| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| emmy c |
Posted - 02/08/2011 : 12:20:10
The pet shop where I got my new little brb told me she/he was eating a mouse fuzzy once a week and could probably move up to crawler mice soon (he/she is about 2ft long and weighs 50g) I've noticed people are feeding rat pups and was wondering if these are a better choice of food for a brb? |
| 15 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| emmy c |
Posted - 21/08/2011 : 09:42:58
Thanks again Martin, for your help and all the info  |
| martinking6 |
Posted - 21/08/2011 : 00:54:52
Yep i always weigh all my snakes food and sort accordingly
For me I will always use the 10 - 15% rule as a guide but also use common sense with it as well for instance my royal python is 632 grams now but i feed him rats around 45 grams once a week because he is happy with that which is only about 7% of his body weight, he doesnt really appreciate larger rats but with these smaller ones he strike feeds every time without fail and hes maintaining a healthy figure as well
Theres the visual tell tale as well once the food has been taken it can be just noticeable rather than bulging and uncomfortable
I would say a 30gram feed would be perfect for a 260gram snake as long as its happy enough taking it
As people have mention before to a certain degree feeding smaller prey just means your snake will grow more steady and healthily as long as its enough to sustain the snake
Martin |
| emmy c |
Posted - 20/08/2011 : 10:51:01
Spent an hour last night weighing all my rat pinks and pups, mice fuzzies and adult mice, seperating into similar weights and labelling. Discovered that although they are sold as a particular size, there is huge discrepency in what they actually weigh. In the bag of rat pups which I had bought originally, the weights ranged from 18g to 35g!
Then I weighed my brb and corn snakes and did the calculation of what they should be getting to eat weekly. This leads me to my next question: does the 15% of body weight rule of thumb when feeding apply to all snakes or just brbs? Because if it does, I have been under feeding my older 260g lavender corn snake,(giving him one 20g mouse a week)
Thanks in advance! |
| martinking6 |
Posted - 19/08/2011 : 22:25:57
As a few of you have mentioned I can`t believe the difference in size of the mice and rats from different suppliers, even the local 3 pet shops around me.
I buy from 2 of them and the sizes are so different but perfect for the individual snake using the 10-15% of bodyweight rule to feed them, can never get my head around that would be a damn site easier if they just sold the food on a weight range scale
Martin |
| Snakesitter |
Posted - 19/08/2011 : 19:37:30
Just for reference for future readers, 92 grams for a five-month-old is well above average. As she looks healthy it's fine, but future owners should not expect that for the average rainbow. |
| emmy c |
Posted - 19/08/2011 : 19:15:07
Hi Markni,
Yes there are photos of him in the introductions section, under 'hi from Ireland', taken when I got him a month ago. Tell me what you think |
| Markni |
Posted - 19/08/2011 : 19:01:26
I did the measurments on my 5 month old BRB today. She is 63cms, and tips the scales at a little over 92g (4 days after feeding). She looks to me to be a nice healthy weight.
She eats a small rat fuzzy (10-15g) every 7 days. It leaves a bump, but does not look too hard to swallow. I cannot imagine seeing her eat a 31g rat, which would be 33% of her weight, same as 18g for your BRB.
I agree with snakesitter, naming of rats etc is different everywhere, even my 2 local stores have different naming conventions. I stick with weight groups, giving her a feed ~15% of her weight.
Emmy C, You got any pics of your BRB? I always love looking at pics of BRBs!
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| Snakesitter |
Posted - 19/08/2011 : 17:35:13
Good advice, Joe!
Emmy, at 54 grams, I would keep him on weekly rats pups (or fuzzies twice a week as Joe suggested) for a while longer...no worries, he'll get to rat pups soon enough! |
| flaboye |
Posted - 19/08/2011 : 15:23:43
As Cliff mentioned, the redtails, bci's, rainbow boas and other species will eat until they can't fit anything else in. Then they'll regurge in most cases and won't be able to hold anything for a couple of weeks while their stomach's recover. If you have a happy feeder, they'll be happy to feed, and feed and feed... :-) My rainbow and hypo bci eat weekly, and the redtail every two weeks.
Cliff also mentioned that in today's economy, a LOT of owners, and breeders alike have simply halved their feeds. Doesn't really hurt the snake but they will grow slower and be smaller, sometimes, at certain age ranges than others of similar age.
We started our brb's from first shed after birth on mice fuzzies, but smaller rat pinks would be just as well. They would get two a week until they grew into hopper size, then once a week until weanling, then once a week until adult mice. Some we would feed twice if they were obviously outgrowing their siblings and we felt they needed the twice weekly feeds. (not common)
If it were me and my snake, and he was doing fine otherwise, and I felt he was too small and possibly had been fed the minimum up and until the time I got him, I would probably give him a fuzzie on Monday and another on Thursday for a few weeks then move him to mice hoppers or a rat fuzzie which are similar and a once per week feed. You could weigh him every week or so to see what kind of weight gain you are getting. |
| emmy c |
Posted - 19/08/2011 : 10:29:33
The weights are correct, and the first feed or two I gave him were rat pinks which he ate very quickly. The care sheet on this forum says that hatchling brbs start on rat pups or mice fuzzies so that is why I tried him with the rat pup, thinking he should be on the bigger size up. So now I'm confused! |
| martinking6 |
Posted - 19/08/2011 : 03:05:54
Hiya emmy
Are you sure about the current weight as if you was feeding him the maximum advised of 15% of his bodyweight he would be eating 8 grams, he has managed 18 grams which is 34% of his body weight so I am no expert but me personally I would`nt be feeding mine that percentage especially not on 5 day intervals.
If he is managing that sort of size ok then I would say stick to your 7 day feeds but me personally I prefer smaller feeds for mine
Zeus at that size was eating between 6g and 8g feeds each 5 days so weight going on and size gains was very steady yet still noticeable
Martin |
| emmy c |
Posted - 18/08/2011 : 21:10:30
yes he is only 54g but ate an 18g smallish rat pup for me last week so thought that size is ok? |
| Snakesitter |
Posted - 18/08/2011 : 20:46:19
(Edit, after re-reading from above) At 54 grams, a rat pup will be much too large. (Unless he's grown since then?) I usually offer only rat pinks up until 75-100 grams or so (taking into account the animal's girth), then start offering rat fuzzies. |
| emmy c |
Posted - 18/08/2011 : 19:48:30
Hmmmm..ok, well maybe just a nice big fat rat pup once a week then |
| Snakesitter |
Posted - 18/08/2011 : 19:35:30
Be very careful, Emmy. It is far too easy to overfeed any type of snake, and rainbows are especially prone to that. Being overweight for a snake means it will often pass before it hits ten years of age. In fact, I recently dropped my feeding frequency for *all* animals to once a week for babies, once every other week for juveniles, and once every three weeks for adults (though breeding females may get a break just before and just after breeding season).
As for your snake's age, it may have just been underfed. Often, to reduce costs, stores and dealers will adopt a lower feeding frequency, under which the animal will survive fine, but not grow.
BTW, I love Zeus's photo in your sig. :-) |
