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martinking6
Hatchling
United Kingdom
152 Posts |
 Posted - 18/08/2011 : 02:42:46
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Hiya
Zeus is 1 at the end of this month and nearly 300 grams a approximately 3ft long
I initially listened to all the advise from all the experience on here and then watched the snakes I have to see how they are feeding.
Zeus feeds very eagerly every 5 days and if he keeps this up then I will likely keep him on 5 day feeds until he is eating 40 to 50 gram rats, then I will move feeds to every 7 days which at the recent current rate of growth won`t be long at all
There is the other side of it as well were you need to be careful not to overfeed as from reading it would appear each snake can be very different i.e. some will eat and eat yet others will want larger gaps between feeds, my red tail boa I reckon will eat and eat if I was to let her so she gets rats around 140 grams once a week which she strikes and coils very aggressively and then devours within a few minutes
I would say feeding your brb every 7 days rather than 5 won`t do it any harm, it will just mean it has a more steady growth rate and less chance of being overweight, what weight and age is he/she at the moment ?
Martin |
Got a lovely royal python called earl, 2 brazilian rainbow boas called zeus and hera, a red tail cross boa constrictor called dorris and an albino burmese python called angel as well :-)
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emmy c
Snake mite
Ireland
43 Posts |
Posted - 18/08/2011 : 08:38:58
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The pet shop where I bought him said he was 10 months to a year, but he only weighs 54g and measures around 2 ft long, so I'm doubtful that that age can be correct. And if the age is correct, then he must be underweight and I had been thinking that maybe he should be fed more fequently..? So I think I might adopt your feeding plan and see how it goes 
Thanks! |
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Snakesitter
Rainbow Master
USA
2718 Posts |
Posted - 18/08/2011 : 19:35:30
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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. :-) |
Cliff Earle
Living Gems Reptiles
Premium Brazilian Rainbow Boas from a disease-tested facility
Website, Facebook |
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emmy c
Snake mite
Ireland
43 Posts |
Posted - 18/08/2011 : 19:48:30
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| Hmmmm..ok, well maybe just a nice big fat rat pup once a week then |
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Snakesitter
Rainbow Master
USA
2718 Posts |
Posted - 18/08/2011 : 20:46:19
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| (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. |
Cliff Earle
Living Gems Reptiles
Premium Brazilian Rainbow Boas from a disease-tested facility
Website, Facebook |
Edited by - Snakesitter on 18/08/2011 20:48:40 |
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emmy c
Snake mite
Ireland
43 Posts |
Posted - 18/08/2011 : 21:10:30
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| yes he is only 54g but ate an 18g smallish rat pup for me last week so thought that size is ok? |
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martinking6
Hatchling
United Kingdom
152 Posts |
Posted - 19/08/2011 : 03:05:54
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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 |
Got a lovely royal python called earl, 2 brazilian rainbow boas called zeus and hera, a red tail cross boa constrictor called dorris and an albino burmese python called angel as well :-)
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Edited by - martinking6 on 21/08/2011 00:56:02 |
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emmy c
Snake mite
Ireland
43 Posts |
Posted - 19/08/2011 : 10:29:33
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| 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! |
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flaboye
Hatchling
USA
178 Posts |
Posted - 19/08/2011 : 15:23:43
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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. |
0.1.0 Brazilian Rainbow
1.0.0 Hypo BCI
1.0.0 Columbian RedTail
1.0.0 Great Pyrenees
0.0.1 Armadillo under house |
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Snakesitter
Rainbow Master
USA
2718 Posts |
Posted - 19/08/2011 : 17:35:13
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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! |
Cliff Earle
Living Gems Reptiles
Premium Brazilian Rainbow Boas from a disease-tested facility
Website, Facebook |
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Markni
Snake mite
United Kingdom
27 Posts |
Posted - 19/08/2011 : 19:01:26
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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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emmy c
Snake mite
Ireland
43 Posts |
Posted - 19/08/2011 : 19:15:07
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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 |
Edited by - emmy c on 20/08/2011 13:07:56 |
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Snakesitter
Rainbow Master
USA
2718 Posts |
Posted - 19/08/2011 : 19:37:30
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| 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. |
Cliff Earle
Living Gems Reptiles
Premium Brazilian Rainbow Boas from a disease-tested facility
Website, Facebook |
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martinking6
Hatchling
United Kingdom
152 Posts |
Posted - 19/08/2011 : 22:25:57
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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 |
Got a lovely royal python called earl, 2 brazilian rainbow boas called zeus and hera, a red tail cross boa constrictor called dorris and an albino burmese python called angel as well :-)
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emmy c
Snake mite
Ireland
43 Posts |
Posted - 20/08/2011 : 10:51:01
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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! |
Edited by - emmy c on 20/08/2011 13:08:47 |
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Mice Vs rats?
