Reptile & Amphibian Forums

(I know this is the retic forum, but this can apply to all large boids...)

Hello all,

I normally try to feed my snakes a carefully weighed diet. For example - if my burm is due for a meal that should be about 1000 grams, I will opt to give him 600g and 400g prey items instead of a single 900g or 1100g item.

In using two smaller items I can more accurately dial into the weight of the meal he should get. I keep track of the total weight of each meal he eats so that I can gradually ramp it up over time as he grows. That way I can be sure I am not over or under feeding him (I'm a big fan of health/maintenance diets now).

This method allows me to stock up on frozen feeders without having a bunch that are too large or too small (as it is rare to find the 'ideal' prey size when I shop online for frozen feeders).

My question is this: is it preferrable to feed [a snake] a single prey item, or is it okay to feed a couple or few smaller prey items that equal the same final meal size?

Thanks for any input on this,
- Mark
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I don't think it matters much, I know with two the snake has more to digest and needs to work more, so feeding one may be better.

with feeding two separate meals, you get a lot more useless crap than with just one. There is more hair and bones, stuff the snake cant really use, than with just one prey item. I feed mine one prey item that is about as large as they can handle.

Its generally more cost efficient this way also.
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1.0 Albino Green Burm
0.2 Normal Burm
1.1 Java Retic