Feeding too much too often?

[Clyde Frog]

I have a normal BP who was hatched July 9, 2008. (It says "Egg Shed Date" is 7-19-08; whatever that means lol. Could someone tell me what that means?). He is probably about 16 inches right now and I have been feeding him one regular sized adult feeder mouse every five days. I measured his widest part using my thumb and index finger because I'm bad at eyeballing measurements and found that this size mouse was adequate in relation to the size of my snake.

However, I read a few things on different websites today that conflicted with my feeding method. He's never refused a meal and never regurgitated. I've owned him for about a month and have had 3 successful feedings at this point. The fourth should've been this week but he is currently opaque and I know you're not supposed to feed during shed.

Anyways, the poll is asking for your opinions. I have read two books and am on this forum a lot and most of what I've read suggested that you should feed frequently when they are younger because that is when the majority of their growing takes place. However, tonight I found something where people had very strong feelings saying feed them more often when they are older.

My plan was to feed 1 adult mouse every 5 days until he outgrew the mice and then feed a larger prey every 5 days until about a year of age at which point I planned to feed ample sized prey every 7 days.

I've read so many different things on here and I'd like to get a consensus. HELP!

[mainbutter]

many people start out younger BPs on a 5 day schedule and switch to a 7 day schedule as they grow a bit bigger.

I've heard that most people stop the 5 day schedule around 500 grams. I'm assuming you don't have a scale, but my female bp is 24 inches, hatched in august 08, and weighed in at 350 grams last week, just so you get a size comparison.

Also, you can go ahead and offer food during shed, plenty of people on this site will tell you that there is no reason not to offer food during shed.

[SecurityStacey]

The plan you have set up sounds great to me.

I know you mentioned some people feed adults more often, but most of what I heard is to slow down feeding to 7-10 days as adults.

Not to mention I bet once your boy gets older if you keep feeding him every 5 days he would start to refuse feeds anyways, sometimes when they are eating too much / too often they will stop eating for awhile.

You can offer during shed - some take it, some don't.

[Herpquest]

A full size mouse every seven days is not feeding too often. I feed my hatchlings every four days until they are 3 months old, switch to feeding every five days from 3 to 6 months of age and then to every six days until they are 12 months old, at which time they are taking small rats and are fed every seven days. It is more work feeding a large number of young in this manner, but well worth the effort.
Eric Davies

[Bruce Whitehead]

I feed my hatchlings every 5-7 days. I am an abyssmal record keeper. When I feed every 5, no one is exploding from too much food, when I feed every 7 no one is starving.

Your schedule is fine. And yes, you can feed during shed. I get very few refusals during shed.

Bruce

[nixer]

i have a few snakes that wont eat durring a shed but most will

[CaneCorso]

The "Egg shed date" is the date your snake shed after it hatched. The snake will shed about 10 days or so after hatching.

[Clyde Frog]

Thanks everyone for your input. So I wasn't crazy after all!

Good to know that I can feed during shed too. I had always thought you couldn't. Learn something new everyday!