Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I feel like I should know this already, but this is my first time owning a snake.

How do I know what size rodents to feed my snake. All the books and care sheets on snakes I've found just say that you need to offer the appropriate size food, but never tell you how you can tell. I've been feeding her small adult mice, she's been eating them, but I'm worried I'm overfeeding her; she seems to be growing quite rapidly.

Also, I read that multiple smaller mice are better than one big mouse, is this true.

Sorry if this question is absurd, I just felt I needed to ask. Thank you for reading and any advice you have. I sincerely appreciate it.

P.S. The pictures I posted are from the first day I got her, she's grown since then.

The size of the mouse should be not much larger if larger at all than the widest part of the snakes body. Maybe its just because of your pictures but your cali looks too small to me to be eating adult mice, looks like it would be taking fuzzys to me. Just my opinion
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Cameron

try feeding a food item about the same diameter as the snake's head. that should be a good starting guideline.

if you're feeding live, 3 10-gram fuzzies will ALWAYS be a safer meal than one 30-gram mouse, because the latter can fight back, chew on a disinterested snake, etc. It happens.

if you're feeding frozen thawed i'm of the opinion it doesn't matter--30 grams of fuzzy or a 30-gram mouse. But if you're pushing the snake to near capacity the more numeorus smaller items might spread out in the digestive tract allowing for alittle more effective digestion, but that's partly conjecture. And no, i don't know exactly what "near capacity" is for a snake--it would be a function of cage temps, of the snake's recent feeding history, of its individual differences (that's why some people win contests eating 40 hot dogs and others barf after six) etc.

good luck with your new critter, and keep the honest questions coming.

peace
terry

Thank you for your help. I think I'm going to start getting frozen mice online because it's so much cheaper. The only pet store in Iowa City that sells mice that I'm aware of charges $1.59 for frozen mice, $2 for live mice. They also have live pinkies, I'm not sure how much those cost. I think they might have frozen fuzzies. They do have frozen rat pinkies, those would probably work. Sorry, I'm rambling.

Again, thank you for the help.