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What size food and what frequency of feeding is right for a large adult Rainbow on average?

Thanks,
Dan

Dan,
...Adult females will usually eat more than adult males. This occurs even if they are kept alone and not bred. Most of my adult BRBs eat 3 to 4 ounce "medium" rats. The males eat around 40 of them per year and the females eat 50 to 60 if not bred and around 100 if breeding and reproducing. Males often go off feed during the cool months and females will not usually eat while gravid. They both make up for these periods without food by eating heavily the rest of the year. Breeding females eat extremely heavily putting weight back on from june through january.
Jeff

>>What size food and what frequency of feeding is right for a large adult Rainbow on average?
>>
>>Thanks,
>>Dan

Jeff...really?? In 6 months? I am more than a bit startled by this responce. I have not fed my adult female that has bred to anywhere close to this amount. I am now worried that I'm starving my BRB's. That's like 2 Med rats every 7 days...or 1 M.rat every 3rd day for a female breeder. I can't imagine that I'm actually underfeeding so much..everyone at my house is overweight, including myself. The only thing I can think of is the weight of the M.Rats I am using is greater than the ones you have. This really worries me. Do you feed multiple rats at each meal or are you feeding more frequently?

I think a scale better be my next top priority.

Linda

>>Dan,
>>...Adult females will usually eat more than adult males. This occurs even if they are kept alone and not bred. Most of my adult BRBs eat 3 to 4 ounce "medium" rats. The males eat around 40 of them per year and the females eat 50 to 60 if not bred and around 100 if breeding and reproducing. Males often go off feed during the cool months and females will not usually eat while gravid. They both make up for these periods without food by eating heavily the rest of the year. Breeding females eat extremely heavily putting weight back on from june through january.
>>Jeff
>>
>>>>What size food and what frequency of feeding is right for a large adult Rainbow on average?
>>>>
>>>>Thanks,
>>>>Dan

-----
"There is a principle which is a bar against all information, which is proof against all arguments and which cannot fail to keep a man in everlasting ignorance- that principle is contempt prior to investigation." Herbert Spencer

Linda,
...I should be the one getting a scale. Except that I already have one. I weighed some of these rats that are the usual size that I feed to my snakes and they are more like 2 to 3 ounces instead of what I was thinking. Big females BRBs will often eat 4 or 5 of them at a time.
Jeff

>>Jeff...really?? In 6 months? I am more than a bit startled by this responce. I have not fed my adult female that has bred to anywhere close to this amount. I am now worried that I'm starving my BRB's. That's like 2 Med rats every 7 days...or 1 M.rat every 3rd day for a female breeder. I can't imagine that I'm actually underfeeding so much..everyone at my house is overweight, including myself. The only thing I can think of is the weight of the M.Rats I am using is greater than the ones you have. This really worries me. Do you feed multiple rats at each meal or are you feeding more frequently?
>>
>>I think a scale better be my next top priority.
>>
>>Linda
>>
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>>
>>
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>>>>Dan,
>>>>...Adult females will usually eat more than adult males. This occurs even if they are kept alone and not bred. Most of my adult BRBs eat 3 to 4 ounce "medium" rats. The males eat around 40 of them per year and the females eat 50 to 60 if not bred and around 100 if breeding and reproducing. Males often go off feed during the cool months and females will not usually eat while gravid. They both make up for these periods without food by eating heavily the rest of the year. Breeding females eat extremely heavily putting weight back on from june through january.
>>>>Jeff
>>>>
>>>>>>What size food and what frequency of feeding is right for a large adult Rainbow on average?
>>>>>>
>>>>>>Thanks,
>>>>>>Dan
>>
>>
>>-----
>>"There is a principle which is a bar against all information, which is proof against all arguments and which cannot fail to keep a man in everlasting ignorance- that principle is contempt prior to investigation." Herbert Spencer

I will soon buy a scale myself. I thought one might come in handy. I was always have been curious about the weight of the prey items I feed. My snakes don't appear thin IMO, but that estimate kinda worried me. Thanks for taking the time to weigh a rat. The size meal I offer is calculated to the individual I'm feeding...as I'm sure your's is too, but I have noticied some of my babies seem to grow differently than the others. They seem to grow at different rates and have increase growth at times. Rarely do I feed multiple items. I basically defrost what I want them to eat and feed them off. I usually never have an extra to feed (that is defrosted) so I just stop there. I'm going to take a closer look of my practices and do a bit of experimented to see what happens.

Linda