Rat Feeding Problem

[butterballpython]

Callista is up to 207 grams as of about 10 minutes ago. The store where I bought rats has closed down, and I am unable to get my hands on any rat fuzzies here in Flagstaff. I’ve even tried Craigslist, which, I know, is not a good place to buy them. I’d prefer a known source.

This weekend I’m planning to go to the Phoenix Reptile Expo, mainly to see if there’s a rat vendor there. If not, I’ll probably need to run around the valley looking for rats. Saturday is feeding day, and I have two rat pinkies left in the freezer from when she was smaller. That’s what I’m planning to feed her. Together they come to 17 grams, which is small for a meal.

I also have rat pups in the freezer. Big Cheese was out of fuzzies when I placed my order, and their rat pups are up to size, so there aren’t any small ones in that batch. Petsmart has rats that are bigger than the ones that I have in the freezer, and Petco has a reputation for selling rats that cause the death of snakes.

Should I feed her a pup next weekend, even though they are too big, if I can’t find fuzzies? I don’t want to feed her prey that is too large and cause problems.

Advice, please!

[Snizards]

Why don't you order some frozen rat fuzzies online? I order all mine from perfectprey.com , they arrive within 2-3 days, and are all well packaged with dry ice and insulation to keep them frozen. I just checked, rat fuzzies are $18 for 25. Plus $45 for shipping (has to ship fast because of frozen animals) so the total comes out to $66, which if you think about, the rats will last you a 6 months if you feed once a week, and in my opinion that's totally worth it.

[Snizards]

I just tried it with the flagstaff zipcode and it said it would be $58 actually.

[butterballpython]

OK, I may have this figured out. I have a few 18 and 20 gram racks in that pack. I didn't notice the little guys the last time I looked. They are smaller than what Big Cheese says would be in that pack, but this time it may have worked to my advantage. An 18-20 gram rat with a 200 gram bp means that it's about 10% of her weight at most, and posts I've seen said to feed 10-15% of their weight, so this should be small enough, right?

*fingers crossed*

[Snizards]

Sounds right to me.

[butterballpython]

Yessss!!!! Thank you.

At least now I won't need to worry about keeping rats frozen on the trip home.

[Mangiapane85]

Why don't you order some frozen rat fuzzies online? I order all mine from perfectprey.com , they arrive within 2-3 days, and are all well packaged with dry ice and insulation to keep them frozen. I just checked, rat fuzzies are $18 for 25. Plus $45 for shipping (has to ship fast because of frozen animals) so the total comes out to $66, which if you think about, the rats will last you a 6 months if you feed once a week, and in my opinion that's totally worth it.

Yeah but in less than 6 months, if consistently feeding, the snake would be big enough to eat something bigger than a fuzzy. My Mojave is a huge eater. I've only had her for 2 months and she is already on small rat pups. And I started her with hopper mice.. so me personally, I wouldn't buy anymore than a 2 or 3 month supply. These guys grow fast when they're young.


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[Snizards]

Ahh.. that's very true. Unless you have multiple babies it probably would be too many fuzzies. Sorry, been a while since I had a young snake.

[Mangiapane85]

Ahh.. that's very true. Unless you have multiple babies it probably would be too many fuzzies. Sorry, been a while since I had a young snake.

Well I was under the impression that the OP only has the one snake. Maybe I'm wrong. But yes, obviously if you have several snakes of the same size, then a larger quantity would work.

All of mine are CLOSE to the same size. But a couple are on rat fuzzies, one or two on rat pups and the rest are still on hoppers/small adult mice. It's a fine line. Gotta thread the needle.


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[ballpythonsrock2]

Yeah but in less than 6 months, if consistently feeding, the snake would be big enough to eat something bigger than a fuzzy. My Mojave is a huge eater. I've only had her for 2 months and she is already on small rat pups. And I started her with hopper mice.. so me personally, I wouldn't buy anymore than a 2 or 3 month supply. These guys grow fast when they're young.
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I agree with Mangiapane85 especially with the females, so since Perfectprey have
Lower Quantity Packages

too someone can order 5 of one type and 5 of a bigger type and so on.