new diet for my female.

[sookieball]

ok so she used to eat 4 lg mice on feeding day and wont eat rats because one bit her and she just got scared i guess. and ive tried prekilled rats and it was a no go.

so i have been feeding her one every other day.

she seems to be happy with that and doesnt refuse the meal like she did before.

do you think its too much?


oh and she's 1200 grams and a pretty good legnth of 3ft7inchs.

[Generationshell]

It it recommended that adult bps are fed no less than 7 days apart. I think maybe switching to 2 large mice every 7 days would be better than feeding every other day.
Some even say that feeding too frequently will cause the bp to later go on a fast, but I can't for sure say that's a fact.

[butters!]

what in the hell?

[sookieball]

what in the hell?

lol


WHAT????

[dr del]

Hi,

I'm not sure I know what the question is...... But that never stopped me before so here we go.

It's better to feed her multiple prey items at one sitting than to constantly have her digesting by offering every second day I think.

Their digestive system is designed to shut down between meals in a way mamals cannot - there was a good post explaining the process somewhere but I cannot find the link at the moment.

What meals was she refusing aside from the rats she doesn't want? Has she recently only wanted three mice or something similar?

It might be an idea to weigh the 4 mice she would normally eat to compare to the 10-15% of bodyweight rule - though that rules doesn't really apply once they get up to near breeding size for me. I feed nothing larger than a small rat to any of my snakes following a post made on here that this makes for a more consistent feeding pattern.

Small rats for me are around the 60g mark but it varies a bit depending on supplier.


dr del

[sookieball]

Hi,

I'm not sure I know what the question is...... But that never stopped me before so here we go.

It's better to feed her multiple prey items at one sitting than to constantly have her digesting by offering every second day I think.

Their digestive system is designed to shut down between meals in a way mamals cannot - there was a good post explaining the process somewhere but I cannot find the link at the moment.

What meals was she refusing aside from the rats she doesn't want? Has she recently only wanted three mice or something similar?

It might be an idea to weigh the 4 mice she would normally eat to compare to the 10-15% of bodyweight rule - though that rules doesn't really apply once they get up to near breeding size for me. I feed nothing larger than a small rat to any of my snakes following a post made on here that this makes for a more consistent feeding pattern.

Small rats for me are around the 60g mark but it varies a bit depending on supplier.


dr del

hey Doc!

ok well she would always refuse to eat more that 3 mice.
only once did she eat 5 in one sitting.

she refuses rats, even weaned and prekilled.
f/t are not an option with her because same as prekilled, she likes to eat alone(no one watching) and likes to stalk her prey.

recently she only eats one mouse a sitting.
but 2 days later she is in striking mode when ever i walk in front of the tank.
and its clear she is hungry.

i heard someone say before on a post that they feed every 3rd day because their bp was a problem feeder and this was their solution. so i applied it to her.

and its a hit. she is gaining weight steadily and not refusing meals like before.

one person said that they feed 3 times a week for the same reasons.
so i figured maybe she would rather, u know?

[dr del]

Hmmm,

I take it you tried not offering food for a couple of weeks then offering a small rat?

My normal male is a fussy little beggar on occasion and will refuse his rat but will take a couple of mice. Since that doesn't fill him up however he will eventually take the rat (though it can take a month of mice feedings ) and be fine for another couple of months.

I will feed skinny hatchlings every three days on occasion but I'm happier with slower growth and a 5 day schedule - and anything over 500g I stick to a 7 day schedule as I think having a set feeding timeline actually helps them eat better.

Plus if they know when feeding day is it makes it a little less stressful for me to stick my paw into the tank on the other days.


dr del

[mainbutter]

The obvious "best case" solution here is to stop caving in to the snake's voiceless "demands", and start working hard to convert her to eventually feed on (preferably f/t) medium rats.

[Lolo76]

The obvious "best case" solution here is to stop caving in to the snake's voiceless "demands", and start working hard to convert her to eventually feed on (preferably f/t) medium rats.

One of my snakes just went through a 9-month fast, since she only wanted to eat ASFs this year (which are illegal here, but I eventually found a bag of frozen). So it's nice to suggest tough love, but those BP temper tantrums can last a LONG time!! So I just try to meet their demands, since I don't breed my own prey... and it doesn't matter what I buy, once I'm at the pet store or on RodentPro.com.

To the OP, I would agree with Dr Del on not feeding so often... it's gotta be hard on their digestive system, unless it's a really small or high-metabolism snake (like a baby corn). I give my large mouse-only eaters 2-4 adults per feeding, and they're growing at a nice rate. If they only take 1-2 in that feeding, I might offer 5 days later instead, but otherwise I assume that filled them up. If you're really concerned, maybe you should try finding larger prey? My regular pet shop sells adults that are practically hopper-sized, but there's another (more expensive and less convenient) store with LARGE adults... so if I'm really motivated to give them a more filling meal, I'll try to get to that shop instead. Do you breed your own mice?

[rabernet]

One of my snakes just went through a 9-month fast, since she only wanted to eat ASFs this year (which are illegal here, but I eventually found a bag of frozen). So it's nice to suggest tough love, but those BP temper tantrums can last a LONG time!! So I just try to meet their demands, since I don't breed my own prey... and it doesn't matter what I buy, once I'm at the pet store or on RodentPro.com.

To the OP, I would agree with Dr Del on not feeding so often... it's gotta be hard on their digestive system, unless it's a really small or high-metabolism snake (like a baby corn). I give my large mouse-only eaters 2-4 adults per feeding, and they're growing at a nice rate. If they only take 1-2 in that feeding, I might offer 5 days later instead, but otherwise I assume that filled them up. If you're really concerned, maybe you should try finding larger prey? My regular pet shop sells adults that are practically hopper-sized, but there's another (more expensive and less convenient) store with LARGE adults... so if I'm really motivated to give them a more filling meal, I'll try to get to that shop instead. Do you breed your own mice?

And their heart - studies show that a python's heart expands right after a meal, thought to aid in digestion. That can't be good for her all the time.