Prey Size

[purpleroan]

Hey all! I understand the rule that typically prey size should be the diameter of your bp at its thickest point. However, I also saw a chart that showed bps the size of mine (355g, but slightly less once she sheds/poops) will usually be eating rat weanlings. Last week I went to buy a rat after using up the small mice given to me by her last owner (I was feeding multiples) and I ended up buying a small rat that was pretty much exactly her diameter. It was enormous compared to what she'd been on but she took it even faster than usual and got it down in 10 minutes, considerably longer than a small mouse but totally understandable also. My question I guess is is it normal for a ~340g bp to feed on small rats, or should I play it safe and go smaller to avoid obesity too? I did ask for the "smallest small" they had and she didn't regurgitate or seem bothered at all, and there was barely a visible lump.

[Sunnieskys]

I just switched Odyn as well to small rats from mice. I thought it would take a lot longer. Nope he had it down in 5 min. You do however need to weigh the rats at the store. At 355 he needs the smallest small rat. Odyns were 47g. He weighed in at 387. It was the smallest they had. Where are you getting your rats from?

[Alter-Echo]

Well, I typically don't worry about obesity with my bps until they approach 800 grams or more, if he ate it easily and has the proper hot spot for digestion, I wouldn't worry too much about it.

[purpleroan]

Thanks everyone! I'm buying the rats from the local CountryMax..the woman was very nice though last time and brought out a couple bags of different sizes for me to see so they probably wouldn't mind if I brought a scale. Going off a before and after weigh of the snake I'm guessing it was around 43g, I didn't think to weigh it alone before though unfortunately.


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[Alter-Echo]

Countrymax... you must live near me, as I sometimes use them too and they are a western ny thing. The sizes they get in are highly variable, but they usually have no issue letting you pick exactly what rats you want.

[purpleroan]

@Alter-Echo Yup! I'm in Geneseo...and yes they were great last week.