Feeder size?

[RWillinnable]

Shahrazad is roughly 28 inches and 7 to 8 months old. She still eats one weanling mouse once a week. (I don't know her sex, but call her she anyway. I have no plans to breed her, so her sex is kinda irrelevant to me.) She tends to prefer smaller prey and has in the past shied from adult mice. And unfortunately, thus far, she has viewed F/T and P/K as little more than nice things to curl up with and fall asleep.

My question is how long can I keep feeding these small items to her before I switch her to rats and could I even maybe just keep feeding smaller items? If I feed smaller items exclusively, will she eat more than one? Will she eat more than once a week?

She is definately not skinny, but not as robust as some snakes I see here that eat rats. To me she feels nice and toned with just a thin layer of viscous fat on her.

[jknudson]

Try feeding a rat pup and see how she takes those, it won't hurt anything to try.

If you keep her on smaller prey items she will most likely need to eat every couple of days to fill her hunger. I know several people that come to where I work to buy 3 adult feeder mice for 4-1/2' BPs instead of a small/medium rat. Their animals are just fine healthwise, but I find it more convenient to only have to feed one prey item.

BPs can be finicky feeders, so she may not even switch off of mice to rats.

Good luck.

Jason

[frankykeno]

We tend to feed smaller live prey items so some of our ball pythons eat multiples once per week. We just wait till the snake has fully consumed the first prey and it's moved down into their body cavity then offer the next one and if they are still hungry they usually snap it right up happily. If they don't go for the second "course" quickly and aggressively we just remove it.


~~Jo~~

[Adam_Wysocki]

To me she feels nice and toned with just a thin layer of viscous fat on her.

Sounds great! ... Why do you think you need to change anything?

Unless your ball python is telling you it's time for a change, if it ain't broke don't fix it.

-adam

[amg20102006]

adam can i put that qoute in my sig? the if it aint broke dont fix it .

[RWillinnable]

Thanks for the advice guys. I think today I am going to try to feed her two live weanling mice and see how she does. I will keep y'all posted.

It's funny though. My bp is such a delicate and deliberate eater and then my blue tongued skink is such a pig that I have yet to find a food that she will refuse. My snake wants 100% privacy while eating and I bet my skink would eat in the middle of a busy intersection during rush hour.

Reptiles....Gotta luv 'em.

I was thinking of making the change to rats, Adam, because that seems to what folks here do with their bp's. But I really don't care what Shahrazad eats as long as she eats consistently and grows into a healthy, curious, and active little snake. If I gotta feed her 5 weanling mice as an adult, I will do so, but for convenience sake, I was considering making the jump to rats.

[Adam_Wysocki]

I was thinking of making the change to rats, Adam, because that seems to what folks here do with their bp's. But I really don't care what Shahrazad eats as long as she eats consistently and grows into a healthy, curious, and active little snake. If I gotta feed her 5 weanling mice as an adult, I will do so, but for convenience sake, I was considering making the jump to rats.

In my somewhat humble opinion, the way "others do it" should only be used as a guide, not an influence on how you care for your animal.

I feed my ball pythons what they prefer ... mice, rats, whatever ... doesn't matter to me.

For what it's worth, even my largest adult females that eat mice only get two or three large mice per week and they do just fine.

You should feed ... #1 Whatever your snake prefers to eat ... and #2 Whatever is most convenient for you.

-adam

[RWillinnable]

She did it!!!!! Shahrazad ate two weanling mice with no problem, but once she was done with the second, she slithered away to her favorite warm hide and I doubt I will see her for a couple days. The worst thing about feeding day is I know that afterwards, I can't handle her for at least 24 hours and I usually give her 48.

Thanks for the advice folks. Hopefully someday I will figure this whole snake keeping thing out. Until then, I will just annoy all you good people.

Maybe Shahrazad will grow to be the same size as the female that Adam has who is mating with the lesser. How big is that girl anyway Adam? Is she like a cross with a blood python or something because she is girthy to say the least. Beautiful snake indeed.

Rachel

[sweety314]

Congrats! When I got Pissy Snake he was about 3 mo. old and the breeder said to feed nothing but live mice. He was eating an adult mouse every 7-10 days. Then I had some weaned rat pups. He took that one. Just a few days ago I fed him a F/T 5 wk sized rat pup for the 3rd time. He's now on FT.


On the other hand, Wrigley was eating FT rat pups. I had fed him 3x in my keeping but when I fed him the 5wk old sized pup, he regurged it. He had eaten one that was just about a week younger before. So, I figured the 5 weeks was too big. The next time I fed him two small FT adult mice, and he regurged those, even tho' he was hungry at the time. The last 3 feedings have been just one FT adult mouse once every six days, and he's been fine. When I get some smaller rat pups (the ones I still have are too big) I'll switch him back to rats.

And for both snakes, they prefer their prey to be "wet". <Weird!> They don't even look at it if I've thawed it in a bag and it's dry. Go figure. If they like it that way, then I'll do 'em that way......lol

Have fun!

[RWillinnable]

I think you next bp should be named "Poopy Snake".