Reptile & Amphibian Forums

A few weeks back I was told I wasn't feeding Persephone enough (female brb). So I stopped feeding her pinkie mice, and fed her a rat pup that week. Well, local store didn't have any more rat pups, or hoppers, or fuzzies, so I bought a small mouse. Stunned it and handed it over to Persephone. Took her a while, but she eventually gobbled it up, but it left a huge lump in her middle. This was Friday. Come in this morning to do my general morning handling, and quickly learned that she wasn't done with her meal yet. She is still huge. She is about 6 weeks old now, did I over do it, and do I feed her this Friday, or do I let her skip a week?

Josh

If she still has a lump after three days I'd give her another week before you feed her again. This is just to not over feed and skipping a week won't hurt her any.
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Thank you,

Tim

0.1 wc girlfriend- Melissa (still nippy even after a year and a half of loving care)
0.1 CRB- Tempest
0.1 JCP- Serenity
1.0 Black Cat- Chester A Arthur

No you did not overfeed. I am using large hoppers on my babies. In another week I will run out of hoppers, so I will switch them to small mice - as I have lots of them. I will be ordering rats vs. mice for future feedings.

It may take her a while to digest it. I would say not to handle her while she is still digesting to prevent her from reguritating. I go at a minimun of three days - maybe longer depending on snake and size of meal. It also may take her a bit of time to get used to the feeding schedule - to poop on a regular basis.
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Mike

6.7 BRB
1.2 Spotted Python
1.0 Cal. King

Josh,
..That lump should look MUCH smaller 24 hours from now.
Jeff

>>A few weeks back I was told I wasn't feeding Persephone enough (female brb). So I stopped feeding her pinkie mice, and fed her a rat pup that week. Well, local store didn't have any more rat pups, or hoppers, or fuzzies, so I bought a small mouse. Stunned it and handed it over to Persephone. Took her a while, but she eventually gobbled it up, but it left a huge lump in her middle. This was Friday. Come in this morning to do my general morning handling, and quickly learned that she wasn't done with her meal yet. She is still huge. She is about 6 weeks old now, did I over do it, and do I feed her this Friday, or do I let her skip a week?
>>
>>Josh

Two Caveats first.....

Seems like there is NO clear definition everyone follows regarding size of prey so what is a small mouse to one could be a large one to another.

No two snakes are the same, I do have a BRB that I'd be quite happy if she'd take a large pinky and a hopper IMO would be too large but then again, she is a tiny thing at only 13 grams, was one of a pair of twins.

Does not sound like you over fed UNLESS you keep up this type of feeding. Give it a day or two and see how she looks, like Jeff said you are right at the time she should reduce the meal. If she still looks overly large in a dya or so you can always skip her next meal with no harm at all to your baby. She could go for months in the wild with no food at all without any long term affects. Other than not growing and still being so small and a more likely meal for another predator.

More important is the long term feeding regimen. Altering the size of prey up and down on a weekly basis is no big deal as long as the average size of prey is correct. Rule of thumb is food should be same diameter as the widest part of snake (empty). Of course each snake can be different and also each snake can change!! My Amber only wanted small meals and grew very slowly. only half the size of her siblings. Now at two years old she is going throuhg a growth spurt and is eating much larger prey.

Just pay attention to how your individual snake is doing. If she starts looking stretched out and skin always showing between the scales, back off on food a bit. If eshe is looking skinny and wants more, give it to her!!!
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Thanks,

Dave Colling

www.rainbows-r-us-reptiles.com

0.1 Wife (WC and still very fiesty)
0.2 kids (CBB, a big part of our selective breeding program)

LOL, to many snakes to list, last count:
24.36 BRB
19.19 BCI
And those are only the breeders

lots.lots.lots feeder mice and rats

It's my fault for being picky. I know she will take any f/t critter I give to her. I just hate dethawing those critters. I would much rather snap the neck of a live mouse than heat up a dead one. As such I'm reliant on my local pet store to have the appropriate sized critters to feed to her. I really need to kick that habit. I'm also not fond of sharing my freezer space with her food. The meal was probably twice as big around as her roundest area, but math is tricky when it comes to radius/diameter/circumference. She was able to get it down without doing damage to her jaw, and she is still looking rather plump. I accidentally picked her up this morning. Didn't notice that she was still digesting, but as soon as I did, I put her right back. Her temperment has improved greatly since I first got her. No strikes or threats of strikes. I'll probably be skipping this weeks meal. Won't be around this weekend to check up on her anyways.

Josh