I'm scared to give Snickers a rat sized prey.

[Superpop]

This is a continuation of a thread I started 2 months ago(The reason I started a new thread is because I want as much feedback as possible)

http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...ey-size-or-not

Anyway my boyfriend got Snickers a rat but it looked too big to offer her and has remained in the freezer.

After I started the old thread Snickers immediately began being offered 2 F/T adult mice each week.

She ate both mice in weeks 1 and 2 and then in weeks 3 and 4 she only ate 1 mouse.(and the others were thrown into the back yard for scavengers)

Then Snickers shedded.

Then for 3 weeks in a row she ate 2 mice again.

Then Tonight she ate 2 mice again but an hour later she was in "escape/I'm still hungry" mode and so we thawed another mouse and sure enough she ate it and then calmed down and went to one of her hides.

I'm now wondering if we can give her that rat we have been keeping in the freezer??

The rat probably is smaller than 3 adult mice put together but the reason I'm scared to give it to her is because the "girth" is clearly bigger than a mouse and I already cringe at the way Snickers swallows prey that seems to be to big for her jaws. I know snakes swallow prey much bigger then looks possible but it just scares me.

I just worry because I don't know if snakes will try to ingest prey that is too large for them to swallow?

[el8ch]

The general rule is to feed 10%-15% of your snakes body weight or a prey item that is equal or slightly larger than the thickest part of your snake.

Grab a cheap digital scale from Walmart and the rest is history.

And yes, a snake will take down a prey item that is to large for them. Problems can occur during the digestion stages if this is the case. Best to stick to the general rule stated above if you are in doubt of feeding sizes.

[KatStoverReptiles]

The general rule is to feed 10%-15% of your snakes body weight or a prey item that is equal or slightly larger than the thickest part of your snake.

x2


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Slim]

I'm now wondering if we can give her that rat we have been keeping in the freezer??

Give her the rat. She'll be fine.

I already cringe at the way Snickers swallows prey that seems to be to big for her jaws. I know snakes swallow prey much bigger then looks possible but it just scares me.

It's what snakes do...especially BPs, who tend to have small craniums in relation to the rest of their bodies. If it scares you don't watch.

[DShaw]

Snickers will be just fine with the rat

[Superpop]

Snickers appetite has become voracious!

She again ate 3 mice tonight a week after I started this thread. We don't want to give her the rat yet because she still has 12 mice in the freezer(4 weeks of meals still) and I worry after giving her the rat she would just refuse the mice and they would all go to waste so we want to feed her the rest of the mice first.

I just find it interesting how 3 months ago she was still eating only 1 adult mouse a week and at that time she started acting like we were not feeding her enough so we switched to 2 a week and then just a few weeks later it turned into 3.

It's not like we were starving her because after 2 weeks of eating 2 mice she only ate 1 mouse the following 2 weeks even though 2 were offered. But now she wants 3 each week which we will give her until they are gone and then move onto the rat.

I just don't understand the sudden voracious hunger and the growth spurts.

In the past 6 months Snickers has grown way faster than the first year we had her.