First feeding?

[Pickenprod]

Hi all,

So my new ball has been relaxing in her tub for a week now, and I want to try feeding her soon. She seems fairly calm; she moves about the tub slowly, and I keep finding her curled up in different spots. I handled her briefly last night and she was very calm about the whole thing.

I plan to switch her over to f/t rat fuzzies, but for now I have frozen mice, since that is what she was used to before. My question for you is: how many mouse hoppers should I feed to her for the first feeding? She's quite big to still be eating them; she is 22 inches long and about 4 or 5 inches around. I bet she could eat two or three hoppers at once. But should I feed her so much all at once, for her first feeding with me? I don't want to stress her out.

I appreciate your advice.

[snakesonaplane]

Mine is 24" at the moment as well, and I switched her from small mice (5.0 grams) to medium mice (7.5 grams) when she was 22" as well, last month. From what I've seen on here and other supplemental reading, it's best to feed a ball one sufficient meal than multiple small ones. I'd try getting her something that's the same fatness as her thickest section. If those hoppers are a certain "brand" of frozen mouse, try getting some slightly larger mouse of the same brand. I say this because mine was used to Arctic Mice and wouldn't eat any other fuzzies when I tried to feed her a different brand I found at a cheaper price. But, your experience may differ. Still, one meal is better than many is the common consensus

[AnOceanSpirit]

It's late and I'm tired so I'm probably being a bit more daft than I'd normally like to admit to, but the OP's question is very similar (if not identical) to one I had planned on asking later today. Not to hijack, but I'm thinking we're in the same boat here. When I bought my young BP, I was told she was being fed 2 mice fuzzies a week (f/t ofcourse). From the paperwork, it looked as if they were feeding these two fuzzies one right after another, consecutively on the same day. Is this healthy? I've been worried about feeding her two separate bodies in this manner because I was unsure of the safety, so I've been feeding her a fuzzy every 4-5 days (and she's a garbage disposal). Can I feed her two consecutive fuzzies on the same day? (I know it's time to upgrade her to large fuzzies or hoppers, but as she's my only snake I want to finish off these fuzzies first.)

[Emily Hubbard]

I don't know if there is a more right answer here, I know people feed their snakes two rodents consecutively all the time. But if it were me, I personally would choose to feed them 4-5 days apart instead of on the same day until you run out of what you have, then upgrade. Of course, BPs CAN be tricky to get to switch sometimes, though not always.

I am close to making a switch myself, my girl is on adult mice right now and I have two left in the freezer. The are just ever so slightly too small for her, she is ravenous and snappy after six days, not seven and they barely leave a bulge in her anymore. I plan on introducing her to rats in a couple weeks when the mice are gone and hope the transition is easy. She has been a really good feeder so far, so I have high hopes. But you never know!

Best of luck!

[Pickenprod]

Thanks everybody! I just gave her one last night, and she ate it no problem! I am very pleased; I was worried she was going to be one of those not-eaters.