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This is Kira

M

merlyn923

New member
Hi all,

Just wanted to introduce my girl Kira. I got her on March 15, 2014. She was 20-22" and 45 grams when I got her, and she is now (as of 1/12/15) over 3 feet long and 332 g! She's currently been eating an ~40 g mouse every other week - does anyone have thoughts on switching to rats, one way or the other? I know that older mice get fatty, but I've also heard a lot of people say they prefer to stick with mice for corns. I have rats for my boa, so I was just curious either way. I also wanted to see how everyone thought she looked, body shape wise. Thoughts? Feedback? She's really a sweetheart (as are all of my reptiles).

view


- merlyn923
 
I'd have to google the data on rodent prey items of fat content, but from what I'm recalling off of memory, gram for gram, even older mice are less fatty than rats of equivalent size.

She does appear to be a tad chucky. I'm perplexed by your fed schedule and her growth in all honesty. I've got snakes of similar size from last year that aren't even over 250g with a feed schedule of every week - and I've got some fast growers in that assortment. That said, everyone grows are different rates, even on same feed schedule and prey size.
 
It's a bit hard to tell from the pictures, but I would describe her cross section as "slightly round loaf of bread." She's pretty flat right across the top of her back, with a very slightly bulge down the sides. She seems to settle a tad wider when she's on a hard surface like my desk. Either way, I think I'm just going to back off the size of her feeders a bit and see how she does. I think if I drop back into the ~30 g range, it should keep her at a healthier body shape.

As for the growth rate... I've basically followed some version of the Munson Plan. She has been eating something ~10-15% of her body weight. I fed her once a week when I first got her, switched to 9-10 days between feedings at ~150 g, and to 2 weeks between feedings at 14 days. I'm not really sure what to say about her growth rate - I started closely tracking her (weighed once per feeding period the day before feeding) in July, and she has averaged about 5.5% wait gain each week. I'm also not entirely sure on her age when I got her.
 
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