Eating Every Other Week

[fluffpuffgerbil]

Thanks for all the replies, the last reptile expo was just less than a month ago, and there's not another until August.

I don't know how much my parents would like paying about 135$ for rats. XD Especially since money's sorta tight. I definitely can't afford to pay that either.

There's no one else around here that has a snake, just me, sadly,
I'll keep offering food to her every 7 days, see if she can snap out of it, and I'll try t oheat the food up more(she likes it about 88*F, but I can try warmer) and when I fed live, I awlays held the rat by the tail with the tongs, and I do the same now for for FT and wiggle it and sometiems that really gets her goin!

But yeah...... a lot of money for those FT rats, but 6 months of not buying her any food... That would get me good for the next reptile expo, too.

[fluffpuffgerbil]

Looking at rodent pro, it looks liek I can buy 1 bag of small rats for like, 60$? (20$ then 40$ for shipping) or am I not looking at something correctly?


<strike>Edit: Well, that still puts the total at about 4$ per rat, which is pretty much what I'm paying now.</strike>

Edit edit: I'm an idiot, I didn't read your post right and see that we'd have to buy 100 rats for it to really be worht it. XD Doing the calculations, I see that 100 weaned rats shipped here would put the rats at 1.50$ a piece. ^^

[Annarose15]

Looking at rodent pro, it looks liek I can buy 1 bag of small rats for like, 60$? (20$ then 40$ for shipping) or am I not looking at something correctly?

Sounds about right. I just got a 325-rat shipment from them, and was very satisfied. It was packed very well, and the rats were all frozen separately - not stuck together in the bag. The upside is, if you can find another herper locally, is that the shipping doesn't change as you fill up the box - so, five bags of smalls costs the same in shipping as one bag. You might want to try posting in the Sale/Wanted section of this forum to see if there is anyone else near you that could split a larger shipment with you, if $3/rat is still on the high side of what you want to pay.

[fluffpuffgerbil]

We actually have a reptile store about an 1hr-1.5 hrs away.

I could call them up/email them to see their prices and weights on small rats there.
They were cheaper than the petstore, that's all I know.


I need to go weigh Kalli and see what size she needs(and it gives me an excuse to go to House of Reptiles and look at my main passion reptiles- Crested Geckos- there)

[Crazy4Herps]

But any major downside feeding 1x a month as opposed to every 5-7 days(besides the growth rate change)

There is absolutely not. I strongly believe (and I am not alone in this) that less-frequent feeding is the healthiest option (keep in mind hatchlings do need 'growing food' though). Just because humans eat WAY more than we need to does not make it the right way to eat. I am so sick of people forcing our food mentality on pets (dogs especially). I have a friend whose 3-y-o ball python will only eat monthly, and she's one of the healthiest snakes I've seen.

In general, I don't agree with specifying a certain feeding schedule that all snakes should follow. I think it's our responsibility as owners to learn to read them and their behaviors and designate appropriate conditions based on that. Weekly feedings for young ball pythons is a great place to start, but if Kallista is indicating that weekly feedings are not what she needs, then I think you should listen to her. All within reason of course, but at her age there is nothing wrong with feedings every 14 days.

[fluffpuffgerbil]

Thanks so much, Crazy4herps!

It sounded like my friend's BP was really healthy too and she fed him 1x a month.
I figured they don't need to eat every 7 days(kallista's just turned 7 months yesterday, she's at 520 grams as of today) considering they can go moths without eating.
Kalli definitely doesn't seem to want to eat every week. And I'll completely believe this if she eats this next tuesday.

It's nice to hear from someone who seems to be a little looser with their feeding habits.

I know everyone on here is just trying to help, but occasionally I get the feeling like some people on here feel like their word is ball python law and it needs to be followed or your snake will fall dreadfully ill.

Thanks again for the helpful post! (And thanks to everyone else on here also)