Can a Rat be Too Big ?

[BillinIndiana]

Just went to a show yesterday and bought Hopper rats for Avalon our 201 gram BP... The Hoppers are about 27 grams and equal too or maybe a little bit larger than the largest part of her girth.. My question is this. If they are too big will she simple refuse them? I don't want her to "bite off more than she can chew" < haha
They just look so much bigger than her head, it makes me wonder. She has been eating rat pups, but with her weight we were giving her 2 per feeding, so we moved up to hoppers..
I just don't want to hurt my daughter's BP if you know what I mean. Didn't know if they could choke to death or anything like that or not?
Thanks! Bill

[SylverTears]

First of all, feeding a snake that size a rat fuzzy is fine. The general rule is take 15% of the snake's body weight and that should be the weight of the feeder item. If a prey item is to large the snake will regurgitate it. Snakes can't choke, they breath out of a small opening and are built to swallow large meals.

[BillinIndiana]

Yes, I knew about the 15% rule.. We actually took our scale to the show and weighed a Hopper, that's how we knew it was 27 grams. So, with that said, 15% of our snakes weight is 30 grams.. So we bought Hoppers instead of Pups..
We just weren't sure on the size compared to her head. As far as the rule about prey being the size as the girth of the snake, we are right there or the prey may be a little bigger around than she is..

Thanks! Bill

[Punkymom]

You shouldn't be concerned with the size of its head. I have all of mine on 15% of their body weight and they manage just fine. You'd be amazed how far their skin will stretch for them to swallow their prey.

[nick654377]

my boa is 200-220 grams and i feed her weened rats that are 40-50 grams and she is perfectly fine

[bx718]

thought i'd share some pics... this was on friday night.
i also thought that the rat will be to big but she took it down like a champ
she was feeding on mice before so this was a pretty big move up so i was definetly nervous.

i had asked, in another thread, if weighting feeders is a waste of time and was told yes but now i see its pretty common! i figured i was the only one who thought about doing this lol

[DooLittle]

Everything sounds fine. They can get them down fine. If she thinks its too big, she will refuse.

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[loonunit]

Well, if it's truly too big for her to swallow, she might constrict and kill it, gum it for a while, and then leave it. But I really don't think it'll be too big for her to get down.

Large items do increase the chances of regurge. But I think she'll be just fine in this case. She's 200 grams right now?

[loonunit]

(I just switched all my 150-300 gram babies over to large mice. The mice are all in that 25-30+ gram range. Some of the smaller babies had that "swallowed a football look" the day after, but now they just look fat and happy. I think the rat will be fine.)

[interloc]

my boa is 200-220 grams and i feed her weened rats that are 40-50 grams and she is perfectly fine

Not trying to hijack here but you are aware that boas should be fed differently than balls right? Smaller meals for boas is better for their health. Rule of thumb is there SHOULDN'T be a noticeable bump from the rat inside the boa.


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