Prey Size

[ChasingSunraee]

Heyyy guys! I’m just curious about how much time and energy do you guys go into picking out the right prey size for your animals?

I see a lot of people going by a weight chart, then some go by the width of the animals body. I personally just go into the pet store and eyeball an ASF that I feel like is an appropriate size for my snake (based on width) and hope for the best.

So I guess what I’m asking is what is your process when picking out a cheese boy for your noodle?

[Craiga 01453]

I pay more attention with juveniles than with sub-adults and adults. It also varies by species. But since you posted under BPs I'll stick to that.

With juveniles I pay a little more attention to the weight of the prey, but I don't weigh each one anymore. Nobody weighs their prey in nature. But using the "10-15% rule" or "widest part rule" is perfectly sufficient. As long as the prey item leaves a slightly noticable lump you're good to go.
With adults, I just buy a bag of small rats and know they'll all be a proper meal.

[303_enfield]

ASF won't outgrow a Ball like a rat will. I use this chart:

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/show...=feeding+guide


Use the mouse size feeding for ASF. Once the snake hits 400g it gets adult ASF. Feeding 1000g+ females still get large ASF, it's the same protein as a large rat.

Info here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9f10_XQ5Rig


Good luck!

[dakski]

Just a thought. If you have a steady supply of ASF, that's great, but BP's can imprint on certain prey items. In other words, a BP can learn to love ASF's, but if you try regular rats down the road, may not be as likely to take.

I've heard many cases were it's been tough to switch a BP back to regular/normal rats if the ASF supply dries out.

Not trying to be a downer, but know what you are potentially getting into.

Also, if someone has more experience here, please chime in. I am just going by what I've read over the years and I've seen online suppliers of frozen ASF's stop selling them.

If you are talking live, I imagine the same thing applies, but don't have direct knowledge or experience of live ASF breeders.

[ChasingSunraee]

Just a thought. If you have a steady supply of ASF, that's great, but BP's can imprint on certain prey items. In other words, a BP can learn to love ASF's, but if you try regular rats down the road, may not be as likely to take.

I've heard many cases were it's been tough to switch a BP back to regular/normal rats if the ASF supply dries out.

Not trying to be a downer, but know what you are potentially getting into.

Also, if someone has more experience here, please chime in. I am just going by what I've read over the years and I've seen online suppliers of frozen ASF's stop selling them.

If you are talking live, I imagine the same thing applies, but don't have direct knowledge or experience of live ASF breeders.

yea, I’ve read that before and took it into consideration before I switched over. My local pet store has a steady supply so as of now we are good

[EL-Ziggy]

I used to weigh my snakes and prey items mostly when they were hatchlings and juveniles because I liked closely monitoring their growth. I don't do it anymore now that they're mostly adults. I do still keep a log of what and when I feed them though.

[Midwest]

I tried one time after I first got my BP when I went with FT. I found an online supplier who advertised and had a nice looking website. I ordered 20 dollars worth of rat pups that the website said would be between 20-30 grams. I drove 2 hours to get them as nobody else had any frozen pups available. After I got home and started separating them to vacuum seal them I weighed each one to mark the weight on the bag. The heaviest one was 16 grams and some were only 10 grams. I tried a couple of the larger ones but by the time I got through them my BP was almost 275 grams so I didn't want to mess with feeding pray that small. I just found a new supplier and will find someone to take the smaller rats. I have a local pet shop that keeps smaller live rats around the 40-50 gram mark. I have been getting one of those and doing fresh kill right now trying to transition to FT. He has been eating these size just fine. Like others have said, in the wild they don't care if it is a few grams over or under what we think they should be eating.