First BP for son

[slseals1969]

I am trying to learn as much I can and there is a wealth of knowledge on this forum. Thanks for everyone's support and comments. Now the question is, as we move up in size, should we try to switch to rats, or just stay with mice?

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[JodanOrNoDan]

In the long run it will be better to be on rats, if for no other reason than you will always be able to feed a single prey item. An adult ball can eat a lot of mice in one sitting.

[Craiga 01453]

I hear ya. There is a lot to learn, but you're in a great place and doing well.

The biggest pro I see in switching to rats is feeding just one rat per feeding, where mice, even jumbos, will require more than one per feeding, up to as many as 5 with female BPs.

So you're looking at much easier feedings as well as spending less money by switching to rats.

[Sunnieskys]

My girl is 11 mo. 259g and on rat pups. It looks like a struggle but she gets them down. How much does your boy weigh. He looks like a healthy young man.

[slseals1969]

Unfortunately that's the one thing I have not done is weigh him, I've been more concerned about getting him to eat and getting temps and humidity dialed in. I need to get him on the scale after I've given him a chance to digest a bit.

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[LittleTreeGuy]

Looks and sounds like you're doing pretty well. I got my first BP (first snake, as well) almost two years ago. A female Mojave. I was concerned with over/under feeding. It's kind of an rough suggestion (that many argue) that snakes should eat a prey item that is 10-15% of their body weight. Since I worry about everything, I bought a kitchen scale that goes up to 5000g and started weighing my snake and the mice, then rats that I was feeding her. It did make me feel a lot better about it.

The first six months, I fed her about every 5 or 6 days. If she ever didn't eat, I'd try again at 10 days. At 6 months or so, I went to every 7 days. That worked fine for about 6 months.


Now, it's different. She may eat every 7 days for a few feedings, and most recently, she didn't eat for about 3 months. I offered, she just didn't want to eat. Just don't be too worried if you ever have a week where he doesn't want to eat. It likely won't happen at a young age because they grow so fast and need that protein. With a scale, if they don't eat, you can track their weight, and if it's not really dropping, it's usually nothing to be overly concerned about.

Also, if you haven't read or been told, they don't really poop very much. You may not see him poop until he sheds... or maybe not for a month at a time. If so, don't be alarmed. When they are young, they absorb most of their prey and don't really have a lot of waste. you'll know when they do though... lol

[Sunnieskys]

I
Also, if you haven't read or been told, they don't really poop very much. You may not see him poop until he sheds... or maybe not for a month at a time. If so, don't be alarmed. When they are young, they absorb most of their prey and don't really have a lot of waste. you'll know when they do though... lol

ya, you will know. Boople goes about every three weeks and it's about as big as a rat pup lol. I'm like jeez girl you lost some weight with that one lol!

[slseals1969]

So, we picked up some rats at Repticon on Saturday. We have successfully fed him three of the medium mice every four days. I picked up both rat pups and weanlings. I was going to fed him the last mouse from the snack pack I got at PetSmart but since I had the rats out anyway I decided to thaw one of the pups and go for it. He didn't even hesitate to wrap the sucker up but then he dropped it and gave the whole thing a very thorough once over flicking it from head to tail. Then he kind of backed up and just looked at it for a few seconds. I really thought he wasn't going to take it. Then he grabbed it again. He started on the back of the neck and fumbled around a bit then he pulled it further back in his hide where we couldn't see him very well. A few seconds later he scooted back close to the opening and we could see he had it all sorted out and he sucked it right down quicker than any of the mice so far. Guess we'll move the feedings out to five days and see if he's interested. We did finally take the chance to weigh him. Hee was 12 oz, which I believe concerts to 340g. A large pup should be about right for him until he picks up a little more weight but now that we are closer to the right size food it shouldn't take long. Very happy that he took the switch to rats so easily.

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[Sunnieskys]

Nice!

[Craiga 01453]

Awesome!!!!