I try and go with a more "natural" feeding regimen. Basically, feed them, let their systems clear out and feed them again. Snakes are not cars that need maintenance at prescribed intervals and your goal should be to get to know your snakes on an intimate basis and then you will begin to pick up on their individual variances. Keep an eye (and records!!) on what each snake eats and when, then check on them daily and monitor their digestive abilities. For example, my little female yellow rat (about 20", wc) will eat one small rat fuzzy and will then poop 3-4 times over the course of the next 4-5 days on average. So right now she is getting fed one prey item that size every 5-7 days. My two wc corns (about 30" ea.) would eat and digest one or two adult mice every 4-5 days when I first got them back in June, but they were relatively thin. Now that their metabolisms have caught up and they have what I consider to be good body weight, they do fine on one adult mouse every 7 days. By day 5 or 6 there systems are usually cleared out and they are prowling for food. I have done the same thing with my Central American boas (two years old and cbb). I got them as 20" 2-month olds being fed every 4 days (how long it took to digest and pass a meal) and now they eat on average twice per month as nearly mature adults. I know lots of people will say that a snake that is xx months old should be fed every x days, but I've found over many years and with many different species, the best way (for me at least) is to feed them, let their systems clear out and then feed again. The most important thing when doing this is to keep records on feeding, shedding, growth, etc. so you can monitor what's going one with your animals, especially as your collection starts to grow in number! This is just my opinion, but I like to use general guidlelines instead of schedules, so with that said, I would feed your youngsters every 4-5 days and your yearlings every 5-7 days. That's where I would start and then modify it from there as needed. Good luck! Billy
>>I was wondering I have 2 yearling black rats, 2 4 month old texas bairdis, and a 4 month old blue beauty. I have heard that it is okay to feed hatchlings just once a week, say every saturday or so. My first question is this a good idea? or will it cuase my snakes to be malnurished? Also, with the higher metabolism of the blue beauty will that still be okay for her?
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>>Thanks,
>>Chris
>>-----
>>The reason mainstream thought is thought of as a stream is because it's so shallow. -George Carlin
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>>A fool doesn't learn. A smart man learns from his mistakes. A wise man learns from the mistakes of others. Which one are you?
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>>My Website
>>Rat/Corn snake care sheet I wrote
>>
>>Current snakes:
>>0.1 Licorice Stick Black Rat (Lola)
>>1.0 Neonate Black Rat (het for Lic Stk's) (Frankie)
>>1.1 Texas Bairds (Jose and Rosa)
>>0.1 Blue Beauty (Brunhilde)
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