Feeding diamondback water snake

[toddnbecka]

Went to the Baltimore repticon, didn't see any MBK's there, but I did bring home a baby diamondback water snake. WIth an ever-growing population of endler's livebearers spread among several aquariums (and for only $10) I figured why not? Easy enough to maintain and won't cost me anything to feed for some time, though it will eventually outgrow the endler's (think guppies if you aren't familiar with them) and need larger feeder fish like rosy reds. The seller said he had had it for 4 months, I don't doubt his word, but I've seen bigger nightcrawlers than this little guy/girl. I set it up with a water bowl large enough to actually swim in and tossed in some fish. Seemed right at home when he/she was swimming around, mouth agape, chasing fish. I seriously think almost the snakes body mass worth of fish were eaten over 5-6 hours. I thought there would be enough for a couple days given the small size of the snake, but there were only the 2 smallest (actually fry) remaining when I last looked in on the new arrival, finally just lying on the paper bedding instead of chasing more fish. Any clue how much/often the greedy little snake should be fed? It's hard to weigh live fish...