Quote Originally Posted by Bogertophis View Post
It's up to you on the feeding...it's flexible, just as snakes have to be in the wild, & it never hurts to have a couple variations in mind. But just know that "large mice" are basically old breeders*, which are high fat content, thus not so healthy for snakes, whose natural diets are lean wild mice- not well-fed domestics. Fatty meals are also harder for snakes to digest. (*I know this because it's not at all cost-effective to raise mice that aren't breeding just to get to this large size to sell. I'm just letting you know this, as I've been a mouse-breeder for literally decades. If they raised mice to this size without breeding them, they'd have to charge a lot more for them, but as it is, large/jumbo mice are the bi-product of breeding mice- they're retired breeders, the ones whose productivity has diminished.)

As far as soiling the enclosure as soon as you clean, that's because the activity you've stirred up also stirred up his urge to go. If you want to avoid this, try handling him a day or hours BEFORE you plan to clean.
I didn't mean to sound argumentative... I totally agree with your recommendations and the logic behind them. I fully intend to purchase medium mice this go-around and slowly increase feeding frequency versus prey size.

My response was more of a complaint than a refusal! Food is love and I hate that Pan's diet must continue... The feeding schedule changes aren't the end of the world for me I am just a very regimented creature of habit. Flexibility is a virtue (or should be??)

My experience with reptiles is long but limited in scope. I have never raised my own feeders (not even crickets!). I have never bred or sold any reptiles. I have never kept large numbers at a time. I have never visited or participated in any expos. Etc, etc, etc... I wouldn't have posted if I wasn't open to suggestions from those more knowledgeable than myself. It's my inexperience with colubrids that caused this situation in the first place!

I am so thankful that this resource is available to me.

As far as soiling the cage goes though... I used to feed Pan in a large bucket and then soak him(?) in warm water until he went. That worked for years! Kept cage clean, kept him clean, kept him hydrated, kept me happy. Then he started taking longer to go (start of diet maybe?) and I worried about keeping the water warm enough. So I started letting him roam around my room after feeding instead (always looking for more food!) but then it is an unpleasant Easter egg hunt later. Now I just feed him in the cage and wait to clean until after he goes. However he will often go again as soon as I'm through! Timing doesn't seem to matter.