FEEDING Question: A rodent who's girth is the same size or a bit smaller

[Sammy J.]

OK, I'm not about to wrap my BP with a tape to measure, other than eye ball calibration, is there a chart, x grams to y grams fuzzy, Y to Z a small mouse. Some guide line; size verses weight?

[Qetu]

up to two times the size of the head of the snake is what ive heard.

[m00kfu]

There's a nice list at http://www.rodentpro.com/catalog.asp...el=frozen_rats. That's generally the size/weights that I go by, just because when I started out I was buying rats from them. How that relates to the sizes/weights that everyone else uses, I've never really bothered to find out.

[Sammy J.]

Thanks, but I meant weight of my snake verse size of feed.

If my BP weighs 71 grams, can I expect to feed a certain size mouse or rat.

[llovelace]

Your feeder should weigh 10-15% of your BP's weight, at 71 gr, your BP should be eating prey 7-10g every 5 days

[nitroball]

I was told by a reputable reptile vet that you go by the girth of the snake at its biggest point, the prey is one to one and a half times that size.

[stefanivanski]

I was told by a reputable reptile vet that you go by the girth of the snake at its biggest point, the prey is one to one and a half times that size.

This is what I was also told

[mainbutter]

For some snakes, 1.5x the girth is ok. BPs are already so heavy bodied that 1.5x the girth is a little overkill.

Carpet pythons or young retics for example can do 1.5x girth easy, because there is so much more snake than a BP of the same girth, and they have a higher metabolism.

I would avoid going much higher than the girth of the snake for feeding BPs, that usually breaks the 15% rule as well, and is a pretty easy way to overfeed and make an obese snake.

[Darkice]

For ball pythons i do the same sized rat as the thickest part of the snake. Seems to be working out. And i feed them every 4 days.

[Kaorte]

10-15% of the snakes body weight every 5 days for snakes under 300 grams, every 7 days for snakes between 300-900 grams and every 10 days there after.

Thats what I use at least.