Ordering frozen feeders?

[xStatic]

In a couple days I'm getting my first BP. She's a 300g pastel female, and the breeder currently has her on rat pups. Since my favorite rodent supplier was having a black friday sale I went ahead and ordered some rats along with my usual mice shipment. I only bought 10 rat pups and 10 rat weanlings (smallest quantities I could buy). About how long do you think my snake should stay on rat pups, and then how long on weanlings? Even if she "outgrows" the rat pups would it be harmful to her health if I just kept feeding the pups to her until I ran out, and then moved up to the weanlings?

Thanks!

[sho220]

At 300 grams she should be able to take weaned rats no problem. I'd just use up the pups first and start on the weaners...

[shadowsnakes]

I go by the body thickness rule. Prey items should match or be slightly less than the snake's widest thickness. Some breeders say slightly thicker than the snake is also okay, but I prefer to err on the side of caution. Congrats on your first BP!

[xStatic]

Okay thanks for the help!

I'll throw another question at you

About how long does the average female BP stay eating small rats? Like, what would be a good number of small rats or order? 10, 25, 50? I wont be ordering this size for a while but it's nice to know about how much I need to buy ahead of time.

[killswitch]

It really is up to the snake more than it is up to you. I have a 1600 gram pied female who will not touch rats, so I feed her 3 to 4 adult mice every week. use your pups till they are gone, then move up to the next size, if its too big she wont take it, or if she does and its too big she will spit it out.

[Mike41793]

Okay thanks for the help!

I'll throw another question at you

About how long does the average female BP stay eating small rats? Like, what would be a good number of small rats or order? 10, 25, 50? I wont be ordering this size for a while but it's nice to know about how much I need to buy ahead of time.

They can stay on 1 small rat a week for their whole life

[xStatic]

They can stay on 1 small rat a week for their whole life

Okay I thought I had read people saying that! What is the benefit of feeding larger rats then? Just to fatten them up in preparation for breeding or what?

[sho220]

Okay I thought I had read people saying that! What is the benefit of feeding larger rats then? Just to fatten them up in preparation for breeding or what?

I can't imagine feeding a large female one small rat a week. I'm sure they could survive, but that's an awfully small meal for a 3k+ gram snake.

[Mike41793]

For males a 85-100g rat once a week, for females id do a 100-125g rat once a week. Are those considered small or medium? Maybe like up to a 150g rat for a big female i guess. That would be a medium.

[xStatic]

For males a 85-100g rat once a week, for females id do a 100-125g rat once a week. Are those considered small or medium? Maybe like up to a 150g rat for a big female i guess. That would be a medium.

The website that I get my frozen feeders from lists small rats as being between 44-84 grams, medium rats are 84-174 grams, large rats are 174-274 grams, and jumbo rats are 274-374 grams. You can order even larger rats than that though. They also have "Colossal" rats, and "Mammoth" rats. Lol.

So I guess you are technically feeding medium rats, and not small rats, to your adults!