Fedding your snake an item 1/3 its weight

[Bucko]

First off sorry for such the long title only way to explain fully.
Ok so I picked up a rat today at the store. I asked for a rat pup and what they gave me is what they call a small rat. It is around 40 grams. Ok so it is about the same size around as my snake, but my snake is only around 120 grams. So this would be 1/3 its body weight. So is it safe to feed this item to my snake right, since the rats girth and the snakes girth are about the same size?
Also what is the typical weight of a rat fuzzie? Rat pup?

Robert

[mr~python]

if he's the same girth of you're snake then you're set!

[JLC]

That sounds like a BIG rat for a 120g bp. While it may take it and successfully consume it...at the very least, there is a high risk of the bp going off food for a long stretch afterwards. That happened to mine.


My bp is 400+g and I feed her fuzzy rats that weigh 25-30g at the most. (ONE per week, now that she is eating again.)

[Pork Chops N' Corn Bread]

Ya, I agree. That sounds like a big meal for a ball.

[Bucko]

Yea that is what I was thinking also. Today I measured to actually see if they were the same girth. The rat is actually about 1 and a half time bigger in width than the snake. Well then I will go back to the petstore and hopefully they have a smaller size. What really ticks me off is that I asked for a ruzzy rat and they gave me a small rat.

[Adam_Wysocki]

I feed 2000, 3000, 4000+ gram adult ball pythons 40-50 grams rats ... I can't imagine the terror that would over come a 120 ball python if a 40 gram rats was dropped on it.

Small adult mouse or fuzzy rat.

-adam

[aaajohnson]

Another thing, ask to pick out the rat yourself when you go to the store. Then you can get exactly the size you need. I think people have differeing opinions on what a rat pup is, and I also think some just reach in and grab something without really paying too much attention to what you are asking for.


Neil

[JLC]

The store I buy my feeders at doesn't allow folks back into their breeding room....however, whenever I ask for something, they always bring it out for me to check if it's exactly what I want first. If I want something bigger or smaller, they go back and try again. I never leave the store without checking what's in that little bag, first.

[Bucko]

Thanks for the help everyone,
I went back to the store today and actually made sure I was getting the right size. I figured that the small rat would wreck havoc on the poor little snake. So that is why I turned to you guys to make sure.

[Ginevive]

So that is why I turned to you guys to make sure.

Always a great decision!
Especially with finicky eaters, I have noticed that an overzealous, too-big rat can turn them off and make them go into defensice-mode instead of hunting/eating mode; you made a good choice.