When to go up to the next size food??

[ChristinaP]

At the petstore, they had Ira on 2 pinkie mice every 5 days. When we first got him, he would strike at the first one, but refuse the second one. So, I would drop it in his feeder tank (I remove my snakes from their homes when I feed) and 5 mins later, he had ate it.
Now, he's a month older and is regularly striking at both. Last night he struck so violently that he actually pulled the pinkie out of the tongs, both times. Is it time to go up to 3 pinkies a meal? How do you know when to increase?

[kc261]

Do the 2 pinkies leave a visible lump in his belly? If not, it is probably time to move up to the next size.

Another way of looking at it is to compare the widest part of his body to the food item. If the food item is about the same width of his body, up to about 1.5x the width, it is a good size. Of course, that is harder to do with 2 pinkies, but you could compare to a fuzzy to see if he is ready for it.

[Blue Apple Herps]

Here, I posted this in another thread here. This is how I feed my corns and how I gauge when to move up in prey size:

Here's my fail safe method of feeding a corn that pretty much works in all situations. I feed all of mine once a week, whether they are hatchlings or adults, once a week (the exception is some of the larger ones are every 10-14 days), but 90% get fed once a week.

Feed something that is 1.5x's the widest part of your snakes body. Feed it this size once a week until you no longer see a lump after it eats. Once you no longer see a lump, move up in prey size. Keep this up until you stop at large mice. Even if there is no lump, keep feeding this size. I used to move up to small rats and stop there, but I found that my snakes started becoming pudgy and more prone to be lethargic, I found stopping at large mice to be the ideal point.

So if yours is on fuzzies, feed him one fuzzy a week until you no longer see a lump. Then move to hoppers until you no longer see a lump, then to small mice, etc.

This is the way I do it and the way I tell others who ask to do it. There are other methods, but I like this one because you don't need a scale or aren't worrying about if its been 5 days or 6 days or whatever. Just pick a day of the week and then that day becomes feeding day and its easy to remember.