeting. They are not striking but just waiting for me to dangle a rat for them. They are acting like its feeding day.

I know they are comfortable and my set up/temps are good. Two of them shed two weeks ago too and had some pretty large defecations. They have calmed down a lot since I got them over a month ago. Would you suggest I just go to one medium rat (90-110 gram) just once a week instead of one small (60-70 gram) rat once a week? I have two other girls the same size and they both eat and go back to there heat......and are ready one week later. The small rat seems to satisfy them. The other girls came from a different breeder but my 3 "hungry" girls came from the same breeder. Thanks for any advice.

[wax32]

Seems like you should just feed them whatever they will eat. I feed my 1500g girl small rats and she is growing just fine. I haven't really considered moving to medium rats.

[rj1204]

Thanks. Disregard this post. I think I was just thinking out loud and being an "over-worried" parent. My girls eventually went back to their hot spots for a couple days. I think I am just going to feed one small rat per week to all my BP's. That should keep them all satisfied regardless. Thanks again.