Am I overfeeding?

FPS_Fein · 09-13-17, 03:46 PM

So I fed my mbk 6 days ago and she was acting hungry today so I fed her the normal small rat. After she ate it she was going crazy and going after my hook so I decided I'd feed her another small rat. She's almost 2 years old. My question is... Is it bad to feed her 3 small rats in a 7 day period? I don't want to hurt her in any way. Thanks for any advice.

**EL Ziggy** · 09-13-17, 04:05 PM

That's quite a bit of food for a MBK. How large is your snake and how large are the rats in grams? If she keeps it all down, and doesn't regurge, I wouldn't feed her for at least another 14 days after such a large meal.

TRD · 09-13-17, 04:16 PM

Those snakes are so food orientated that logic just goes out the window.. Just feed them what they are suppose to get (which is about 10-15% of their weight every 7 days at 2 years old) and no matter what kind of puppy eye show they do, you don't give them... Just monitor their weight, which should be steadily increasing at that age, so you know all goes well. You can also see on their body shape if they are doing good; they are suppose to be slender, muscular (ie- you see their muscles when then move around), the section where the body goes to the tail should be smooth and not see a "fat body going into a slim tail" kinda thing.

Overfeeding can be a real big issue down the road, and rats are much higher in fat content than mice, so it's also not the best choice of food for them either.

FPS_Fein · 09-13-17, 04:16 PM

Last time I weighed her she was 330grams. But she's obviously bigger now. Not sure on the weight of the rats. I get small rats at petco. I'm away from the house right now but when I get home I'll take pictures of her and weigh her.

Scubadiver59 · 09-13-17, 04:25 PM

That's an expensive way to get the rats.

If you know someone else that's got snakes, see if you can join up with them and get a bulk order in to one of the F/T suppliers (Perfect Prey, Rodent Pro, Layne Labs, etc). It will save you money in the long run.

Quote:

Originally Posted by FPS_Fein

Last time I weighed her she was 330grams. But she's obviously bigger now. Not sure on the weight of the rats. I get small rats at petco. I'm away from the house right now but when I get home I'll take pictures of her and weigh her.

FPS_Fein · 09-13-17, 05:35 PM

@TRD

Alright. I'll start only giving her one a week

@Scubadiver59

Ya, I think I found a local breeder. I just haven't had the time to meet up with them.

FPS_Fein · 09-13-17, 05:43 PM

She weighs 513 grams (with the 2 rats and possibly the 3rd).
https://ibb.co/nmiN4F
There's a picture of her

TRD · 09-13-17, 06:49 PM

She's definitely a bit chubby mate, though right now she has 3 rats inside of her... Not sure what they weigh, but I think rat pups are roundabout 18-20 gram or so each.

513 grams at not even 2 years of age is a lot, even with those 3 rat pups inside. She's not that long is she? Just under 3' I recon? She will deal with that little overweight (it's not that bad) pretty rapidly, they are eating machines and metabolize quite rapidly.

Maybe it's also a better idea to switch to mice... less fat, more useful things, certainly for a young adult snake. Just put her on a diet of about 32 gram of mice every 7 days for 2-3 months and she will slim down just fine. Oh, and let her sit on this big meal she had for 14 days or so

FPS_Fein · 09-13-17, 07:05 PM

Ya, she's 3 feet 10 inches. And I'll cut down on food. Definitely don't want her to be fat.

**EL Ziggy** · 09-14-17, 08:10 AM

My kings were both about 500g at the 2 year mark so I wouldn't consider her too overweight. She looks a little plump in the pic but she should considering her last meal. Let her rest and digest for a few and then scale back her feeding a bit. I agree with TRD feeding 10-15% of her body weight every 7-10 days is a pretty good guideline to follow. My kings were pretty finicky when it came to rats but at 500g they would get fed a small 50-60g rat or (2) 30g jumbo mice per feeding. They love chicks too if you want to mix things up. Very nice MBK btw. They're beautiful snakes and most are very food driven.

akane · 09-15-17, 07:27 PM

My king will eat anything and his preference is every 3-4days. As soon as he's digested enough he'll be looking where his mice thaw and where they appear for feeding. We finally told him he is not supposed to start looking like a sand boa and is required to eat on schedule now. I also had to divide out a specific size into a bag so my husband would quit giving him something he really should not be jamming down even if he'll do it. When he was younger I figured if he couldn't get it down safely he'd give up shortly but I came back to find him still hung up on a leg trying to get the food down 6hrs later and took it away. His length has caught back up with his width so he's not a chubby round shape with a sharp tail drop off. He has absolutely never gone off food except he's too shy to come out at the height of shedding and we don't go out of our way to get food to him where he's hiding since he can skip a meal every couple months and be fine.

**Aaron_S** · 09-21-17, 10:39 AM

I like to feed colubrids on a mouse diet more often than rats. My breeder female house snake is on adult mice every 7 - 10 days. I'll bump her up when she's getting ready to breed by probably going rat pup every 7 days.

killercandy15 · 09-23-17, 03:52 PM

Every king I have had and currently have never skip meals. I have a female who would eat a mouse every day if I offered. I try to mix things up so my snakes don't know when to anticipate food. They get the equivalent of a meal a week but not at 7 day intervals. Sometimes I go 3 weeks not feeding them then give a good huge feed. Usually though I go by 2 weeks and then a week and then a couple days after. It's given me good success in ensuring my snake isn't always hungry on a certain day every week. Not sure if anyone else does it that way but it's led to healthy snakes without food issues for me.