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Digestion Digetion here's my question!

nlove_3000

nlove_3000

New member
2 of my little guys (yearlings as quoted by their previous owner - but small) have been growing vvvvveeeeerrrrryyyy slowly and after more research I realized that I have been feeding them more of a maintenance diet than a growth diet. They male was roughly 40 grams and the female 45. They've been eating 1 fuzzy every 5-7 days and I decided to offer them two this time to see what how it went and decide the days between feedings on how they digested these.

So, three days after the feed and acceptance of two fuzzies by each snake, the female seems hardier, but has no prounounced bump, and is acting normal. The male however still has not digested the fuzzies. I'm assuming this by the look of his body with a "teo fuzzy length" bulge still prominent about 2/3 down the length of his body. This bulge is not abnormally large or stretching him beyond his capabilities...I just expected it to be almost gone at this point. He was still active but more sluggish than usual. I placed him back in his enclosure and raised the heat slightly on the warm side of his tank in case he needs this extra heat to digest this larger meal.

The question is: Should I worry if it takes the bulge too much longer to go down? Or is it ok as long as it is moving/reducing? Next time feeding comes would it be safer to offer a pinkie and a fuzzy or should this guy just stick to one prey item?
 
Just to add more information, I had waited a little longer than usual since their last feeding before offering two items. Instead of the normal week it was more like 9-10 days.
 
For snakes in the 40-50 gram range I'd stick with 1 fuzzy every 5 or 6 days. Let the male go until you see obvious poo before feeding him again... and go back to only one fuzzy for both snakes.

Remember to weigh your fuzzies... you should be giving each snake about 9 grams of fuzzy per feed. Not tiny little 5 gram fuzzies.

If it turns out you have the little ones, you can maybe stick with two of them... BUT, I'd only offer the male one next time no matter what... make sure his digestion is ok.
 
I agree with wax.

I would definitely move them to a 5-6 day feeding schedule. You should start to see some real growth from them.
 
Thank you guys. I appreciate it. I know that the combined weight of the fuzzies was 10g. I'll go less for the male for sure next time.
 
I've never weighed my food items. I go by how large it is compared to the snake. I don't see one fuzzy as being maintenance feeding unless the snakes are 3 ft. long or something. My yearlings are taking hoppers but they are pretty decent sized animals.
 
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