Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My vet said my BP is underweight (and I can see that she is). I got her as a rescue. I don't know her age, but she's 3ft long. Currently, I'm feeding her 1 med. rat every 7 days. In order to put some weight on her, should I:

1) feed her 2 med. rats every 7 days
or
2) feed her 1 med. rat every 3-4 days
or
3) something else?

TIA
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0.1 Ball Python (Cambria)
1.0 Honduran Red Tail Boa (Mitch)
0.0.1 Rosy Boa (Thorn)
0.1 Leopard Gecko (Lucky)

do you know if she has gained weight while under your care?
if it does appear that she is gaining weight and is healthy i think you should keep offering once every 7 days, but if she is not just underweight but skinny feed once every 5 days.
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0.1 "Tremper" looking Albino Leopard gecko (Lex)
0.0.1 normal ball python (felix)
1.1 Feral cats that we adopted (Fuzzy, and Bear)

First off, I was wondering what you consider a med. Rat. I'm a scale junkie, so I weigh and record everything that goes in. Not necessary, but I just like to do it to keep records of everything.

I think generally as you mentioned there are two trains of thought on feeding size.

Some like to feed smaller items more frequently; while others prefer to feed larger items less frequently.

I like the first method. In snakes of about that length (depending on girth of course) I feed rats of about 100-120 grams every four or five days, with good heat and exercise in between.

I can’t say there is greater benefit from either method, but this is the method I prefer. Movements are regular, and the snake doesn’t sleep for three days after a meal. I also have had good results from this method as far as size and weight gains in my snakes.

Again, I don’t think there is any data to say one method is better than the other, but that is what works for me.

TomChambers