Never ceases to amaze me

Slcburm · 09-03-12, 11:01 PM

So I fed my female retic 2 F/T weaned rats on sunday night. She was born 06/10 of this year 3 months old in a week. Anyhow when before I went to bed, i hit the fridge and the wife thawed out 3 as well. So i wasnt sure if I could refreeze and another retic owner said if they arent leaving much of a lump, feed this one time 2 days apart. I dont belive in powerfeeding but dont want to waste rats. Well hot damn ate all 3 tonight and the last 2 went down crazy fast. Right now she is chilling under the heat and I will let her be for several days. Next meal should be her first small rat in 10 days

shaunyboy · 09-04-12, 04:01 AM

personally i would NOT re freeze prey,also i would NOT recommend feeding any sooner than once every 7 days

cheers shaun

Slcburm · 09-04-12, 05:23 AM

Yea that was my dilemma and I usually don't. SO now she's not getting fed for a long time.

Will0W783 · 09-04-12, 08:32 AM

I've always fed my retics every 7 days until they were 5 feet long, then went to every two weeks. My yearling is 7 feet long and my adult male is 13 feet and steadily growing on this diet.

I feed the yearling girl two medium rats every 2 weeks, and the male eats 2 large. I don't like to overfeed or powerfeed retics- yes you can get them over 10 feet long in a year, but why do that to them? The vasculature and internal organs need time to grow along with the body and feeding too often will lead to fatty liver and a snake that dies younger.

Lankyrob · 09-04-12, 09:30 AM

As a one off i probably would so the same, i mistakenly left a bag of ten mice out of the freezer so fed three to each of my younger corns to save on wastage, would never doit regulalry but am sure in the wild they have feast and famine times during their lifes with no ill effect

Will0W783 · 09-04-12, 09:58 AM

Occasional feasting isn't really that bad...we do it on holidays, and sometimes you just have extra food that needs to be fed off. I think that as long as you have a regular schedule, an occasional lapse in either direction of food amount is fine.

Squirtle · 09-04-12, 03:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Will0W783

I've always fed my retics every 7 days until they were 5 feet long, then went to every two weeks. My yearling is 7 feet long and my adult male is 13 feet and steadily growing on this diet.

I feed the yearling girl two medium rats every 2 weeks, and the male eats 2 large. I don't like to overfeed or powerfeed retics- yes you can get them over 10 feet long in a year, but why do that to them? The vasculature and internal organs need time to grow along with the body and feeding too often will lead to fatty liver and a snake that dies younger.

Yeah, I never really understood why people try and power feed their snakes. I'm doing the same you did with your retics with my burm and retic.

Slcburm · 09-18-12, 09:31 PM

Well I went about 7 days out and she finally took a F/T small rat. I have never power fed my snake, just didnt want to lose rats. She is back to her normal 7 day feed schedule. Glad to have her off weaned

Ivanator · 09-18-12, 11:34 PM

I've read on a few sites to feed every 5-7 days the first few months and somewhere else to feed the day after they poo. I've just been feeding once a week like all of you, but is every 5 days bad? My little girl digests her food in a matter of days and poo's like no other

iBaman · 09-19-12, 02:14 AM

I feed once every 7 days for both my snakes...always have. I just don't feel like Pajamas can go two weeks yet...even tonight he's acting hungry, and he's still got 2 days to go! (yes his food is big enough...he gets an awesome food baby after feedings)

Slcburm · 09-19-12, 07:45 AM

I wouldnt consider every 5 days a bad feeding schedule for a retic. These snakes have an incredible fast metabolism and the "bump" is gone well before 5 days. If its only 1 pray item every 5 days then your fine. You dont want to feed multiple items every 5 days

Wildside · 09-19-12, 08:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Slcburm

I wouldnt consider every 5 days a bad feeding schedule for a retic. These snakes have an incredible fast metabolism and the "bump" is gone well before 5 days. If its only 1 pray item every 5 days then your fine. You dont want to feed multiple items every 5 days

That depends on the size of the animal. If the retic is in one of those in between phases where one med rat doesn't cut it but a large is still a little too big then I think you can feed multiple items every 5 days. It's not like you're gonna be doing it for a long time. It's important that your snake, especially retics get their fill.