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Feeding Question - Enough?

R

racheld

New member
I have an 08 female that is currently 54 grams. We have had her since the end of April (she was 43 grams).

According to the Munson plan she should be eating a hopper (9 to 12 grams) every 6 to 7 days.

I have been giving her a fuzzie every 6 days. I just realized that these are small fuzzies (5 to 6 grams). Am I starving my girl?

I have 10 of these small fuzzies left. Should I be giving her 2 small fuzzies or just move up to hoppers and waste the fuzzies I have? She is an excellent eater.

Help!
 
It isn't a huge deal if you just finish off the fuzzies, though you should switch her to hoppers pretty soon. It is at times hard to judge just by weight though, so is there an easy to see lump when your snake eats a fuzzie?
 
You're not starving her. At that size she can handle a larger meal, but she's getting enough to stay healthy.

Besides using a scale, you can use the "lump" method to estimate when your snake is ready to move up in meal size. If the lump or bulge you see after feeding isn't clearly visible after 24 hours, it's time to move up to the next prey size. If it's clearly visible after 48 hours, the prey was too big (or conditions weren't right for digestion). A meal should be between 1 and 1.5 times the diameter of the snake's body at its widest point.

Feel free to feed the rest of your fuzzies. If they're 6-7 g each, it's perfectly fine to feed two fuzzies each meal until they're gone. If you prefer or if you think that's too big a meal, you can also cut the fuzzies in half. I recommend doing this while they're frozen and thawing them in a plastic bag. It's less messy that way.
 
You can also feed at a five day interval to use them up. I've noticed that the mouse weights in the Munson plan are generous- probably based on The Mouse Factory mice sizes, which is what Roy Munson fed. Other companies mice aren't as big.
 
Thank you! I guess I won't worry and will just let her finish off the rest. I will try 1 1/2 of the fuzzies and determine if her "lump" size is ok (I can barely see a lump after she eats now). I guess I will have to stomach chopping the fuzzy in two.

I am not use to her crazy growth rate. Our last corn, Taylor, was an amel hatching who never thrived. We went through regurge after regurge and she just never thrived. She passed away after a few months. Lexi is way different - she seems like she is never full - quite the pig.

Here is a picture of her ---
 

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Aww, what a cute little worm! Is she a lavender?

Keep in mind the Munson plan is just a guide. I wasn't aware of it for the first little while that I was feeding my first guy, so he was fed only once a week and prey size was a little more conservative. Even once I became aware of it, I just couldn't believe he could eat an adult (but he probably would have been fine), so I let him get a little bigger before switching him. She will be perfectly fine to finish off the fuzzies on a 5 day plan. Even on such a conservative feeding schedule, my '08 is 263 g!
 
Yes - she is a hypo lavender - we got her from Carol a couple of months ago. She is great - very active, a great eater and easy to hold. We couldn't ask for more!
 
Very pretty little snake...I'm glad she's eating well for you :). When I got my snake they had him still eating pinkies, even though he was fully capable of eating a hopper. He's already up to eating small mice after three months. It's amazing how large of prey they can swallow.
 
I love her sweet little face! I'm glad you have a healthy baby after the first bad experience.
 
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