Feeding Opinions?

[BrandiR]

I feed live because the lady I got my snake from (10 years experience owning/breading) feeds all her snakes live and said that the risk is minimal if the prey is appropriate and your eyes are on the snake until the food is gone. She gave me more detailed instructions, but that's not what I want your opinions on.

Yesterday was feeding day and when I went to buy a mouse they were all pretty small, so I bought two. I put the first one in and she took it almost immediately. I waited about two or three minutes after it was completely gone and put the other one in. I was going to give her a few minutes and then take it out if she didn't seem interested. She took the second one after about two minutes.

Afterward, I started wondering if that was OK, so I did some Googling. I came upon a link to a post on this site (the post was from 2006ish) where this issue was being discussed. One member said he does exactly what I did and he keeps doing it until the snake stops expressing interest. Other members said this is overfeeding and isn't a good idea.

I know methods change with the times and members come and go. So, I'd like some fresh opinions based on current knowledge. Is it harmful or unhealthy to let her eat until she wants to stop? Will she stop when she's done? And what effect if any should this have on her feeding schedule?

She is almost 4 months old, about 15" long (I'm guessing here), and I haven't weighed her. I have no interest in making her bigger faster. I tried this strictly to make sure she got enough food to be satisfied.

[Mike41793]

Oh this should be a good one...

[Daybreaker]

If she's eating an appropriate sized meal per feeding I think that's what matters: have that be one medium rat or seven adult mice or a two weanling rats or etc I prefer to do one feeder per feeding but I'll double up on feeders if I need to/if the snake will take them.

[RoseyReps]

I don't have much experience, but I fully believe my pastel lesser girl would eat until she pops So I'm going to stick to the 10-15% of body weight until she gets on to sm/med rats.

[I-KandyReptiles]

I feed live, and most of my bps are mousers as well.

I'll offer them mice until they stop, but most of my bps will only eat 1-2 per feeding.

[snakesRkewl]

I feed multiples quite often, rats or mice, they do not eat unless they are hungry.
There is an occasional snake that will eat until it's gorged, I've learned not to stuff snakes too much because they usually just pay you back by going weeks or more without eating

[BrandiR]

If she's eating an appropriate sized meal per feeding I think that's what matters: have that be one medium rat or seven adult mice or a two weanling rats or etc I prefer to do one feeder per feeding but I'll double up on feeders if I need to/if the snake will take them.

This is basically what I was after. Thanks! Here's the truth...I want to feed her live prey. I'm not a sadist, it just seems natural. Having said that, I have reservations about rats. They seem more aggressive, where mice seem to wander around and wait to be eaten. As the snake gets bigger and I'm more in tune with her feeding response, that concern may subside. For now, I'm not comfortable with rats and one mouse just doesn't seem big enough. Thoughts?

[kitedemon]

I think Jerry has this one.

I don't feed live personally I sometimes am short on time and don't want to wait for the slow pokes to eat no harm in supervised live as long as it is supervised. I have one mouser she is a hard one as she is also a rescue that was a wild adult import. She is very poor eater she gets as many mice as I have available for her and if she wants more the next day she gets more. The truth is that most snakes will not eat anything that is overly large or too many (power feeding not included, that is as the tail is going down the hatch a new prey is inserted before the snake has a chance to stop swallowing) My mouser often takes a jumbo mouse (my breeder actually sets aside retired breeders for me) and sometimes a second and every now and again a third never a fourth. I always thaw out 2 or 3 for her if she refuses a have a lesser that will take anything, she usually gets a weaning (this is small for her) and a mouse some times two mice. USUALLY they will not over eat... I have one the lesser that I am not sure that is true she has never refused anything and never stopped either she will eat anything offered and as many as I offer.

[Andybill]

This is basically what I was after. Thanks! Here's the truth...I want to feed her live prey. I'm not a sadist, it just seems natural. Having said that, I have reservations about rats. They seem more aggressive, where mice seem to wander around and wait to be eaten. As the snake gets bigger and I'm more in tune with her feeding response, that concern may subside. For now, I'm not comfortable with rats and one mouse just doesn't seem big enough. Thoughts?

If feeding mice is your preferred method, there is nothing wrong with that. You clearly understand that as the snake gets larger you will need to double up or even triple up on feedings (if they will take it). Its more convenient that a snake eats rats because rats get bigger so you dont need to buy multiples for single snakes (in most cases). I have a mouser that is 900g but he wont take anymore than 2 mice per feeding. Its really frustrating because I breed my own rats and he wont even take live rat fuzzy's/weanlings. Just make sure you dont gorge the snake and you should be good. Just know that they can be a pain in the butt to convert to rats when they are raised up on mice if in the future you do decide to try to switch to rats...

[Inknsteel]

Kinda like others have said, I would stick to approximately 15% of your snake's weight per meal. Whether that 15% is one medium rat or five mice doesn't make a whole lot of difference as long as they are getting the appropriate amount of food.

The mice vs rats debate is one that goes way back. I try to get all of my snakes on rats as quickly as possible because I breed rats and it's much easier on me to feed one rat per snake rather than feeding multiple mice. That being said, I do have an adult carpet python who is a mouser. He gets 5 per week... It takes me almost an hour to feed him... There's no way I could do that with 20+ snakes...