What size to feed her?

msubigdawg · 08-04-04, 04:07 PM

OK this is my little red tail. I am feeding her smalle mice right now but I am wanting to get her on frozen/thawed rats. I bought her some rat pinkies and when they came in I noticed they were way to small. I am wondering if I should go with rat fuzzies or right to rat pups. I just fear if I get the fuzzies she will be to big for them in like 2 months and they come in a pack of 50. So i was wondering if the pups would work. Right now she is 22 inches long if that helps at all. What do yall think. O and in the picture part of her widest part is to small mice. What do yall think?

MormonBoa · 08-04-04, 06:16 PM

i buy my rats from local breeders, but do a google search...you'll find some sites that will sell mixed packages, so that you can get some of both.

Linds · 08-04-04, 10:49 PM

Boas grow very fast if provided with adequate husbandry and a proper diet. They go from pinkies or pups to medium or large rats in their first year. You definitely do not want to commit yourself to one size for so many meals like that. I would definitely find someone that can do a mixed package, as suggested above.

MouseKilla · 08-04-04, 11:58 PM

Yeah don't get caught up in weights or names for sizes of the prey items, just go with the good old 1.5 X girth rule.

Get the mixed bag of frozen rats as suggested and then just take a few out of the bag, compare them to the fattest part of your snake's body, then go with one that is just a little bit bigger around than she is. You can just keep using her body size as a reference as she grows to determine what size prey to feed her.

If you must order frozen instead of buying locally it's probably a good idea also to become familiar with the weight of the food items that are currently useful to you to help you know what to order the next time.