Should I feed him a bit early?

[CosmicOwl]

I posted in another thread that I recently acquired a baby grey rat snake. I purchased him last week and he arrived on Friday. The breeder sent him with a bit of info stating that he is 3 months old and that his next feeding should be on the 14th. I know it's a bit early, but he's been fairly active and I think he might be a bit hungry.

Should I try feeding him now, or do you think I should just play it safe and wait it out?

[formica]

if he's hungry, he'll eat, if not, he wont, let him decide, and try not to worry about it to much

as you have only just received him, he may be active because he is still exploring and looking for ways out of the enclosure, rather than activly hunting

[CosmicOwl]

Originally Posted by formica

if he's hungry, he'll eat, if not, he wont, let him decide, and try not to worry about it to much

as you have only just received him, he may be active because he is still exploring and looking for ways out of the enclosure, rather than activly hunting

I decided to offer him a pinky, and he was definitely hungry. He seemed really confused by the tweezers I was using to hold the mouse, and gave them a few bluff strikes and tail rattle. So I just set the pinky on the bottom of his enclosure and he went to work. It was gone in less than a minute. Since he made such quick work of one pinky, I might offer him two next week.

[CosmicOwl]

I'm honestly surprised. He is a very good eater. I had read that grey rats were voracious, but I didn't think he would wolf down two pinkies so readily. I half expected that I would have to tease him a bit(as I've done with other babies) but I just set the pinkies down in front of him and he went right to work. I'm very happy with this. I think I'm going to keep him on a 5 day schedule because he seems happy to eat that often.

[Aaron_S]

Originally Posted by CosmicOwl

I'm honestly surprised. He is a very good eater. I had read that grey rats were voracious, but I didn't think he would wolf down two pinkies so readily. I half expected that I would have to tease him a bit(as I've done with other babies) but I just set the pinkies down in front of him and he went right to work. I'm very happy with this. I think I'm going to keep him on a 5 day schedule because he seems happy to eat that often.

Snakes are opportunistic feeders. They should always be "happy" to eat because they don't know when their next meal comes.

If you're doubling prey items I would give him the extra few days in between meals. You will end up with an obese snake eventually if you overfeed.

[mistersprinkles]

Originally Posted by Aaron_S

Snakes are opportunistic feeders. They should always be "happy" to eat because they don't know when their next meal comes.

If you're doubling prey items I would give him the extra few days in between meals. You will end up with an obese snake eventually if you overfeed.

Or one that could use some Dulco-Lax.

[CosmicOwl]

Originally Posted by Aaron_S

Snakes are opportunistic feeders. They should always be "happy" to eat because they don't know when their next meal comes.

If you're doubling prey items I would give him the extra few days in between meals. You will end up with an obese snake eventually if you overfeed.

That's a good point. I don't want him to get fat, but the pinkies were on the small side. 1 was not making a particularly noticeable bulge in him. I'm not going to stick to a hard 5 day feeding schedule; I'll watch how fast he digests and feed accordingly. He moves around a lot too, so I'm not terribly worried about getting fat at this stage. He's young and has growing to do.

In your opinion, would it make more sense to feed a large meal less frequently, or a smaller meal more frequently?

[Aaron_S]

Originally Posted by CosmicOwl

That's a good point. I don't want him to get fat, but the pinkies were on the small side. 1 was not making a particularly noticeable bulge in him. I'm not going to stick to a hard 5 day feeding schedule; I'll watch how fast he digests and feed accordingly. He moves around a lot too, so I'm not terribly worried about getting fat at this stage. He's young and has growing to do.

In your opinion, would it make more sense to feed a large meal less frequently, or a smaller meal more frequently?

Colubrids have a higher metabolism than boids do so they require more in take in general.

I currently use a 10 - 15% of body weight rule for each feeding and I have boids so they only require feeding at 7 day intervals.

Now with both of those things said I would go with one meal item, a little on the smaller side, more frequently. One of those pinks every 5 days should suffice.

[CosmicOwl]

Originally Posted by Aaron_S

Colubrids have a higher metabolism than boids do so they require more in take in general.

I currently use a 10 - 15% of body weight rule for each feeding and I have boids so they only require feeding at 7 day intervals.

Now with both of those things said I would go with one meal item, a little on the smaller side, more frequently. One of those pinks every 5 days should suffice.

Thanks for the advice, I'll take it to consideration. If I get him some larger pinkies, I'll probably drop him down to just one every 7 days. This little guy is very active though, so who knows. He ate two mice and he's out climbing his perches and stuff. He's a little feisty, but I'm falling in love with him