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Feeding an Adult

snakemom1961

snakemom1961

Spring is here!
I've had Tiaga 3 years now. I feed her 1 small rat every 7 days now, after having ppl look at her and seeing she was thin. My question is 1 small rat doesn't seem to leave much of a lump at all. Is it possible I need to move up to medium rats? or just move her feedings up to every 5 days. Would love others opinions on this.......thanks so much!
 
snakemom1961 said:
I've had Tiaga 3 years now. I feed her 1 small rat every 7 days now, after having ppl look at her and seeing she was thin. My question is 1 small rat doesn't seem to leave much of a lump at all. Is it possible I need to move up to medium rats? or just move her feedings up to every 5 days. Would love others opinions on this.......thanks so much!
Click to expand...

I feed my guy a small rat every seven days also and while it seems like a lot, he must have the metabolism of a hummingbird because he's not fat. Are you sure it's really a small rat? Not all rats or mice for that matter are created equal. How many do the rats you feed actually weigh? I found out that the small rats at Petco were more like my local reptile store's pups. He doesn't have much of a lump either afterwards either, but he's starting to look good.

How long has Tiaga been on the rats?
 
I think, in an adult snake, people recommend upping the prey size, rather than increasing the frequency of feeds, because once the prey gets "big," it takes a certain amount of time to digest- longer that small prey like pinks and fuzzies that will be gone in four or five days.

Nanci
 
As mentioned already, not all "small" rats are created equal. Since this topic has come up quite a bit lately, I took a couple of photos showing how I match snake size with prey size. I used to feed smaller items, but didn't get the growth rate many other breeders did. Now that I've increased to larger prey items, my snakes are growing much batter. I have '05s now that are larger than some '04s that were on my old method. These have also been changed and are finally growing at a good rate as well.

This is an '05 female and she weighs in at 220 grams. That is a weaner rat pup, about the same size as an adult mouse. This is about the maximum she will take at this time. It leaves a nice bulge in her belly and she's fed once a week to once every 10 days.
 
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Weebonilass said:
I feed my guy a small rat every seven days also and while it seems like a lot, he must have the metabolism of a hummingbird because he's not fat. Are you sure it's really a small rat? Not all rats or mice for that matter are created equal. How many do the rats you feed actually weigh? I found out that the small rats at Petco were more like my local reptile store's pups. He doesn't have much of a lump either afterwards either, but he's starting to look good.

How long has Tiaga been on the rats?
Click to expand...


I've had her on small rats for almost a year I think. Was feeding her live since we got her because that's what the petshop fed. I showed a pic of her on here and most everyone said she was thin.. So I've upped her feedings from once every 2 weeks to once a week, switched to f/t small rats which she takes no problem at all. I will say I think the f/t small rats seem to be smaller and leave less if any lumb compared to the live small rats I use to get for her. Do you think I should move up to medium rats? or feed more frequently, I'm sure she wouldn't be able to handle 2 small rats in one feeding..
 
snakemom1961 said:
I've had her on small rats for almost a year I think. Was feeding her live since we got her because that's what the petshop fed. I showed a pic of her on here and most everyone said she was thin.. So I've upped her feedings from once every 2 weeks to once a week, switched to f/t small rats which she takes no problem at all. I will say I think the f/t small rats seem to be smaller and leave less if any lumb compared to the live small rats I use to get for her. Do you think I should move up to medium rats? or feed more frequently, I'm sure she wouldn't be able to handle 2 small rats in one feeding..
Click to expand...

How long have you been feeding at one week instead of 2 weeks? Again, how much do your small rats weigh? Also, are you slitting your prey for her? I know how big my guy is and I don't think he needs a med. rat. So without knowing the size of your girl and her weight I wouldn't be willing to say move up. I know since I went to another food source for the same "size" he's put on a few pounds and I'm feeling better about how he looks. But I changed sources back in Aug and I've just recently been able to notice the difference. It takes time to put weight back on most animals and I assume that snakes would be the same.
 
I'll try to get a pic of her on saturday which will be feeding day. She's always been a great eater, so that certainly hasn't been a problem at all. Thanks for all the advice. I and I'm sure Tiaga appreciate it.lol
 
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