Two mice a week?

[JessKeen]

Just brought this big girl home tonight, so she won't be having a meal for another 7 days at least, but I'm curious. Her previous owner was feeding her two adult mice each week. Is this too much or a good amount? She isn't overweight as far as I can tell, she looks and feels great. She is 562 grams and 4.5 feet long. Also she is gorgeous and sweet and I love her... :D

http://i1197.photobucket.com/albums/aa438/Jessica_Keenan/photo-5_zpscfdd4315.jpg (http://s1197.photobucket.com/user/Jessica_Keenan/media/photo-5_zpscfdd4315.jpg.html)

[Nanci]

I would be feeding that snake one medium adult mouse, 22-26 grams, every two weeks. She's as big as any of my 6-8 year old females. You want to aim for a _small_ weight gain every feeding cycle. Since she will gain roughly 30% of the weight of what she eats, oe adult mouse should be perfect. Certainly no more!!

[JessKeen]

Thanks Nanci, good to know!

[JessKeen]

Should I maybe wean her down to one every two weeks? Going from approximately 8 a month to approximately 2 a month seems like a big shock for a digestive system. I could do one a week for the first month? Or does it not really matter?

Also I'm wondering if she's hungry because she never holds still, she is always moving around her tub. Hubby thinks it's because the blue filters light enough that she has no need to hide. My only other snake, Vera, only comes out at night on feeding day and the day before to cruise around and look for a snack, haha!

[Nanci]

The most I would do is one every 10 days. No way would I do one a week.

[JessKeen]

Okay I will do a couple ten days apart and then switch to every 14. Thanks for knowing everything :D

[JessKeen]

One more question, with Vera sometimes I just set the mouse in the feeding bin and she takes it right away. With an adult, do you have to dangle it around with tongs or will they take it off the ground?

[Nanci]

I just put the mouse in the bin and put the snake in.

[JessKeen]

Awesome. I am not scared of being bitten or anything (well I don't want it to happen, but you know what I mean) I jump easily though and I dropped the tweezers into the bin with Vera once when she struck. They didn't bump her but I'm worried if they had she would have refused the food.

[smigon]

The "mouse zombie dance!" All of my kids eat in the viv off of a plastic lid, no substrate ingestion. Except Boots, my 888g 5' boy. He LOVES the zombie dance, he knows it is feeding day and he is like a puppy, circles the viv, before he even sees the mouse. I tease him with it and then let him have it when he catches up to it and strikes.

It does make you jumpy a bit, but I even got my husband to do it tonight! I know he WANTED to, but would never ask. I think he got a bigger kick out of it than I did!

I don't use tongs or tweezers, he gets a large mouse so I hold it in the middle of the tail. Haven't been struck yet.

[JessKeen]

HAHA! Mouse zombie dance. I am not a huge fan of stuff that makes me jump. I have no problem dangling a mouse if I need to, but if it will take it just laying there dead I'm a happy camper. I gave Penny a mouse last night, I know its technically too early because she hasn't had a lot of time to settle but she was cruising around constantly and wouldn't settle. She ate it immediately and has been much more chilled out since then but still moving around some.