Hello!

I posted this in the Rainbow forum but there doesn't seem to be any action over there right now.

I have a 3 and a half year old BRB that I got from a nice young couple off Craig's List 5 months ago. They purchased her from a breeder when she was a month old. She didn't come with much info from them, but seemed very healthy and nice so she came to live with me. This is my first snake, first reptile actually.

They told me she was eating one F/T weanling rat every 2-3 weeks. So I bought weanlings and she ate one that night rather quickly so I offered her another which she ate eagerly. 10 days later I offered her 2 more and she ate them quickly, no noticeable lumps after eating so I moved up to small rats after that second feeding. She is currently getting one small rat, 50-65g, every 10 to 14 days. She was 483g when I brought her home (5 months ago) and is 689g today. So obviously she is gaining weight and not starving.

I look at the pictures on these forums of the beautiful BRBs and it seems like all the experts have snakes that are thicker and bulkier then mine.

I can't seem to find any reference on how much she should weigh, how much she should eat, how often she should eat...

I know the go to rule is that her meal should be no bigger around the widest part of her body. But this seems very arbitrary to me and doesn't cover how often I should feed. Is there a formula for feeding based on weight? I've read that you can offer food and if they don't eat then it isn't time yet. That seems like a waste of defrosted rodent and what if she just keeps eating and gets fat? I've read that some snakes do that.

I want her to be healthy and fed correctly but not over fed. Any thoughts would be very welcome!

I included some pics of her above and from the side if that helps in determining if she is too skinny.

Thank you!

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