Feeding growing carpets

[dakski]

Wrongpython,

Congrats on your new beauty!

I have no experience with reptilinks, and come from the "old school" where whole prey items are good enough.

I do believe in supplements and variety for lizards, but my lizards rarely eat rodents (Frank the BTS gets an occasional pink or fuzzy) and the Leachie gets a variety of gel food as does the Chewie, with insects supplemented. So the vitamins and calcium help because they aren't eating as nutritious prey as my snakes and they also are different creatures and have different metabolisms, lighting needs, etc.

For snakes, I've seen them live long and healthy lives on a rodent only diet. To be clear, I have nothing against reptilinks, I just know little about them, and wouldn't surprised if you do not get a CP to eat them.

I like the idea of variety for your CP such as birds in addition to rodents, however, CP's, similar to BP's, although supposedly not as bad, can imprint on prey items. I got Yafe on rats ASAP and he made the transition seamlessly, and he eats them voraciously. I have not offered other prey to him but I would be interested to see how your girl does with the reptilinks and the quail as a treat. I imagine she will love the avian prey and would offer it as a treat, not as a regular diet.

Carpet Pythons can eat meals that are 15-20% of their body weight without issue as long as husbandry, especially temps, are good. I am sure you know, but CP's can handle 90-92F on a basking spot assuming there is a good gradient and a cool side between 78-80F and ambient around 80-84F. Keep in mind, since they climb, you can have the hot spot under an RHP on a perch and have the ground be less.

I have a UTH and RHP for Yafe on the hot side and it's about 91-92F right below the perch at the peak of the perch and about 87-88F below the back perch where the RHP is in his 4X2X1.5'. He goes back and forth when digesting.

Getting back to the size of food. I would not feed a boa more than 10% of their body weight in a feeding, even while growing. Currently, Behira (BI) gets about 4-5% of her body weight in medium rats every 2-3 weeks. Yafe gets small rats now which are about 10% of his body weight and he's still growing (he's 840G), but I will be switching to mediums soon. He eats every two weeks except in shed.

When he was young, he would easily down 17-18% of his body weight in one sitting.

My point is change your mindset with your new CP as opposed to your boas. Where as boas mean less is more. Carpets mean more is more . They seem to love large meals and do well with them.

If you want to be safe with a CP, I would aim for 10-15% of body weight in a meal and not more. They will happily grow at this rate.

Yafe, once healthy (he came to me after fed ex lost him with an RI), was eating 25G +/- rat pups at 180-200G with ease. He could have gone bigger.

At 55G she will grow quickly on small hopper mice (up to 9 or 10G). I always want to give the most adult prey item I can (without giving too fatty a meal to boas) with all my snakes. An equivalent size rat isn't as nutritious. I fed Yafe mice up to small adult mice and then switched to appropriate sized rats.

I would also keep in mind that Yafe's growth rate was faster than all my boas. I figure most boas, when fed as less is more, can take 5-6+ years to reach adult size. Carpet pythons can get there in probably 3-4 even if fed appropriately. In general, Yafe is a lot more active then my boas, and spends a lot of time climbing around his perches at night and cruising the tank. My boas wait to ambush most of the time and don't move around too much. So in addition to different metabolisms, I imagine CP's burn more calories as they are more active.

If from a reputable source and vacuum sealed, rodent prey can last 1 1/2 years before you need to open it. People say 2 years, but I wouldn't feed 2 year old prey and since they are good for about 6 months after opening and transferred into a non-vacuum sealed bag, I open within 1 1/2 years.

Anyway, I would plan on at least 3 more sizes of prey for her little papuan girl. In 1 1/2 years of growth (from 150G-550G) Yafe went from rat pups to small rats. He is also a smaller species of Carpet, being an IJ and Darwin hybrid. I imagine users who have bigger species of carpet can chime in on growth rate.

Finally, you will have to warm up your F/T prey in order for a carpet to be enticed to eat it. Follow normal defrosting techniques and then blast with a hairdryer or drop in hot tap water for 30 seconds to a minute, dry off, and then offer. They love a hot meal! Their heat pits are a big part of them getting excited about food. My boas could care less. Same with my corn snakes. They go by smell and taste and I serve all of them at room temp and they do no hesitate. Yafe and Shayna (BP) only go crazy when their heat pits can sense the prey as well.

Keep us posted and ask away.

MM4L!