How many mice?

nikkik85 · 03-30-11, 07:06 AM

I've read that you can feed your snake more than one mouse in one feeding. How do you know how many to feed? Khan is 2 years old. Does it depend on how big he is on the round ? Do you feed your KSB more than one or two or threee??? I just got Khan and the previous owner just said he ate like a week and a day ago on saturday and only eats once every 2 weeks.

I tried to feed him yesterday but he was not interested. He also eats frozen, so maybe I am doing something wrong?? I put him in a bag in warm water till he is warm then I dried him off with a hair dryer to fluff him up and wiggled him in front of Khan. Nothing. I know hes not starving but I just want some suggestions

Thanks in advance

stephanbakir · 03-30-11, 07:41 AM

This is a stressful time for your snake, moving from one location to another is enough to take some snakes off of food for a while. Because of this you should wait until he settles before you determine how stable an eater he is. Every 4-5 days try and feed him, leave his food in the enclosure for 12-24 hours and cover the terrarium with a towel to give him privacy, make sure not to handle it till he is mentally settled back into his current space.
The method I use for F/T mice, is to take the mouse from the freezer and warm it at room temperature, once its defrosted, place it in a ziplock bag and place this bag in a bowl of warm water.
How big around is he compared to the mice? If he dwarfs them, once he's back and eating it might be an idea to bring up the size of his food, the general rule is the food item can match the snakes girth at his widest part. That being said I don't know that much about sand boas so ill let someone who knows them better give you more race specific advice.

nikkik85 · 03-30-11, 08:31 AM

Thats what I heard "item can match the snakes girth at his widest part" so an adult mouse is perfect size for him.

I will for sure try to feed him every so often. I figured he would be stressed. And also, I never tried keeping it in there for very long...

Thanks for your reply.

CanadianEryx · 03-30-11, 04:42 PM

Hello fellow ksb owner! You can actually feed Khan a mouse or rat that is 1.5-2 times of his width without any problem. The food item should leave a good lump in his body for a day or two following the feeding. And, yes, you can give him more than one prey item if he is still hungry or if you have smaller items that need to be used up. I actually feed my ksb, Eryx, a frozen fuzzy that I defrost by letting it soak in the hottest tap water I have (I put it in a small container filled with hot bottled water and then put the container in a sink with 1 inch of hot water until the fuzzy is thawed and warm throughout [~20minutes]). I do not dry the fuzzy off before feeding because there is no reason to (snakes need water to survive as well as solid food). Eryx is only about 6 months old so she hasn't progressed to adult mice yet. If, after a couple of weeks of trying to feed him (give him a week between attempts) you could always try to scent your prey item by rubbing it on one of your furry pets or scenting it with salmon. Good luck and let me know how things go!!!