wrong size

dutchess · 09-12-10, 02:57 PM

Today I'm excited and I feel bad at the same time. I went to a reptile expo today and spoke with many snake owners/experts. Especially about ball pythons, since I have one. I have been depriving my poor snake by feeding way too small rodents. Today I bought the right size and he sure seems content. I feel bad that he must have felt deprived. Although he did get fed more often..but still. Pays to talk to other snake owners.

Freebody · 09-12-10, 03:24 PM

its happens for sure, i just seen a post here the other day from mark and he was feeding 2 pinkies to the siblings of my womas i got from him, and i was thinking the same thing, i figured what i was giving them was good. so this week im going to double it up and see how the like it.

presspirate · 09-12-10, 06:04 PM

It's easy to underestimate the size of prey item to offer your snake. I tend to feed them on a certain size until I notice that the bulge is not as big as before after they have swallowed it, then I move them up a size. Also, I give them an extra day to digest before handling them, and depending on the snake, I may stretch their next scheduled feeding out a day or two.

mykee · 09-13-10, 10:07 AM

When you first start out with owning snakes, there are certain 'rules' you'll ned to follow to the letter with regards to feeding, water, heating, enclsoures, etc.
When you get some experience under your belt (One year with one snake is not experience IMO) then you can start tweaking those 'rules' to suit the individual animals needs.

Freebody · 09-13-10, 12:11 PM

ya i know what you mean, i have snakes that like to eat their food cold like my bredle, i got some that if it gets cold i need to reheat it for them, some that need their food wiggled a little but not to close, one that only eats at night. with all the years i have under my belt it never seases to amaze me when you put food in and your thinking to yourself i dont think this is going to work i should feed 2 smaller ones and then they eat it np. it baby snakes that get me, my little babies are so small, im not experience with having to feed such small babies so im under estimating what they can eat but it seems they are little troopers and eat like pigs

presspirate · 09-13-10, 01:22 PM

They certainly are individuals when it comes to feeding. One of my Corns will take prey from my hand nice and gentle, and then settle down and start eating. The other will snatch and wrap for about 10 minutes before he will eat. Our little carpet will strike at it a few times as if he is trying to envenomate it. Then he will eat only if we cover the feed box with a towel. My BCI likes to hug his prey and then whisper in it's ear for awhile before he decides to swallow it.
All have been moved up on prey size in the last month, and are doing very, very well. In fact my BCI is not quit 3' and I gave him his first small rat a few weeks ago, I didn't think he'd eat it. Because to me it looked too big. But after giving it a big constrictor hug, he got it down easily.

marvelfreak · 09-13-10, 04:47 PM

I have fed my yellow anaconda 3 times since i got it and each time i had to up the size. First time 2 mice fuzzies no lump. Second time 2 rat fuzzies slight lump. Third time small rat left nice lump. So that's what he'll get for a while.