Feeding

[Amanda1987]

So I have the feeding guide and usually feed accordingly. This time all I was able to get were hoppers which ate about 10 grams to small. I just fed him yesterday but he is still acting hungry and coming out of hide and going in strike position. Should I try the second hopper?

Sent from my SM-G920R7 using Tapatalk

[Momokahn]

In the wild, a snake doesn't have the luxury of a feed chart or the ability to pick the perfect meal. I'm not a proponent of the supersized meals for snakes but when a prey item I feed is a bit small, I will follow up with a second prey item and the choice is the snakes. If it refuses, then it waits until the next feeding day. If it were mine, I would leave it up to the snake. Try it and see what it does. In the wild they have choices. I have always given my snakes choices within reason of course. Next time just try back to back with the prey items if they are too small.

[Zincubus]

I mentioned a while back that I heard of a guy that interchanges between mice / chicks / rats and whatever , also goes from 6 days up to 18 days back to 12 - all over the place basically ... also varies the sizes of the food offerings as well ...


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro

[Godzilla78]

I mentioned a while back that I heard of a guy that interchanges between mice / chicks / rats and whatever , also goes from 6 days up to 18 days back to 12 - all over the place basically ... also varies the sizes of the food offerings as well ...


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro

I personally agree with this. The diet doesn't have to be machine like.

[SDA]

I feed according to how much weight they seem to be putting on and or maintaining and how well they have bowel movements. It's tough the first time but after you realize they won't die, you can start customizing their meals around maintaining a healthy weight. Google some times the science behind snake metabolism and how their organs enlarge after a meal. It's amazing how they are designed for feast or famine feeding and power feeding them can and will wreck them eventually.

So long as they are eating and you are not grossly under or over feeding them, you are doing the right thing

[Amanda1987]

Thanks everyone. I normally feed about 11% of the of body weight and he seems to do really good like that. I don't know what I was thinking when I only fed 1. I will offer as soon as I get home.

Sent from my SM-G920R7 using Tapatalk

[Godzilla78]

I do supersize rodents for my snakes, sometimes, but then I give them a longer break until the next meal, and alternate with a smaller meal next time. then offer food 5-6 days after the small meal. My meal sizes are all over the place, but I feed the rapidly growing younglings every 5-8 days, and the adults a little less often.

[Amanda1987]

I do supersize rodents for my snakes, sometimes, but then I give them a longer break until the next meal, and alternate with a smaller meal next time. then offer food 5-6 days after the small meal. My meal sizes are all over the place, but I feed the rapidly growing younglings every 5-8 days, and the adults a little less often.

My little guy is only 232g so I only feed by 10-12% his body size. He seems to do really good like that. But they were out if what I wanted

Sent from my SM-G920R7 using Tapatalk

[cchardwick]

I go by what I have available in my rat breeding rack. I actually had some older female rats that I'm soon replacing that ate all their young, died during birth, or only had a few pups. All those are going to be pulled and replaced and eventually fed off to my retic. But I ended up with many rats that were a bit small and actually ran out and couldn't feed a bunch of my male ball pythons. Sometimes I have an excess and will feed multiple rats per snake and with nearly 50 snakes feeding multiple rodents per snake means I can burn through 100-150 rats in a single feeding! Sure clears out my excess inventory LOL.

Mostly though I go by the body condition of the snake. I usually spot a few that are underweight and make a note of them. Then I feed (live) to all my snakes, come back 5 minutes later and see if any are uneaten. If they are not eaten I'll move them over to the snakes that are thin for a second or third meal. If my snakes are overweight I'll skip one or two weeks between feedings.

I also never go over 15% of the body weight of the snake, I've actually had a few snakes go off of food after feeding a rodent that's too big for it. I think it makes them try to size up the rodent next time to try to see if it's too big or not, I'd rather give some confidence to the snake that anything I feed it will be the appropriate size. If I have a thin snake and an excess of rats that are on the small size I've actually fed up to five rats in one feeding, it puts some weight on the snake and uses up my extra rats. It helps to balance out the supply and demand of rats / snakes. Usually I pair up 6 female rats per week with a male rat, but now that I'm running on the low side I've been pairing up 9 female rats per week. About three weeks before my eggs hatch I'll have to pair up even more.

[Amanda1987]

I go by what I have available in my rat breeding rack. I actually had some older female rats that I'm soon replacing that ate all their young, died during birth, or only had a few pups. All those are going to be pulled and replaced and eventually fed off to my retic. But I ended up with many rats that were a bit small and actually ran out and couldn't feed a bunch of my male ball pythons. Sometimes I have an excess and will feed multiple rats per snake and with nearly 50 snakes feeding multiple rodents per snake means I can burn through 100-150 rats in a single feeding! Sure clears out my excess inventory LOL.

Mostly though I go by the body condition of the snake. I usually spot a few that are underweight and make a note of them. Then I feed (live) to all my snakes, come back 5 minutes later and see if any are uneaten. If they are not eaten I'll move them over to the snakes that are thin for a second or third meal. If my snakes are overweight I'll skip one or two weeks between feedings.

I also never go over 15% of the body weight of the snake, I've actually had a few snakes go off of food after feeding a rodent that's too big for it. I think it makes them try to size up the rodent next time to try to see if it's too big or not, I'd rather give some confidence to the snake that anything I feed it will be the appropriate size. If I have a thin snake and an excess of rats that are on the small size I've actually fed up to five rats in one feeding, it puts some weight on the snake and uses up my extra rats. It helps to balance out the supply and demand of rats / snakes. Usually I pair up 6 female rats per week with a male rat, but now that I'm running on the low side I've been pairing up 9 female rats per week. About three weeks before my eggs hatch I'll have to pair up even more.

I only have my local mom and pop pet store to get my feeders from. I prefer live because shipping frozen is really costly. And he has always been a great eater never a problem. But I noticed since his feeding yesterday he would come out of his hide in the strike position which he never does. He is usually a docile little guy. Hasn't so much as hissed at someone yet. And I figured it was from the mouse being way to small.

Sent from my SM-G920R7 using Tapatalk