Gaia Needs Some Weight Gain

[Kate]

Hey guys I'm not sure if this belongs in Husbandry or here, but I figured I had too post somewhere.
When we got her, she'd been in a very stressful environment, and underweight for quite a while. In her past, she was getting fed 2 mice every 2 1/2 weeks.
To up her weight, we have been feeding her a mouse every week since we got her, and she has digested them beautifully, but still hasn't filled out in any way. We finally have access to a gram scale, so we will probably start weighing her.
She is strong, but shaped more like a triangle, than a 'loaf of bread'. I just want her at a healthier body weight.

So, how would y'all feed a 3 year old skinny girl to bulk her up?
We are thinking of upping to 2 mice a week for a month and seeing what happens?

In the picture she actually looks more plump than in person, in person, I can clearly see the line of her backbone, and that her body 'peaks' there noticeably.

P.S. She's on the keyboard as a prank, that guy is terrified of snakes and was out of the office for the day, so Jonathan figured he'd send him pictures of what was on his desk while he was out :D

http://i1247.photobucket.com/albums/gg633/KateU92/IMG_20120619_1254411.jpg

[Fuzzoodle]

Will she take rats? Rats have higher fat content. We feed our girls appropriate sized rats if they're skinny or if they just laid.

[Kate]

We haven't tried rats yet, I will definitely look into that, I was worried about finding an appropriate size.

[Fuzzoodle]

We breed our own rats and mice, so we just cull ours when they're whichever weight we need. We cull ours at pup size, which is 20-30g ish for the smaller more frequently fed snakes, and hopper size 30-40g for the bigger or less frequently fed ones.
The adult rats make pretty nice pets too :P

[bitsy]

TBH she doesn't look the slightest bit skinny from that pic, she looks exactly the right shape and size.

[Nanci]

There's no way I'd feed a three year old two adult mice a week. One adult mouse is appropriate. She is healthier just a tad thin than pudgy. If you start weighing her, you will be able to track her weight. You _could_ slit her mice, but even that is not necessary. It's _way_ harder to take weight off of a snake than to put it on gradually.

[chris68]

She looks fine to me also. Like has been said, one mouse a week is fine; pushing weight onto them by aggressively feeding to make up for years of underfeeding in not good for them

[Kate]

Okay guys, thanks! We'll stick with one mouse a week then! Y'all are right, I shouldn't just expect her backbone to suddenly be cushioned, it will take time. This picture looks pretty good, but in person she really doesn't have that 'loaf of bread' look that I see on the snakes healthy enough to be bred. Don't want to breed her, I just want her healthy!