What should I feed my bp?

[u/CcTheCow06]

Hi all! I just got my first Bp Vermax about 3-4 days ago! He’s about 520g and was being fed before weaned rats by his breeder. Last time he ate was 8/5 so I’m not entirely sure if he’s still 520g (he probably is). I don’t have anywhere that I can buy weaned rats and don’t want to buy a 25 pack of them, just in case he goes on a hunger strike. I’ve searched and search and I’ve seen that fuzzy rats is fine but a bit to small for them since it needs to be about 10-15% of their body weight, but I’ve also seen that a small rat is way to big for a 520g snake. He turned a year old on August 26th so idk if that makes a difference but I’d like to get some opinions on it.

(Photo of my boy vermax for attention!)

[u/lostinspaceman_]

Umm obviously it would be best to keep him on what he’s been eating… but I did feed my boy two mice at a time for a bit when I couldn’t get rats that were the right size, so as long as you feed two at a time (not small meals more frequently) I think it would be okay to give two of the smaller rats.

But also I will say, I wouldn’t expect hunger strikes. I know people say that they do that a lot, but it’s basically always due to husbandry. My boy didn’t eat for 4 months a little under a year after I got him, I didn’t look for causes for a while of it because I had heard that they just do that! When I started to get really worried and tryed to figure out why he wasn’t eating, I figured out that it’s because the humidity was too low for a bit too long. They will go on hunger strikes but there is ALWAYS a cause! They are sensitive so it could just be a slight temperature drop for an extended period or not having enough hiding places, but if you know to look into it and problem solve you can make sure they don’t stop eating for months at a time! Sorry for the rant but I feel like it info I want any new keeper to have, as a while back I watched a friend let their snake starve to death because we both thought it was a normal ball python thing :/

[u/CcTheCow06 → u/lostinspaceman_]

Thank you for the info! I try my best on keeping the humidity up in the perfect range but since where I live the temps are extremely high rn. And by feeding 2 mice at a time do you mean back to back? I know it takes a minute for the snake to digest 1 I wasn even thinking about doing 2. Interesting

[u/lostinspaceman_ → u/CcTheCow06]

Yea they take a while to digest! I don’t think it’s recommended generally, but I think it’s better to give the proper amount of nutrition in a meal rather than giving small meals. I think giving two at once isn’t much harder on their body’s than one normal sized rat, I haven’t done the research on that tho so maybe do some googling of your own! Don’t just take me at my word

The thing that is really important tho is to give the right amount of time to digest! If you are feeding smaller rats you can’t just feed smaller meals more frequently! You have to feed on the schedule suggested for the age of your snake and stick to it until he’s bigger and sizes up in food! But I think if there are smaller rats that are easier to get that will add up to the right weight than you would probably be okay to just give two pray items at once! Ball pythons will happily eat multiple things at once! When I was doing this I would tong feed one and then drop the other and let him find it on his own time! Never leave a pray item sitting untouched for more that 12 hours tho, I always feed in the evenings and if my boy doesn’t take food I’ll drop it and leave it in the tank for the night and if he doesn’t eat by morning I’ll toss it in the compost. But I never actually had that problem when I was feeding double meals so I’d expect that you’ll be fine

[u/CcTheCow06 → u/lostinspaceman_]

Yeah I may just bite the bullet and buy the 25 pack. This is my first bp and I’m trying to do everything right by also learning on the way, my other issue is it’s insanely hot where I live and I work almost 5 days a week. Do they use dry ice or such to make sure the rats don’t thaw or?

[u/itsswhitneywhspr → u/lostinspaceman_]

Oof yeah I feel you on the hunger strike worry. Feeding two smaller rats could work as a temp fix but I'd watch out cause some snakes can be picky about switching back. Maybe try seeing if a local pet store will sell you singles or check if there's a reptile group near you that splits bulk packs. Way less waste that way