Worried about size...

[RichsBallPythons]

I start my hatchlings on live adult mice and move on to rat pups after about the first month. The mice are just the regular mice from Petco...not huge, but not small...

Unless your hatching out 80-100g babies adult mice are Way to big. When average hatch ling is 55-65g and adult mouse is 20g. Ive fed fuzzy rats to larger hatchlings in the 70g range and that left a huge lump. Couldn't imagine that size rat which is same as adult mice in a baby smaller

Heres a 120g ball eating a rat fuzzy about 20g in size. Now shrink the snake in half and feed same rat.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Az4oSc2EDc

Not being rude, but OP wants to get his snake up to size, but suggesting large meals will prolong that by fastings, and or regurges.

[sho220]

Unless your hatching out 80-100g babies adult mice are Way to big. When average hatch ling is 55-65g and adult mouse is 20g. Ive fed fuzzy rats to larger hatchlings in the 70g range and that left a huge lump. Couldn't imagine that size rat which is same as adult mice in a baby smaller

Heres a 120g ball eating a rat fuzzy about 20g in size. Now shrink the snake in half and feed same rat.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Az4oSc2EDc

Not being rude, but OP wants to get his snake up to size, but suggesting large meals will prolong that by fastings, and or regurges.

Like I said, They are what Petco sells as adult mice...they aren't huge, but they are bigger than crawlers or pups...they're kind of in between, bigger than a hopper, but not full grown adult.

and I didn't really suggest anything...just sharing what I do...and what I've done for several years that appears to work just fine...

[flyingsqueak]

My BP is about the same age as the OP's--a month younger actually. He's currently a little over 200 grams and eating rat pups (20-29 grams, usually closer to 29) once a week.

If you know your snake's weight feed something 10-15% of that, if not, go by girth. The best bet is to get an accurate food scale and go by the weights, there's less worry and doubt when it is a simple question of numbers. And ignore the names of the different sized rats/mice and buy them based on their weight instead--it doesn't matter if it's called a pup or a crawler as long as you know it's 20-something grams.

[sho220]

lol now I'm worried my rat pups I've been buying are mislabeled.

Why are you worried? Because someone says it's my way or it's wrong? What about your friends who breed? Or your very own experience? Were you having regurge problems, or fasting issues?

Asking what to feed my BP is like asking should I cut or not? You're gonna get all kinds of answers...researching and asking questions is fine, you just have to take all that information in and process it to come up with your own conclusions...the longer you do this and the more time you spend with your animals the more you'll get to know them and what makes them tick...they're individuals...they weren't made on an assembly line...no one can say you should absolutely be feeding a 3 month old ball rat pups that are 18 grams.

To the OP...if he looks skinny, feed him more often or feed him slightly bigger prey...simple as that...this is not rocket science...

[KLMuller]

Alot of pet stores don't know what's what when it comes to size of prey. I've had my wife stop and ask for hopper mice and they have given her small fuzzy mice at the hopper price, I have found it's best to go by sight when dealing with pet stores at least until you trust their ability to correctly identify prey size, or buy from a rodent breeder they usually get it right

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[snake lab]

heres what is most important when feeding hatchlings. it is better to get them eating instead of getting them to eat big meals. when i hatch out the first meals i give are new born rat pinks. i feed the hatchlings every 10 days just to get the feeding response dialed in. it doesnt take long for them to be feeding weekly but still i dont push the size yet. i keep them feeding regularly. once they hit the 150 gram mark i start steppin it up. now i also breed my own rats so its easier for me to have endless supplies of rats. you have to also understand that the majority of pet store employees are people that dont have alot of experience with reptiles. they sell reptiles yes but are not the people you want to rely on. most pet stores also buy their rodents from rodent breeders and what they may buy as crawlers are what the rodent breeder sells them as pups. this is so they can buy at one price and mark it up even more to the consumer. i know this cause i used to sell rodents to pet stores and i see what they do. your best bet is to buy from rodent breeders if thats an option. but be more concerned about keeping the feeding response going instead of power feeding.