RTB food size?

Wildernessmedic · 04-21-18, 08:38 PM

Thinking of getting a RTB and I'm trying to figure out how I will handle food. All the F/T on rodent pro seem to be sold in 50 or 100 count boxes only, and the shipping is way over priced.

How many of each size is normal before moving up? Say X amount of fuzzies, x amount of adult mice, small rats etc. I don't want to buy a ton of something that will be too small in a month or so. I'd like to get a years supply frozen so it's convenient and always available. I'm in no hurry for it to grow and I don't want to over/powerfeed it. I don't mind having some leftover but if I buy a box of 100 mice I don't want to end up with 50 of them left if its too big for them before they're out.

Any advice? They all seem pretty expensive locally. I guess I could travel to somewhere they are cheaper, but a ton and just kill them all to freeze myself?

kudzu · 04-22-18, 08:51 AM

Am new to snakes & have only placed a few orders, from Big Cheese & Feeder Source. Just looked at Rodent Pro & the shipping fee seems comparable. When ordering small quantities of frozen items, the cost to ship can be more than the cost of the product. For me, if I want small quantities it seems to work out better to order from Feeder Source as they offer bags of 25. (Presumably there are other places with small quantities.) I went to Big Cheese for bags of 50.

There is the option of going to a reptile expo & buy from a vendor there. If food was the only reason to go then it isn't cheaper to buy the ticket just to prey. Actually, it would cost much more because... well... I've no self control so I wouldn't buy just prey. lol

craigafrechette · 04-22-18, 09:03 AM

Buying in bulk may not be practical for a single, juvenile snake. As for the shipping costs, most of the prey distributors will all be about the same. You're paying for next day shipping, dry ice, packaging, etc...
Another option would be to go to a reptile expo and see what you can find there. Many of the vendors will probably have bulk packs only, but without the shipping cost. Just be prepared to pay a little more for the prey itself.

Also, buying for a year may not be the best idea. I buy several times a year and sort and pack mine into smaller bags to preserve them without freezer burn, etc...

Wildernessmedic · 04-22-18, 11:28 AM

If I find a mouse/rat breeder thats cheap I could always just buy a big container full and then kill them and freeze myself right? Or do they need to be sealed a certain way when frozen? The last time I had a bunch of snakes I got sick of constantly going to the store and buying fresh ones every time I needed to feed them. Ultimately it led to me getting rid of them all, so I'd like to avoid that by having a bunch neatly frozen that don't stink up the house.

**EL Ziggy** · 04-23-18, 11:04 AM

I'm not sure how old or large your RTB will be but I usually order one pack of the prey size the snake is currently eating and one size of the next larger prey size. If you ordered (25) rat fuzzys and (25) rat pups that would last you almost a year if you're feeding weekly and even longer if you're feeding less often.

bigsnakegirl785 · 04-27-18, 08:40 PM

26 rodents is generally a year's worth of food for a young boa, since they should be eating every other week. My adults eat 9-12 times a year. I wouldn't order an entire year's worth of food at one time, however, unless you have a way to vacuum pack the leftovers. Vacuum packed rodents can last 1-3 years in the freezer, non-vacuum packed, I wouldn't keep them more than 6-8 months.

In my experience, my boas will go through maybe one size increase late into their first year, 3 sizes the second year, and then after that they will have one size increase per year or so until they're eating large rats. I don't yet have a boa large enough to graduate from large rats (my biggest is 7'), but I offer xx-small rabbits every few feedings just to give them variety.

BallBuster7653 · 04-27-18, 10:08 PM

Your red tail should be fed something similar to this

Birth-3ft. Give about 1/3 his weight biweekly. Just a guideline. So 100 gram snake can have 33 grams every 2 weeks. But obviously that’s too much. So go to a hopper weekly which would add up to close to 1/3 biweekly. My scale works on a bi weekly schedule. Just like if you feed once a month you would need something about 66 grams like a small rat. But not as a baby of course

3-4ft- 1/4 bi weekly

4-5ft- 1/5 bi weekly

5-6 ft 1/7.5 biweekly

6- to adult. Adults should eat about 10 percent biweekly for life. So a 20 pound boa needs a 2 pound rabbits bieeekly. Or a 4 pound monthly.

Also btw that scale I gave you is for a female bci. You need to adjust since a male will reach adult size sooner. Sorry I’m not more specific but I hope it helped a little

Aimeej · 05-20-18, 09:05 PM

hi sorry maybe this is a dumb question but can it out grow food? if your baby gets big enough for a larger size cant you jut double up on the smaller size until those are done? maybe on a every other feeding. like the right say one feeding then to smaller the next feeding. ive never had a boa before and i confiscated my sons about a 5 days ago now. so im still very much in the research phase. but i did have a corn for 10+ years she reached 5foot 7 inches and in the end i would feed her 2 mice at a time because a rat which would have been the "right" size was to much of a risk of a deadly bite (disclaimer she would not eat frozen thaw i tried and tried and tried but she would just strike and drop it and move away. i tried many many times over the years but she just would not do it) so is the risk of to much bone so high that it would be to un-safe to just feed the remaining to "small" food? or being new to this is there another risk i don't understand?

Wildernessmedic · 05-22-18, 07:48 AM

Ended up getting 20 hoppers and 30 nice in nice resealable freeze bags for my two new hog island boas

bigsnakegirl785 · 05-25-18, 04:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aimeej

hi sorry maybe this is a dumb question but can it out grow food? if your baby gets big enough for a larger size cant you jut double up on the smaller size until those are done? maybe on a every other feeding. like the right say one feeding then to smaller the next feeding. ive never had a boa before and i confiscated my sons about a 5 days ago now. so im still very much in the research phase. but i did have a corn for 10+ years she reached 5foot 7 inches and in the end i would feed her 2 mice at a time because a rat which would have been the "right" size was to much of a risk of a deadly bite (disclaimer she would not eat frozen thaw i tried and tried and tried but she would just strike and drop it and move away. i tried many many times over the years but she just would not do it) so is the risk of to much bone so high that it would be to un-safe to just feed the remaining to "small" food? or being new to this is there another risk i don't understand?

I wouldn't advise it. They will grow just fine on a single smaller prey item until they become large enough for the next size up.

I'd even advise just going ahead and stepping up in prey size (even if it's a large meal) before I'd advise feeding two smaller prey items. In my experience, snakes grow much faster and put on excess fat if adults when eating multiple prey items vs feeding a single prey item of the same weight as those smaller items combined. Looking at nutritional charts, there seems to be more of any X nutrient when feeding multiples of one size vs a single prey item of the same weight/size. I assume because they're at different developmental stages, and if they're different species, they contain different ratios.

As an example, according to Rodent Pro's chart, a rat under 10 grams has 5.8 kcal/g of energy, 23.7% of fat, etc. give or take a little depending on source/diet and individual prey item. Two of those would be 11.6 kcal/g of energy and 46.7% of fat give or take. A rat that is 20 grams would have somewhere around 5.55 kcal/g of energy and 27.5% of fat. You can view the full break down on their website.