Quote Originally Posted by Thesnakepitt View Post
Sup wild man !! I can tell you one thing. Those who maintence feed their babies, have them longer. People want to purchase FAT babies !!!! Yes, the ones you have longer you'll have more invested into, but they will be very healthy and you customers will be very happy.

I'm running 75-80 adult rats and have no problem feeding my hatchlings 50+ atm. with last years holdback and this years babies the only problem I have is getting rats to med size for the breeders.
I agree. Keep in mind that baby snakes are growing much faster than adults are. Adults can be fed less frequesntly than babies, because adults are merely maintaining their weight (with the exception of breeding females, in which case they need a little extra body fat); babies are using their food intake to turn into size and weight. I don't know that I would ever go to a 10-14 day schedule for babies, but I would say that 5-7 is safe. As I said before, I feed all of my animals every 7 days (regardless of size); sometimes the adults refuse, but they're offered nonetheless. The babies I've produced have grown very well on a 7-day schedule; I am using rat pinks/fuzzies/pups, etc. however (not mice). Even if I have a picky baby that I have to get started on hopper mice, I switch them over to rat fuzzies within 2-4 feedings. Young rats will give your baby snakes more nutrients than mice do, and thus they will grow much better. I have a male spider I produced last season that was already breeder weight (800 grams) as of his being 1 year old, and he was fed appropriately sized rats from his first shed to date once per week. Remember, it's OK for babies to have a small lump in their bellies after feeding, though not as recommended for adults.