Reptile & Amphibian Forums

ok well let me explain my sitution...I ordered 1 bag of 10 medium rats rom rodent pro, 2 bags of 5 large and 4 bags of 3 jumbo which is 12 jumbos.....i plan to feed him an approprite size rat 1x a week...once he hits the 40" mark ill start feedig him the medium...once he hits 4' ill give him the large rats...and at 5 foot probably consuming both bags of large rats hell get jumbo rats until 6'....I am expecting him to grow AT LEAST 3-4" a month is that right? thats how i planned his feeding schedule by how much hell grow in a certain time, also once i give him rabbits at 6' can i go right from 1x a week to every other week with no problem? thanks for your help it means alot i really want to know as much as i can about burms...
jake

p: when should you lower the feedings to once every 3 weeks or once a month and is this safe?

For the first year it should grow at least 1 inche per week, mine were growing 2-3 every week.

Jake,

If you would like, you can take a look at my post (here).

I have charts there in which you can see how often I've fed my burm, what size meal he got at each feeding, and how he has grown over the time period documented (which is a few years).

He is a pretty healthy snake, so I presume that what I've done so far has been alright. Maybe you can gleen some useful info from the post?

Hope it helps,
- Mark

>>ok well let me explain my sitution...I ordered 1 bag of 10 medium rats rom rodent pro, 2 bags of 5 large and 4 bags of 3 jumbo which is 12 jumbos.....i plan to feed him an approprite size rat 1x a week...once he hits the 40" mark ill start feedig him the medium...once he hits 4' ill give him the large rats...and at 5 foot probably consuming both bags of large rats hell get jumbo rats until 6'....I am expecting him to grow AT LEAST 3-4" a month is that right? thats how i planned his feeding schedule by how much hell grow in a certain time, also once i give him rabbits at 6' can i go right from 1x a week to every other week with no problem? thanks for your help it means alot i really want to know as much as i can about burms...
>>jake
>>
>>p: when should you lower the feedings to once every 3 weeks or once a month and is this safe?

You must be a very analytical person...I wish I put that much thought into planning my rodent orders!! Based on what you are saying, your strategy sounds fine. Growth is dictated by MANY factors: diet, temp gradients/environment, sex (male or female), and genetics to name a few so don't put too much stock into trying to plan how much your burm will grow. In short, a 4-6' burm can take a jumbo rat and will provide a fine diet. Once they reach 6' if you can get them on to rabbits (and at that size, I would recommend 2 lb rabbits to start), you will really see the growth pile on. Then, you can certainly cut back to feeding twice a month. This is what works for me. Others will say something else (they are all wrong...just kidding) but you do what you feel is best w/in acceptable measures and you'll be fine.

Rob Carmichael

np