feeding smaller mice, more often?

[dakski]

hi! so my bp was 200 grams last time i weighed her, and i know i should switch to rat pups once she hits 200 grams. however, i already spent money on a number of large mice, so i was wondering if it would be okay to just feed her smaller mice, more often? right now, i feed her once a week, and she's been taking food pretty well.

while i am here, any advice on how to find local rat breeders i can start buying f/t from? i prefer to support local businesses when i can instead of larger corporations. thank you!

1. Do not feed more than 1X a week.

2. You can finish off the mice, especially if feeding 1X a week, she will just grow a little slower than if eating larger prey. However, this way, you don't have to order rat pups, but can go straight to weaned rats. I would also keep a few F/T mice on hand in case you need to scent the rats to get her going on them.

3. Switch to rats soon because BP's can imprint on a prey item (like mice) and not want rats, if fed for a long time on mice. As your BP grows, you will want to have her eating rats.

4. F/T rats can be bought from local businesses. even online. Big Cheese Rodents and Perfect Prey are family owned businesses to the best of my knowledge. Both are excellent sources for F/T rats (and mice for that matter) and both vacuum seal so the prey stays good longer. Also, Perfect Prey offers smaller size packages, so if you only have one snake, you don't have to order more than you need. I understand wanting to stay away from the larger F/T rodent providers.

5. Below is the feeding chart most people use on the site to reference what size prey to feed. It's pretty good, but most BP's, even females, can eat small rats for life unless they get very large. Also, once on small rats, feeding every two weeks or three weeks is the norm. BP's are pretty efficient creatures.