He Ate Already...Now I Have More Questions

[beaglegod]

Just 4 days after I got my BP from Alex Hue hes eaten his first meal with me, a nice size F/T mouse. I thought I would have to wait longer but Alex said not to, I guess he new my little guys history cause Plissken woofed it down. This leads me to a few questions I have. First after 2 days have passed should I give him a handling session, say for 5 minutes or should I wait till after the next feeding/digestion period is over?

Secondly should I try and feed him a small rat or wait till he gets bigger? He looks to be about 18-20 inches long right now, the mouse he ate was about 3-3 1/2 inches. I called my local petco and they said they had small rats about 4 inches long but Im not sure if that will be a bit too much for him. Id like to get rat pups for him but I dont think they have any and the shipping costs on a small order make it very uneconomical unless you buy in bulk.

If I dont use rats at all for now do you think it will be a real pain to switch him over after he gets a little bigger?

Again as always thanks for the advice.

Paul "beaglegod"