» Site Navigation
0 members and 748 guests
No Members online
Most users ever online was 47,180, 07-16-2025 at 05:30 PM.
» Today's Birthdays
» Stats
Members: 75,905
Threads: 249,104
Posts: 2,572,102
Top Poster: JLC (31,651)
|
-
Registered User
Possible underweight BP
Hey everyone, first time poster here and first time BP owner! I'm going to go ahead and give you a rundown of this month with my new scale baby, and then if you could give me your thoughts, opinions, and your wisdom on this matter it would be greatly appreciated! 
On 5/4 I purchased a BP from a local pet store. I finished my setup and made sure everything was right. 91-93 degree hotspot (stat turns heating pad on and off to maintain temp and it has stayed in this range consistently as I've checked). The other side can vary in temp a bit more due to the area that I live, however the temp gradient is rather gradual and I have multiple hides along the side of the tub for him. While he does spend most time in the warm hide I have seen him using each of the others, albeit less often. I spoke with them at the pet store and they stated he'd been feeding well on mice fuzzies. They obtained him on 1/19/18, and typically they get their herps from local breeders after they are established feeders. So this places him, I would guess, at the VERY least 4 months, more likely closer to 6 months?
5/5 I brought him to his new home and he seemed quite happy. I weighed him in at 71g. Now, knowing the mice fuzzies from this shop are typically 5g from having bought them there for my corn snake, that's 7% of his body weight. Looking through their records they were feeding him once every 7-14 days, more often in the 10-14 day range. This seemed like quite a small amount, and it had been 7 days, so I offered a mouse after he spent 10 hours settling in and took it right away. That was a very good feeling as I've heard horror stories about picky BPs 
5/9 Well, a day after eating I noticed him roaming his tub and appeared to be on the hunt multiple times each day. So on the 9th I decided to feed him another mouse fuzzy until I could get my hands on what I thought was more appropriate feeder and could settle him into a better feeding schedule.
5/15 he had his first big ol' BM under my care and weighed in at 78g. I also received a delivery that included rat fuzzies and fed him an 11g fuzzy on this day. Quite the step up from the mice he was eating. Also I've read stories about the troubles of switching from mice to rats, and he struck it right away and was happy as can be.
5/21 today he had another large BM, weighed in at 81 grams, and ate a 12g fuzzy rat.
My delivery of fuzzy rats I have sorted out from smallest to largest and was planning on moving up in size up to the 19g fuzzies on the high end feeding him every 6 days. At this point I'm thinking I'll be able to get a better feel for what his needs are. However since this is my first BP, and he appears to be quiiite a bit small for his age, I figured I'd get more opinions on the matter. Does this seem to be a good rough schedule to have him feeding until he's very established in his new home? I'll post some pictures here so you can visualize him as well.
-
The Following User Says Thank You to Nic82 For This Useful Post:
Craiga 01453 (05-22-2018)
Posting Permissions
- You may not post new threads
- You may not post replies
- You may not post attachments
- You may not edit your posts
-
Forum Rules
|