Eating Every Other Week

[fluffpuffgerbil]

I've noticed Kallista's eating habits lately. Seems she'll only eat her meals every other week. She ate last week. Tried to feed her this week and was only interested in coming out of the tub and chilling w/ me.

Is this fine/can I just continue to feed her every other week instead of wasting more rats?

And besides the snake not growing as fast- is there really any downside to feeding it once a month? (I'm not going to do that, but I have a friend who used to have a python and she fed him 1x a month. Apparently he was 5 feet(probably a female then, she never had it sexed) and she only had to give him away because she was going to college and couldn't take him with her)

But any major downside feeding 1x a month as opposed to every 5-7 days(besides the growth rate change)
And is it fine to just feed Kalli every other week?(since that seems to be when she eats)

[The Serpent Merchant]

It depends on how old the snake is. I feed my BP's that weigh less than 600 grams every 4 days and mine that weigh more than 600 grams every 8 days.

Unless the snake in question is an adult I wouldn't feed any less than every 7-10 days.

Are you offering rodents that are the right size? (rodents that weigh 15% of your snakes body weight)

[Skiploder]

I've noticed Kallista's eating habits lately. Seems she'll only eat her meals every other week. She ate last week. Tried to feed her this week and was only interested in coming out of the tub and chilling w/ me.

Is this fine/can I just continue to feed her every other week instead of wasting more rats?

And besides the snake not growing as fast- is there really any downside to feeding it once a month? (I'm not going to do that, but I have a friend who used to have a python and she fed him 1x a month. Apparently he was 5 feet(probably a female then, she never had it sexed) and she only had to give him away because she was going to college and couldn't take him with her)

But any major downside feeding 1x a month as opposed to every 5-7 days(besides the growth rate change)
And is it fine to just feed Kalli every other week?(since that seems to be when she eats)

If all your husbandry parameters are correct, and your snake is in good health, I don't see where you have any control over the situation. If she's only eating every two weeks then she's only eating every two weeks.


How long have you had Kalli and what were her feeding habits before she decided to skip every other week?

[fluffpuffgerbil]

Kallista, last time I weighed her, was around 500 grams, give or take, I havent' weighed her in about a month. Her rats are actually probably a little too small since they are only around 40g, because I buy the frozen rats from the petstore(Petco).

I've had Kallista since August, and her feeding habits were normally good, she'd eat every 5 days(that's how soon I offered her food), however I was feeding her live.
It's trickier to feed FT, which is what I'm trying now, because it seems if she knows it's dead, she won't eat it. I have a good method of thawing it which seems to be working, but she just won't take it one week, and the next she will.

So, her eating habits were good until I started feeding her FT. Live's too expensive to feed to her also, the cheapest to get around here is 8$ a rat, whereas FT is 11$ for 3.

Still expensive, I know, but I don't want to buy FT online

[The Serpent Merchant]

I think that it is probably just a phase and your snake will start eating weekly/every 4-5 days eventually. I would just continue to offer every 7 days at this point.

Why don't you want to buy feeders online? it's so much cheaper... I couldn't force myself to buy 40 gram rats at $3.67 each. Rodent pro sells that size rat for $0.89 each. You will easily save enough for the shipping and a freezer for them (if you don't feel comfortable with putting them in your freezer), and still keep some money in your pockets vs buying from petco

[fluffpuffgerbil]

Sure, .89$ sounds cheap, but from what I saw, you have to buy so freaking much of them. I couldn't see a way to buy them for less than 50 or a 100(not sure, not been to that site in awhile). And shipping was bloody expensive too, due to the dry ice.

Maybe I'll look around more, but if there's a way to buy less than 100(or 50), then that'd be great, and if the shipping wasn't so expensive, then it'd be nice to buy from there.

But with only 1 snake, I don't completely see it worth it.

[The Serpent Merchant]

Yes shipping cost like $45 and you have to buy like 6 months worth but...

say you buy 100 weaned rats (30-44 grams) with shipping it will cost $135.74

to buy those same 100 weaned rats at petco will cost $367

I don't see how saving $231.26 isn't worth it.

as I said before the money you save will buy you a second freezer just for them, cover the cost of shipping, and still leave you with more cash in your bank account at the end of the day.

[jdouglas]

Have you checked around your area for any local breeders? Or reptile shows? From what I have seen on this forum you can pick up bags of F/T from shows. And some local breeders are more than willing to sell a few bags of F/T.

[Slim]

Or reptile shows? From what I have seen on this forum you can pick up bags of F/T from shows.

This...

...and, young snakes are usually hard wired to eat as much as possible. At that stage in their lives, they aren't worried about finding a mate, it's all about eating and getting larger. It's Mother Nature's way of moving them up the food totem pole as quickly as possible.

There are quite a few tricks for makeing F/T more attractive to your BP. Make sure the surface temp of the rat is around 95-98 degrees, and hit it with a hot hair dryer just prior to offering...gets the smell of the fur flying around, so to speak. Also, there's the old Zombie Dance method, and playing tug-o-war after the strike is always fun for both snake and owner...and seems to strenghten the feeding drive.

My advise would be to keep offering on a 5-7 day schedule. Of course, if it turns out that she only eats every two weeks, it's still better than her not eating at all.

[Annarose15]

Sure, .89$ sounds cheap, but from what I saw, you have to buy so freaking much of them. I couldn't see a way to buy them for less than 50 or a 100(not sure, not been to that site in awhile). And shipping was bloody expensive too, due to the dry ice.

Maybe I'll look around more, but if there's a way to buy less than 100(or 50), then that'd be great, and if the shipping wasn't so expensive, then it'd be nice to buy from there.

But with only 1 snake, I don't completely see it worth it.

Do you know anyone else in your area that would use frozen rats? My little brother only has one BP, so I add his order to mine and we split shipping. Yes, it costs him a little more per rat than if the entire order was his, but it's cheaper than ordering separately and MUCH cheaper than a chain petstore.