Too skinny?

[carnivorouszoo]

Ok up front let me say I have only had her about 4 weeks and she was shorter in length and a bit skinnier then.

I'm being told I need to up her food size, she is currently on pinky mice. Someone said go to fuzzies but I do not think she is big enough for fuzzies. Here are a variety of shots of her, some with a pencil to give an idea of her size.

http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/nn60/cleantokeepmykids/Snake%20pictures/S6301108.jpg

http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/nn60/cleantokeepmykids/Snake%20pictures/S6301110.jpg

http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/nn60/cleantokeepmykids/Snake%20pictures/S6301112.jpg

http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/nn60/cleantokeepmykids/Snake%20pictures/S6301105.jpg

I'm now worried that I am not feeding her right. My vet said the previous owners obviously had her in poor condition, he told me to offer 2 pinks but not to expect her to eat both everytime. He told me this last friday so this past sunday when it was time to feed I gave her two and she ate both. I feed every sunday. Should I feed more often? If I feed more often should I still offer 2 to try to get her bulked a bit? Or does she look ok? She is between 14 and 16 inches long. Its hard to get a good measure, sometimes she looks closer to 14 others closer to 16.

[carnivorouszoo]

Forgot to mention I do not know her hatch date. The previous owners did not feel it was important information to have.

[Susan]

The rule of thumb is to feed prey items that are no wider than 1½ times the width of the snake at it's widest point.

[limpert]

i'de say she could eat a F/T fuzzy

[carnivorouszoo]

Ok so soon as my baby mice grow out to fuzzy stage I should try her one one? They are due to have babies mid week this coming week. I'll offer two pinks each feeding til the babies get fuzzy. Thank you!

[pwargcm]

if you use your own bred mice you should weigh them and keep track of that and your snakes weight. just to keep up a good record keeping. and see how fast the growth is.

[jmksnakes]

The rule of thumb is to feed prey items that are no wider than 1½ times the width of the snake at it's widest point.

Diddo to that. She and the pencil appear to be the same size, which to me is too small for fuzzies. :eats02:

[carnivorouszoo]

if you use your own bred mice you should weigh them and keep track of that and your snakes weight. just to keep up a good record keeping. and see how fast the growth is.

Thanks I have a snake tracker program. I will keep a notepad file on how much the mice weight each time I feed her as well. Do I weigh her before the feedings or 3 days after?

[carnivorouszoo]

Diddo to that. She and the pencil appear to be the same size, which to me is too small for fuzzies. :eats02:

I do not think she can handle fuzzies yet either but I will freeze a bunch of pinks and let the rest grow out. If she is past pinks stage I will sell the ones too small for her to other snake owners.

I am going to be offering feeders to other local owners and have a weight chart to go with the size names and prices, I will use it as a guide to better understand what size she is eating.

I'm going to weigh her before each feeding from now on. I did not realize I should be doing this! Thanks again!

[bekers71]

I'm being told I need to up her food size, she is currently on pinky mice. Someone said go to fuzzies but I do not think she is big enough for fuzzies.

Follow your instincts. They are usually right.

I'm going to weigh her before each feeding from now on. I did not realize I should be doing this!

This isn't necessary and it doesn't have to be done.

As Susan stated above, you need to go by the girth of the snake. The mice you feed should be no bigger than 1 1/2 times the thickest part of the snake. You snake is too small for fuzzies and it may be a while before it's big enough. I would even hesitate to feed it 2 pinks at a time right now. You move too fast with feeding and you will run into regurge issues.