• Hello!

    Either you have not registered on this site yet, or you are registered but have not logged in. In either case, you will not be able to use the full functionality of this site until you have registered, and then logged in after your registration has been approved.

    Registration is FREE, so please register so you can participate instead of remaining a lurker....

    Please be certain that the location field is correctly filled out when you register. All registrations that appear to be bogus will be rejected. Which means that if your location field does NOT match the actual location of your registration IP address, then your registration will be rejected.

    Sorry about the strictness of this requirement, but it is necessary to block spammers and scammers at the door as much as possible.

Ruby ate for me today (first time!) ...and question...

LadyJemima

Snakes are the new sexy
When I brought Ruby home two weeks ago, she refused food twice, then went blue two days later, which explained the refusal. It's now been 48 hours since her shed so I decided to feed her (she hasn't eaten for 14+ days) and right away she took a frozen fuzzy. Offered her a second fuzzy, but she wouldn't take it so I just left it in her tub and covered the box with a towel to make her more comfortable, and five minutes later...down the hatch!

She would not eat fuzzy #3, so I "poured" her back in her viv (she was still a bit cagey about being handled after her shed). I definitely think she's still acclimating to her new home, and she has been fed live mice for three years, so I'm pleased she took a thawed one today.

Her old owners told me they were feeding her 5 fuzzies (every week? I don't trust what they told me) but I find this slightly hard to believe because she is SO tiny , but I wondered if I should try to give her fuzzy #3 tomorrow, or is this a "no-no" after a feeding?
 
you should probably weigh her sometime. Most of us feed according to weight. Weigh the snake, weigh the food. My snake is almost 3 years old, he's close to 4 feet long and weighs a little over 400 grams, and I would not even feed him 5 fuzzies.

It's hard to tell from pictures just how big or small your snake is. But over feeding can be very dangerous. I personally would not feed her a 3rd fuzzy since she has eaten 2 already.

It would be better to feed 1 item of the correct size than to feed 3 or 5 of something smaller.

Try to offer meals that weigh about 10% to 13% (12% middle ground) of the snake's weight.

So for example - if the snake weighs 45 grams, feed 1 mouse that weighs about 5 grams (Large Fuzzy). If the snake weighs 90 grams, feed 1 mouse that weighs about 10 or 11 grams (Hopper). If the snake weighs 150 grams feed 1 mouse that weighs about 18 grams (small adult)...etc.... You can feed 2 or 3 smaller ones, as long as the total weight does not exceed what you should be feeding. But if you're not careful and you're just guessing at the meals, you could end up over feeding which could result in a regurgitation which can be harmful to a snake.

*Don't bother weighing her now, because you'd also be weighing the 2 mice she just ate.* Wait until she poops and she's "Empty" then weigh her and try to start planning your meals according to that.

Most of us weigh our snakes regularly to track their growth.
 
you should probably weigh her sometime.

Yeah, I know. Had a scale ready and totally slipped my mind. :face_palm_02: I'll be weighing her next week.

Thanks for the advice on feeding.
 
Back
Top