Feeder Size?

[Slim]

My butter gal was 469g and eating small rats at seven months!

They all grow at different rates. You simply can't compare two snakes and draw conclusions. LOTS of factors to take into consideration. Kat, your little girl looks pretty healthy to me, but certainly ready for larger prey than you have been giving her so far. Moving up to the "Fluffs" was a good choice.

[Shera]

She's small but I wouldn't sweat it since she looks healthy. I got a male who was underfed from the start and was around 150g when I got him at 10 months old. he looked healthy and proportionate, just tiny for his age. He was on adult mice of about 30g each (although the guy who owned him must not have been feeding very often), so I went straight to rat weans (about 35g) with no issues. I fed every 5 days at first and have moved his prey size up accordingly over the months and am now feeding small rats weekly (he refuses sometimes now, so I might go every 10 days soon), and he's been up to about 1000g for a couple of months now. I only got him in August 2013, so he's now about 16 months or so. They make up lost time fast if properly fed.

As comparison though, I have a female hatched Aug 6th (so 6.5m) and she's over 800g. My female hatched mid Sept (so 5 months) is about 650g. They are great eaters though. I think it's clear that yours was "underfed", although it may have been due to pickiness and not neglect.

[Kat1204]

Thanks all. Its good to know she looks healthy.

She did take a while to start feeding looking at her feeding record:

Born 15/7/2013 @ 62g

She took a feed 30/7/2013 but then refused until 3/9/2013 She's then fed every week since, refusing only once 16/1/2014.

I got her on Saturday and fed her Sunday, which she took.( ate 1 of 2 offered)

So prey size must have been too small for her over the past few weeks???

Hopefully she'll put the weight on now she'll be getting bigger meals from Thursday

[Kat1204]

Oh yes!!! These sleepy fluffy little snacks look a far better size for her!! Brilliant quality too!!



They mainly range from 16-19g although there are a couple 12-14g so will start with those.

Hope she likes them

[PitOnTheProwl]

Yeah those are rat fuzzies.

[Kat1204]

Yeah those are rat fuzzies.

I thought so. They're called fluffs here

[Kat1204]

Totally forgot to post this on here the other day!! (From Thurs)

Over the moon!! She ate her first rat fluff this morning!

Got a vid of the action. Not the best like as my son was whinging and playing with toys in the background, she took 3 attempts to actually grab and constrict the rat, then I couldn't get the forceps out as she squeezed so hard!! lol note to self. Feed her when Lucas is in another room or in bed!!

So ignoring all the background racket! here's the vid:

http://youtu.be/K6M735bMP6g

And here's some pics after she finished eating








So pleased she was keen to eat only 6 days after getting here. Think I need to work on my technique so she can grab it first time tho. I was then advised she could handle bigger prey after she was seen eating, but as I bought 25 fluffs I thought I'd see if she was still hungry by offering her a 2nd fluff that night.

I got a night feeding vid!!! Crap visibility (as her lights are off for the night) but then I swear she plays to the camera!!! She pulled it into a patch of light to eat it!! Also didn't help that the rat was black!!! LOL Something rather eerie about watching a snake eat in the dark!!! Then as I closed the door she reared back into a strike pose. Beautiful!!

Stood and watched her for a bit and she calmed down and then just yawned in my face a few times LOL. Okay so its night time now Mam!! LOL Back went the hide and she's well full of another 15g of rat!!

That girls has some appetite!!

Okay, like I say, its pretty dark (and I've just realised I didn't turn phone on its side to get a wider shot! DOH!) but here's the vid:

http://youtu.be/RF2dwuhaqfE

And a couple of pics from after too:

Backoff I'm in feed mode!!!



And.....chill!!



Goodnight!



So Im going to offer her 2 fluffs every 5days till they're gone, then get her some weaners. Hopefully she'll have put on some weight by then.

2 days since she fed so thought I'd see if she fancied coming out tonight.

She was no bother at all! Was looking out of her hide when I went to get her. She's a curious girl n whenever I do anything in the viv she comes to see what I'm up to. Didn't ball up at all when I removed the hide or stroked her, then let me pick her up no probs

Had her out for about 15/20mins. She had a bit explore of my legs and hands then curled up on my hand for a lil pic.



Shes a little poser!! So beautiful!!! I'm amazed how such a little thing has so much power! I love her face too! She looks so kind

I think she might be starting the shedding process as her dark colours have a slight blue tinge to them and her belly has a slightly pink look.

Can't wait to see her freshly shed!!