Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hey Shvar,

What's your feeding schedule for Sobek?

I'm trying to get a good feeding schedule going for my 1 year old BT (not sure whether it is a male or female). He/She is currently just over 4 feet and always seems hungry. Right now she's on 2 medium f/t rats every other day, but she seems to want to eat 2 or more EVERYDAY.

I've tried large, but she always seems to have trouble getting them down, so I've stuck with mediums. Also, she always seems to have loose wrinkly skin. Her humidity is almost always at 62%, and she does drink, so I don't think it's dehydration, so that leads me to think she isn't eating enough to fill her body out. Am I doing something wrong?

Here's the cage specs, heat, etc:
Cage: 8x4x4
Heat: Basking: 121, Ambient: About 81 (Night 75)
Substrate: 1.5' of Cypress Mulch

When she was around 3ft (5.5 months old)she was eating 4-6-9 adult mice a a day, or varying amounts of roaches, chickens, quail, crickets etc. When she was 4ft (8 months old) she was eating a bit less and a bit less often (thats was her first cycle, she didnt eat for about 4-5 days then was ready to resume. I fed week old chickens (whole or cut up, 5-10 ounces) to her for a long time and jumbo mice in varying amounts as she needed them, a schedule didnt work for her at a year old she was 5ft. At 18 months (5ft 6 or so inches and 21.5lbs?) she cycled again and wouldnt eat for 3 weeks except for 2 adult mice, she became bound up with over 5lbs of eggs (40-44?) on her second cycle, they were removed with her ovaries to prevent that being a risk to her life ever again (afterwards 16.5lbs). She started eating mice at around 6ft long as I preferred smaller meals. She currently eats 1 rat a week but more often 1 rat every 3-4 weeks to balance her weight at 25lbs and 6ft 1/2 inch. At some point her basking spot was taken up to 156 degrees to allow her more use of high temps and to lower the amount of time she basks. She spends alot of time conserving moisture under 1.5ft of dirt and 25% coco-peat (I added it recently to help hold moisture). Here basking spot is a uniform 156-165 degrees f, from one end of the hot spot to the other.