Reptile & Amphibian Forums

the 2500 gram female i just got on friday she shed last night and then ate a rat today! this is going to be fun! im trying to get my spider to start eating rat pups today was the first attempt to switch from adult mice, and he just killed it and didnt eat it. maybe he just wasnt hungry, or maybe he didnt like it who knows, any tips/tricks to help me out! he weighs 183 grams, any shot of me getting him up to breeding size this year??

Why not just keep him on mice if he is eating them?

Why fix what's not broken? You can always switch him once he's bigger.
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"What is man without the beasts?
If all the beasts were gone,
men would die from great loneliness of spirit.
For what happens to the beasts,
soon happens to men.
All things are connected."

-Chief Seattle (Duwamish Tribe)

well everyone said that they would grow quicker off of the rat pups because they have more protein, so i was just trying it out today to see if he would eat it so he could have a better chance to get to breeding size.

just feed him more mice more often......hell get their.
with power feeding you can have a snake gain 100 grams or more a month.i bred my het red axanthic male at 500 grams and he was producing sperm at 400 grams.
adam jeffery
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" a.k.a. farfrumugen "
When I die, I want to go peacefully like my Grandfather did, in his sleep -- not screaming, like the passengers in his car.

Isn't power power feeding bad?? I think I can get him 2 mice in 10 days. Would that get him there. I tried to give him a rat pup but he just killed it and didn't eat it..

So power feeding isn't good, but if you are that concerned about getting the snake up to size, then you wouldn't care. Power feeding is feeding every 3-4 days. It makes the snake grow quickly, so they are "at breeding size" sooner. They still need to be sexually mature enough to breed. If he is just a small/late 09, it's possible. But being 128g sounds like he is a 2010. If you are trying to get him to breed to a 2000 female, he might be slightly intimidated. You can try, but may or may not have luck. It's really up to the snakes. You need to get him over 500g to breed IMO. Better to aim for 600 .

Use a little smaller rat next time, slightly smaller than the adult mice you were giving him. If that doesn't work , again use the small sized rat plus put the rat and the mouse together in a paper bag or small box for about 10 minutes to make the rat smell more like a mouse. Spiders generally eat well , doubt you have much trouble.

Anthony McCain