Can't decide what to feed . . .

[martin82531]

I've got 2 BPs that were born in late July. Bought a box of Petsmart frozen fuzzies and after one meal I knew they were too small. Tomorrow I will see if they will each eat 2 of them. I had a couple BPs around 3 feet long a couple years ago and fed them live hopper rats. I don't know if I want to feed F/T, live, or pre-killed. I'm not even sure what pre-killed means. How do you kill your own? Or if I want to feed normal rats or ASFs. I could find a breeder in the Fort Worth, TX area and probably get live. I'm just not thrilled about it this buy, store, thaw, try to feed method. In my past I just read care guides. I want to take advantage of this forum and get some opinions. I'm loving having people in the know to talk to. Thx

General rule of thumb is 10-15 percent of your balls weight; some also judge what they are going to feed by the largest part of the balls body. In terms of what to want to feed, wither it be live or F/T, I think it is personal preference. Some prefer F/T as it is potentially safer for the balls as the prey gets bigger. Bigger prey equals bigger teeth; you don't want a decent size rat trying to naw on your ball if the first strike is not optimal. If you do feed live, I would just suggest having something around to shove in the rat’s mouth if it goes to bite your snake, e.g. pencil. F/T definitely has its convenient factor too, as you can stock up on food without having to make a trip to your local breeder every week.