Hi all, I've got a 1.5 year old female mex mex x ruthveni. She's about 18 inches long, and has always fed voraciously on f/t pinkies (one every 6 days). She's been looking a bit on the lean side lately so I gave her two small pinks in a row tonight, and she happily ate both. I was just wondering if there are any other mex mex owners out there who could give me a little advice on when/how to increase meal size as the snake grows. I know about the 1.5x body diameter thing, but the vet told me it would be wiser to increase the frequency of the meal before increasing size. Does anyone think feeding 2 pinks in a row is a good idea for this size of snake? Should she have graduated to fuzzies by now? What have other owners done? Really, any advice would be helpful 
thanks!
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When to increase meal size for a mex mex?
Replies (2)
If your snake can handle 2 pinks and seems to be wanting more, then it is time to move it up to fuzzies. Besides, pinkies dont have very much cacium in them, and if your snake is 1.5 yrs old, then I would say move her up to fuzzies, it would do her good. And you probably will see a growth spurt once you move her on to fuzzies!
I feed my hatchlings one pink every 4 days, and once they can move up to peach mice, I feed with the same frequency. I feed on this same schedule until I can move them up to small adults, which I then feed every 8 days.
Its hard to overfeed a hatchling snake, as they grow pretty quickly without getting fat. Its once they reach sub-adult that you have to watch overfeeding. Even then, some snakes metabolism is faster than others. So it depends on the individual snake.
Hope this helps you out!
Brian
>>Hi all, I've got a 1.5 year old female mex mex x ruthveni. She's about 18 inches long, and has always fed voraciously on f/t pinkies (one every 6 days). She's been looking a bit on the lean side lately so I gave her two small pinks in a row tonight, and she happily ate both. I was just wondering if there are any other mex mex owners out there who could give me a little advice on when/how to increase meal size as the snake grows. I know about the 1.5x body diameter thing, but the vet told me it would be wiser to increase the frequency of the meal before increasing size. Does anyone think feeding 2 pinks in a row is a good idea for this size of snake? Should she have graduated to fuzzies by now? What have other owners done? Really, any advice would be helpful thanks!
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RATS
1.0 Corn snake "Warpath"(KY locale)
1.0 Black rat snake "Havok" (KY locale)
1.1 Black rat snakes "Reaper and Mystique" (MO locale)
1.0 Albino Black rat snake "Malakai" (Dwight Good stock)
1.0 Everglades rat snake "Deadpool" (Dwight Good stock)
0.1 Greenish rat snake "Rogue" (Dwight Good stock)
1.0 Great plains rat snake "Reign Fire" (TX locale)
1.0 Grey rat snake "Punisher" (White oak phase)(Dwight Good stock)
RACERS
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KINGS
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0.1 Black king snake "Domino" (KY locale)
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0.1 Florida Kingsnake "Shard"
0.1 Speckled Kingsnake "Haven"
MILKS
1.0 Eastern/red Milk intergrade "Cable" (KY locale)
1.0 Eastern/Red Milk intergrade "Omega Red" (KY locale)
BULLS/GOPHERS/PINES
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Good luck and Happy Herping
Brian
Thank you, very helpful! I will be moving her up to fuzzies at her next feeding, keeping on the 6 day schedule I guess (she is a smaller variety of king so I'll start with that). If she still seems hungry I'll increase frequency as needed.
