Should I feed.......

[Ladybugzcrunch]

I want to feed my BP sub adults weanling rats but the rats are on the small size for a meal. Snakes range from 600-1000 grams and rats are around 30g. I was feeding 10-15% body weight every 5 days but after I started giving bigger rats, some are becoming more picky eaters. I now have 2 that only want live crawlers and one that only wants to eat every other week. When I was feeding weanlings everyone was always hungry. What would you think about feeding a 30g weanling every 4 days instead of a bigger meal further apart? I am still trying to stick to a 5 day schedule right now but seems like I am wasting an awful lot of rats lately.

[mpkeelee]

At that weight you'll be fine on a 7 day schedule.

[snakesRkewl]

What would you think about feeding a 30g weanling every 4 days instead of a bigger meal further apart?

I feed 30 gram rats to 2000 gram snakes quite often and they grow very well.
Eating every 4th day or so should give you 7-8 meals a month totaling 200+ grams a month intake and 50-70 grams a month weight gain.
I try for 75 - 100 grams a month weight gain but of course not all females co-operate.
In my experience big meals tend to throw them off feed or slow them down.

[KatStoverReptiles]

I, too try to feed more smaller meals as opposed to fewer larger meals...if that makes sense? I have a female who'll eat anything in sight and a picky as hell male so what I try to do is only warm 1 rat up on feeding day and offer it to him. If he takes it, excellent and my gal just has to wait a little longer while I warm up another rat (I swear sometimes she gives me the stink eye for this!). If he refuses, it just goes to her and no rat is wasted.

[Ladybugzcrunch]

I feed 30 gram rats to 2000 gram snakes quite often and they grow very well.
Eating every 4th day or so should give you 7-8 meals a month totaling 200+ grams a month intake and 50-70 grams a month weight gain.
I try for 75 - 100 grams a month weight gain but of course not all females co-operate.
In my experience big meals tend to throw them off feed or slow them down.

That is kind of what I am seeing. Bigger meals seem to turn my bps away from F/T and one is even being picky about the size of live rats now. A few weeks ago I fed my 800g spider an 80 gram rat. She took it and ate it no problem. The next feeding she took a 50 gram rat but did not eat it. The next week she refused all together. The next week she took a 50 gram rat no problem. I have had similar experience with others. I think it takes longer to digest bigger lumps of food and maybe makes them feel bad or something. Seems though if I feed the same 800 gram snake two 40 gram rats she is ready to eat again in 5 days. This is not such a bad thing because once rats get to be about 50 or 60 grams they slow down big time growth wise, not to mention they get stronger and are harder to kill with out a fight.