Feeding

[Newowner1]

i have a normal bp and he is about 8 months old the person i got him from was feeding him twice a week. Would it be ok to take him down to one medium mouse a week instead of 2 smalls a week?

[KMG]

Yes. That will be fine.

[Sauzo]

An 8 month old eating small and medium mice? Sounds like it needs more food in general. Do you have a weight on him? You want to be feeding him food that is about as thick as his widest part unless you have a scale. Then go for something around 10-15% of the snakes weight until hes about 500g. Then drop it down to a maintenance feeding schedule.

[Newowner1]

An 8 month old eating small and medium mice? Sounds like it needs more food in general. Do you have a weight on him? You want to be feeding him food that is about as thick as his widest part unless you have a scale. Then go for something around 10-15% of the snakes weight until hes about 500g. Then drop it down to a maintenance feeding schedule.

I don't have a scale but the former owner was feeding him a mouse pup that was like 2 days old without its eyes open so I went up to a small he does great with it I tried medium one feed and he seemed to be having trouble getting it down so I went back to small. He is not that big around just long he is just a little over a foot long and he is big around as maybe a half dollar I don't know if that helps any with his size

[anicatgirl]

Mouse pup is too small. You could do a small for a few weeks then bump him back up. About as big as their girth is normal for feeding. It should leave a reasonable bulge after consumption

[KMG]

Mouse pup? Do you mean rat pup? Usually a newborn mouse is referred to as a pink or pinky while a newborn rat is a pup. They are much different in size.

[Newowner1]

It was small with brown hair on it she said it was 2 days old I asked what to feed and she said mice so I just assumed that is what that was. This is my first snake so I am still learning all the words and stuff that goes along with it

[TheSnakeEye]

I don't even feed mouse pups to hatchlings. I start them with either smalls or hoppers, depends on their size. I am curious to see the size of your snake as I feel you may be underfeeding it. I currently have a hatchling who wants nothing to do with rats so she's on medium mice.

[KMG]

I kinda misspoke earlier. In actuality a newborn rat is also a pink or pinky just like with mice. At two days old either a mouse or rat is considered a pinky. A rat pup in more on the same line with a hopper or sub adult mouse.

Here is a great picture to show rats compared to mice.
http://thebrassgecko.com/images/Imag...s/feeders.jpeg

[Newowner1]

I cant get my pic to upload of him the biggest part around of him is about the size of a quarter not yet half dollar I got him out earlier to hold, I give him bigger then what she was so I thought that would be ok but I am wondering too if he is getting enough but the medium size frozen/thawed mouse I gave him that one time he seemed to have trouble getting it down. Do u think I should just go on up to mediums and do twice a week for a little while and see how he does?