New BP owner...not sure if feeding correctly?

[SCWood]

I received Eden in July just before my birthday. She had escaped for 3 months and her previous owner moved thinking she was dead...obviously not. I took over immediately. I got a cage and supplies and handled her...I must say I don't have nearly as many issues with her as her previous owner did. Anyway, I feed her 2 small adult mice every 2 weeks as told by my in-laws who own her sister, Cleo, from the same clutch. She is now a year old, 2' long, and 4" thick in her widest area. Is what I'm feeding her sufficient? I've only seen her shed once in the last 4 months I've had her. She seems to take the mice without hesitation and downs them very quickly (as does Cleo). I was considering larger prey for her.

[Stewart_Reptiles]

Since your BP is a juvy, ideally you want to feed a prey equal the girth size once a week.

I have no doubt your BP can take an adult mouse and maybe even bigger.

[SCWood]

Well she has 2 small. Maybe I should upgrade her.

1 female normal BP
1 male Chihuahua

[Stewart_Reptiles]

Well she has 2 small. Maybe I should upgrade her.

That and also the frequency since you mentioned you were feeding every 2 week.

[SCWood]

2 every week then? Or one larger every week?

1 female normal BP -Eden
1 male Chihuahua -Panda

[Stewart_Reptiles]

2 every week then? Or one larger every week?

One larger one for now, it really depends on the weight.

As your BP will keep growing you will have to feed multiple mice unless of course you switch to rats which will only require a single prey since they get bigger.

Around 500 grams is when I would start feeding an additional mouse.

[SCWood]

Thanks! I have no way of weighing her 😕

1 female normal BP -Eden
1 male Chihuahua -Panda

[bcr229]

Since she's still fairly young and hungry from growth, I would take the opportunity to switch her to rats.

[Daigga]

I feed mine once a week, mouse weanlings for my smaller snakes and small to medium rats for the larger ones. A good rule of thumb is to feed prey items about as thick around at the hips as she is at the thickest part of her body. I will also point out that feeding a second prey item is to be done at your discretion. Just because a snake takes the second mouse/rat doesn't mean they were particularly hungry (as snakes are opportunistic feeders and will often eat even if they aren't very hungry), and just because they refuse one or both food items doesn't mean they're full or satisfied (ball pythons are notorious for fussy eating habits). Getting into a good feeding routine helps a lot, which for me means offering each of my snakes one properly sized rodent around the same time on the same day each week (and disposing of the rodent if it hasn't been eaten within an hour or two).

[SCWood]

So I'm thinking a small rat every week?

1 female normal BP -Eden
1 male Chihuahua -Panda