When should I feed next?

TinkerbellsMom · 07-11-12, 06:10 PM

So Tinkerbell fed today! yay!! I have had my bp tinkerbell for about 2 weeks now. She had been eating live hoppers with the breeder for the 1st month of her life, when i purchased her i tried getting her onto f/t but she wouldnt have that. So today I gave in and gave her a live adult mouse. She ate it in under 5 min. Go figure lol.
So here is what my question is about:
It is wednesday, I am leaving out of town on saturday. I won't be back until basically friday. The mouse didn't seem to fill her up enough, there was a bulge but she could definitely take on a bigger one and I could tell she wanted more after she ate it lol. Should I feed her about the same size mouse on saturday before I leave, or just wait and give her a larger mouse when i get back?
My brother is going to be switching out water and cleaning up messes while im gone but he wont be picking her up. Everyone in my house is scared of snakes haha. He wont pick her up unless im there, he's 20 lol!

alessia55 · 07-11-12, 06:23 PM

Woooot! Congrats on getting her to eat!

You fed her today, so you don't need to worry about feeding her until at least Wednesday of next week. Its OK to wait until Friday when you get back.

When you get back, offer her a RAT instead. The longer she's on mice, the harder it may be to switch her over later. Remember that healthy ball pythons (even young ones!) can go quite some time without eating. She won't starve. It took me 5 months to switch over one of mine onto frozen/thawed rats. Giving her that extra time until next Friday or Saturday MIGHT make her more likely to eat a rat (since she might be somewhat hungrier). Wait it out and try a rat instead of a mouse. Good luck!

maximus30576 · 07-11-12, 06:24 PM

I would just wait til you get back and feed her .. Maybe try f/t if you want since she will probably be good and hungry ..It wont hurt her at all to wait until then ..And your brother needs to get with the program and hold her a little ...LOL

alessia55 · 07-11-12, 06:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by maximus30576

I would just wait til you get back and feed her .. Maybe try f/t if you want since she will probably be good and hungry ..It wont hurt her at all to wait until then ..And your brother needs to get with the program and hold her a little ...LOL

Sure, but not yet. She's only had Tinkerbell for 2 weeks, and she wants to get her eating regularly for her first. Once Tinkerbell is eating well, then TinkerbellsMom needs to start teaching her brother to handle snakes

maximus30576 · 07-11-12, 06:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by alessia55

Sure, but not yet. She's only had Tinkerbell for 2 weeks, and she wants to get her eating regularly for her first. Once Tinkerbell is eating well, then TinkerbellsMom needs to start teaching her brother to handle snakes

If Tinkerbells mom is holding tinkerbell already then why not her brother ....

TinkerbellsMom · 07-11-12, 06:31 PM

Ok thanks! Yeah I will give her a rat on friday when I get back! Lol I know I can't believe my brother is such a poo nany about it. hahaaa. my dad doesn't even know I have tinkerbell! If he knew he'd hit the ground running! & he would be very mad at me lol! She was so stubborn to eat f/t I think i will just give her a live one when I get back. She is still pretty new to her home so I might try changing it up later on. Also one more thing.. does she look like a 1 mo old bp to you guys?

alessia55 · 07-11-12, 06:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TinkerbellsMom

Ok thanks! Yeah I will give her a rat on friday when I get back! Lol I know I can't believe my brother is such a poo nany about it. hahaaa. my dad doesn't even know I have tinkerbell! If he knew he'd hit the ground running! & he would be very mad at me lol! She was so stubborn to eat f/t I think i will just give her a live one when I get back. She is still pretty new to her home so I might try changing it up later on. Also one more thing.. does she look like a 1 mo old bp to you guys?

If you want to get her on f/t rats, my suggestion is to do it sooner rather than later. Offer her a f/t rat on Saturday, and if she doesn't eat, wait until next Saturday and try again. She'll give and eat it eventually, and you won't have to worry about it again.

To me she looks older than 1 month old. Here is my albino when I got him, and he was 1-2 mos old:

If I remember correctly, yours is larger in your hand than mine was in my hand at 1-2mos old.

TinkerbellsMom · 07-11-12, 06:48 PM

Yeah she seemed so big when I got her! I got her from garrick demeyer, they gave me her hatch date and everything 6/1/12 so she should be about a month and a half now. What is your opinion on getting snakes from him?? Do you think I should be worried that they lied? I mean i've only heard good things about them and I spoke to gerrick myself. She is healthy thats all that matters but I do wish I knew for sure if she was as young as they say she is.

TinkerbellsMom · 07-11-12, 06:49 PM

View My Video

Her strike!

Ignore my god awful excitement voice haha

maximus30576 · 07-11-12, 06:52 PM

That could very well be the hatch date .. If he had no problems getting her to eat then she could be bigger than some .. She looks great, i really dont think he would lie about it anyway .. There would be no point in it .. In my opinion . cool video too by the way ..

TinkerbellsMom · 07-11-12, 06:56 PM

Ok good! That was my initial thought..girl just liked to eat and grew accordingly. I guess she is just a big girl..I wonder what that holds for the future lol. & thanks it was originally longer but I had to cut it down some so I thought I'd get to the action. She ate that mouse so fast. No wonder she is a big girl. Scary thing is, it BARELY left a bulge. Aren't they supposed to be eating pinkies at this age? Not adult mice lol.

TinkerbellsMom · 07-11-12, 07:02 PM

Oh and here is a pic of Tink snuggling with one of my friends. I had her crawling around on my bed and she crawled right into his chest and went to sleep lmao!!!

**Aaron_S** · 07-11-12, 08:23 PM

They don't eat pinkies at this age. They come out of the egg ready for hoppers or larger.

I would recommend a rat pup or rat pink next feeding. As mentioned, feeding rats is better. She'll grow even faster.

Also, don't worry about the feeding box you used. Just toss in the live feeder. She'll be fine on her bedding. For the record, I use beta chips for bedding instead of shredded aspen now. I have seen nasty sights with the shred so I prefer the really small, easy to digest beta chips!

lumpbump · 07-21-12, 05:59 PM

My first ball went on hunger strike for like 6 months his second winter. He always comes around in the summer and begins eating again. Feeding every week is a good starting point while you learn your snake. Good luck! Btw if your looking for feeder rats pm me. Im also in houston.