What comes after the Hopper?

[PYMOM]

When I bought my BP from Petco, they were feeding him Pinkies...after advice on here i quickly switched to hoppers...I have been buying them in a 3 pack...but Petco has been out for over a month...we have a mom and pop petstore that sells them in twos...but the sizes vary alot. Some are hoppers and some look much bigger. You dont know till you get them home and open the carton. And it is a pain to get to the little pet store before it closes. So we went to Petco tonight and decided to get a pack of adult mice...They are not as big as my Bp's middle, but he is messing up tonight trying to feed on the first one we offered. Struck and constricted around the butt of it...then let go and started for the head...now just tounge flicking up and down it. Has totaly turned it loose but still intrested in it....meanwhile Aspen is getting all over it. What now?

[55Ballin]

If you have a loose substrate, like aspen, there are 2 things you can do. One, is feed him outside the enclosure with isn't recommended because it can stress out the snake and turn off feeding. However sometimes you have to, like with mine, he won't eat unless you dangle a F/K in front of him and the only safe way to do so is in a shallower feeding bin. The second alternative is to put parchment paper or newspaper down under the mouse. I do this for my boa. This prevents the snake from ingesting any pieces which can cause impaction.

Secondly, how big is your snake? It is very hard to rely on petco for advice. They told me I should be feeding my 28" ball one pinky or hopper a week. This is WAY underfeeding.

[Kryptonian]

some stores have weaniling size mice. Just a little samller tan the average adult but bigger than a hopper. Check to see if your pet store carries this size.

[Oxylepy]

1. Bulk order from the internet. Get 6 months worth, even with shipping costs this balances out to less than the pet store charges.
2. After hoppers I go to adult mice, in fact I just generally follow the 10%/15% body mass rule of thumb, so often by the time they are pounding 3 hoppers a feeding I either let them eat the rest of the bag and switch (not at once, but in so many feedings) or just switch.
3. Aspen really isnt a big deal, some people panic about it, others dont, really depends. When I used it I never bothered being worried about them swallowing it, because they didnt, and most pieces they would have would have been smaller than the bones in the rodent, and thus would most likely pass fairly easily. But I never had a problem, so I guess that could just be me.

Good luck.

[PYMOM]

He took it down finally. I will follow the advice and order bulk..Im going to weigh him today...may go back to hoppers for awhile...he has no trouble with them...will post weight and see what the veterans say.