First time bp owner and first time feed question

[Bogertophis]

Hi, & welcome- congrats on your first BP & also your first successful feeding.

Here's a chart that may help you decide the proper size prey for your snake as he grows- & you'll notice it goes by weights- that helps a lot since not everyone (including vendors) describe rodent sizes the same way. Typically though, prey for newly-hatched BPs is one hopper mouse, unless they're unusually small, & prey is sized up as the snake grows. (Mouse "fuzzies" are too small for a BP- that's why they fed him 2, & even then it was a skimpy meal.)

My only criticism of this chart (which isn't mine but has been on the site for longer than I have) is that the meal spacing is closer together than what I'd do- but you can use your own judgement on that anyway- it's just a guideline.




BPs are naturally wider mid-body than many other kinds of snakes, so sometimes it is hard to "see a lump" from the meal just taken, but if it ain't there & you didn't eat it, chances are pretty good your snake did.

And please understand this: most snakes that have just eaten will keep looking for "more" even if they just ate a LARGE meal, lol. It's a lot like us humans- even when we're full, we often still want dessert, eh? That's because it takes time for the human brain to get the message from our stomach that it's full, & I assume snakes may have the same "design flaw"? Anyway, do not fall for it- you don't want your snake to regurgitate from excessive food & insufficient digestive enzymes- you just don't. And snakes that are slightly underfed are better off (health-wise) than those which are over-fed- much like us, hahaha.