Ok, so when we rescued our bp a couple of months ago, he was apparently, from what everyone told, me a bit on the skinny side. The previous owner was only feeding him a little mouse every other month. Well, in researching in here and speaking to the owner of our local herp shop we increased the food intake to a decent size mouse every week. Well after a few weeks of doing that I noticed that after he ate there was never a "bulge" or even a bump or anything that showed he just ate. Well the local Herp guy told me to feed him either bigger mice or little rats and if there was still no blip on the radar that he just ate to feed him 2. Ok well to my point, how do I know what is too big or how much is too much or how often is too often? I have tried various sized prey over the last month and he eats like a champ. I put him in his feeding box give him a min or 2 to get readjusted and then pop in the food which he promptly attacks and starts chowing on. This last week I feed him the smallest of the small rats that my herp guy had and thought it looked just a bit bigger than my snake. Well he turned out to be quite a bit, like probably twice the size of my snake. Still Monty ate him like it was nothing. Do I still feed him again this week or do I give him a week off or what? I don't want to over feed him or anything like that. Any insight would be appreciated. Sorry about the rambling.

~R~

You should be happy that you have a ball with an appetite, I expected this to be another "My ball's not eating" thread.

I believe you are supposed to offer prey that is 1.5x the width of the snake at his largest point.

I don't own a snake so i'll let someone else tell you when to feed him next.

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Those who say it can't be done should get out of the way of those who are doing it.

~*~Lacey~*~

My Photos

Congratulations on having a chow hound!
The size should be 1, to 1 1/2, times the snake's body at the widest point.
Generally a snake won't eat something that is too big for it, and if it does it tends to regurge a day or two later. As long as he kept it down I would not worry. If the snake, after feeding, seems a bit over stretched I would wait an extra week before the next feeding. If it was overly large the snake probably would not feed the next week anyway.

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Merlin,
What's Life Without A Little Magic!

I would definitely follow Merlin's advice about food size. As far as giving him a week off.... once I got Dexter to eat rats (instead of the mice he was eating when I adopted him), I started feeding him once every 10-14 days (depending on how he was acting).

Congratulations on getting him to eat rats, though. From all I've been told, they are a LOT better than mice nutrition-wise (never tasted one, so I can't comment on that).

How old is Monty? And how big?

I'm not sure how old he is. I got him 2-3 months ago. The girl I was supposed to be "temporarily" (yeah right) fostering him for, doesn't seem to want to return any of my calls so I can't really get an accurate age. He seems quite young. He seems so much smaller than the other balls I see pics of. He is about 2 1/2ish feet long. Maybe about 1 1/2-2 inches (I'm really bad at estimating ) in diameter with a pencil thin neck! lol I have pics on my digital, that I haven't got downloaded yet of him eating this last monster rat, where he was really stretched. Otherwise, I have another thread from a couple months ago that has pics from shortly after I first got him. I'm going to get the other pics on here soon.

Congrats on the new snake. Don't you just love it when the previous owner never returns your call??!! I've had that happen to me tons. They say whatever they can before you take the pet and then "poof" they can't be reached! (with everything from dogs to herps)
GRRRR.
But I am glad it's a great eater
Maybe it's playing catch up. lol

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Just because you have an animal that isnt dead doesnt mean you know how to take care of it

It is rather annoying, but in this situation I am glad I have him. He is better off with me, even if I am not a snake pro. At least I know they have basic needs (like heat, light, food, etc...) and can fulfill those needs since she wasn't. That and he is the sweetest little guy. It is so interesting to watch him exploring!

Feed him once a week. That's what I do. But, sometimes I'll go two weeks untill I feed Gideon. Snakes can go with out food for long periods of time.

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"Look down at me and you see a fool;
look up at me and you see a god;
look straight at me and you see yourself”

charles manson