Feeding Question for my Rosy

[TheFrogman]

Short background then my question;

I don't know "Pippi" my Rosy Boas exact age but I acquired her on Dec. 22, 2013 and I guess her to be between 7-8 months old. Her last weight was 24.8 grams on December 30th. She is a great eater, I'm feeding her one small fuzzy every 6 days.

She gobbles the Fuzzy up fast and leaves absolutely NO lump at all, do you think I should step her up to a Crawler or a Hopper or is it too soon?

[kwhitlock]

I would bump her up, to me no bump no good. Or feed 2 fuzzies.

[nyx]

Short background then my question;

I don't know "Pippi" my Rosy Boas exact age but I acquired her on Dec. 22, 2013 and I guess her to be between 7-8 months old. Her last weight was 24.8 grams on December 30th. She is a great eater, I'm feeding her one small fuzzy every 6 days.

She gobbles the Fuzzy up fast and leaves absolutely NO lump at all, do you think I should step her up to a Crawler or a Hopper or is it too soon?

I have several rosy boas at 30-ish grams, and a regular fuzzy definitely leaves a lump. Are you sure of your rodent sizes? Or perhaps we grow them larger out here.

Keep in mind that rosy boas have a small gape, and, to my mind, multiple smaller prey items are better for this species than one large. I try not to feed prey any larger than the maximum body diameter (whereas with, say, a corn snake, I might go larger).

I would aim for a 6g fuzzy every five days.

[TheFrogman]

I have several rosy boas at 30-ish grams, and a regular fuzzy definitely leaves a lump. Are you sure of your rodent sizes? Or perhaps we grow them larger out here.

Keep in mind that rosy boas have a small gape, and, to my mind, multiple smaller prey items are better for this species than one large. I try not to feed prey any larger than the maximum body diameter (whereas with, say, a corn snake, I might go larger).

I would aim for a 6g fuzzy every five days.

Thanks, yes I am certain that the feeder is a small fuzzy and when she eats it you cant even tell. But I'm not sure of the weight of the fuzzy, I buy the pre packaged ones and it only says fuzzy on the package.

[nyx]

Thanks, yes I am certain that the feeder is a small fuzzy and when she eats it you cant even tell. But I'm not sure of the weight of the fuzzy, I buy the pre packaged ones and it only says fuzzy on the package.

Purchase a gram scale (kitchen scale) and weigh the fuzzies (and weigh the snake, to record weight increase). I suspect you are getting rather small ones; I have purchased prepackaged mice from PetSmart in a pinch and they do not tend towards the generous side of the scale.

Feed her two fuzzies if you are concerned. I would definitely not feed hoppers by any definition of the word that I know them as.

[TheFrogman]

Purchase a gram scale (kitchen scale) and weigh the fuzzies (and weigh the snake, to record weight increase). I suspect you are getting rather small ones; I have purchased prepackaged mice from PetSmart in a pinch and they do not tend towards the generous side of the scale.

Feed her two fuzzies if you are concerned. I would definitely not feed hoppers by any definition of the word that I know them as.

I have a scale and what a dummy, I never thought of weighing the feeders, but I would like to know why you are so strongly suggesting staying away from hoppers??

The frozen fuzzies im feeding are about 5.5g and Hoppers are about 8.8g.

[nyx]

I know this is a bad image, but the two snakes in this picture are both around the 30 gram mark and eating pinkies (because that's what I had on hand - they got two each). One of the hoppers currently in my freezer would be larger than both of their widths at the maximum point put together, and then some. Unless you are getting hoppers on the very bottom of that scale (8 grams?), that's far, far too large.

As I said, rosy boas have small gapes (their mouths are small) and too-large prey items may be refused, or may be taken and then regurgitated the next day. There's no reason to rush ahead in prey sizes; they'll grow into it.

http://24.media.tumblr.com/8c11e9c767c122622bd1212cd25d3ab6/tumblr_myej9lGTKB1qdqparo1_1280.jpg

Edit: Here is an image of an estimated 18 gram animal eating a pinky. Your animal is between the corn's size and the rosies' above, if that clarifies any.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7126/7627507640_314ca2454e_c.jpg

[TheFrogman]

@nyx, you have clarified it beautifully for me, thank you !