# Double Feeding Left Over Food. Between Food Sizes.



## KierenTavener12 (Mar 10, 2017)

What do you do with leftover food. My girl grew so fast if got some excess rat pinkies. 

I was thinking maybe feeding her one after her main meal. I've read some guys double feed. But i don't know if it's safe to do so. 

She's in between foods currently As the rats she's eating are getting to small and the ones up are way way to big. 

She's on 25gmish rat weaners/ hoppers. Or adult mice. 

So would double feeding be okay to use up what I have.


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## kittycat17 (Mar 10, 2017)

KierenTavener12 said:


> What do you do with leftover food. My girl grew so fast if got some excess rat pinkies.
> 
> I was thinking maybe feeding her one after her main meal. I've read some guys double feed. But i don't know if it's safe to do so.
> 
> ...



I've never had an issue doing so 
And I guarantee the next size up will be fine 


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## pinefamily (Mar 10, 2017)

If you think the current size is too small, but you still have stock, try offering a pinkie afterward. It can't hurt. Otherwise, see if there is anyone you know/nearby that will buy them off you.


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## KierenTavener12 (Mar 10, 2017)

Cheers guys. Found a few pages talking about it. 

Offered her the normal size, the later a pinky and she took it no issues. Gonna every couple of weeks give her one till there gone. 

I figured since she's small for 2. It won't hurt either, It'll probably help her fill out.


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## Pauls_Pythons (Mar 10, 2017)

Buy another snake to eat the excess food


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## pinefamily (Mar 10, 2017)

And while you use the pinkies up, it won't hurt to stretch out the days between feeds.


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## Wally (Mar 10, 2017)

Times have certainly changed. I would have loaded said snake up until I'd thought it had enough to get rid of the excess food.

These days it seems food size must equal snake size...


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## dragonlover1 (Mar 10, 2017)

getting rid of excess small food is easy.but what do you do when the largest snake refuses?If the coastal says no thanks to a large rat you can't pass it down to a smaller snake (we need a big monitor)


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## Wally (Mar 10, 2017)

Well that would be a different discussion Rick. Feeding excess food that is deemed too small for a particular python isn't that hard really. Just feed multiple amounts.


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## Pauls_Pythons (Mar 10, 2017)

dragonlover1 said:


> getting rid of excess small food is easy.but what do you do when the largest snake refuses?If the coastal says no thanks to a large rat you can't pass it down to a smaller snake (we need a big monitor)



And so the collection grows.
I don't have left over food from anything these days.
Just means that for now my collection is big enough lol


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## kittycat17 (Mar 11, 2017)

lol my young Murray (2 yr old) who was underfed and tripled in size since I got her 8 mths ago will take anything, when the larger 2yr old refused an xlge rat not only did my MD eat her large rat but she also got the xlge as well, she couldn't move for a few days and got 3 weeks without another meal hahaa but she was content 








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## pinefamily (Mar 11, 2017)

Rick, besides a monitor, as long as you haven't left the food in the tank, you can always refreeze. We have done this many times in the past, without incident. Like Pauls_Pythons said, our collection must be just right, as we have no leftovers these days (large monitors do help, lol).


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## dragonlover1 (Mar 11, 2017)

Wally said:


> Well that would be a different discussion Rick. Feeding excess food that is deemed too small for a particular python isn't that hard really. Just feed multiple amounts.


that's what I meant , if the stimmy or the spotteds refuse there is always another who will take extra food or the Darwin will say thanks but when the coastal is in shed there is no-one big enough to take her food


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## dragonlover1 (Mar 11, 2017)

pinefamily said:


> Rick, besides a monitor, as long as you haven't left the food in the tank, you can always refreeze. We have done this many times in the past, without incident. Like Pauls_Pythons said, our collection must be just right, as we have no leftovers these days (large monitors do help, lol).


isn't re-freezing risky,you get bacteria in it.You don't re-freeze human food


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## kittycat17 (Mar 11, 2017)

I'll be honest never had left overs either, I find I'll always feed the small guys first there the most likely to refuse meals, my adult coastals don't refuse even when in shed (though I don't like to feed them when there in shed anyways) 
So the bigger guys might get a few small meals, the funniest thing ever is seeing an adult coastal eating a mouse 


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## pinefamily (Mar 11, 2017)

We used to throw away any uneaten food, until someone told us to re-freeze it, only if not left in tank. As I said, we never had a problem with any of our snakes when we did this. And we only ever re-froze the once; if it had been re-frozen, we made sure it went the second time, offering it to our best feeders.
Obviously, monitors negate the need to re-freeze.


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## pythoninfinite (Mar 14, 2017)

dragonlover1 said:


> isn't re-freezing risky,you get bacteria in it.You don't re-freeze human food



If you thaw quickly in hot water, you can re-freeze without harm to the animal that eats it in the next feeding cycle. Snake food is full of bacteria anyway (even the stuff a wild snake kills and eats), and for a few days a large meal will basically rot in the snake's stomach until the digestive juices break it down. Snakes swallow their food whole, (unlike us who chew it into pulp to allow the stomach juices and saliva to break it down quickly) so it takes days before a snake can "sterilize" the gut contents with its digestive juices. Being thawed for a couple of hours will not cause any problems as long as re-freezing is fairly prompt.

Jamie


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## dragonlover1 (Mar 14, 2017)

we don't defrost quickly,we leave them in the fridge for a several hours to defrost and then warm them up using a saucer over warm water in a saucepan to bring them up to eating temps.Because wet rats get substrate stuck to the fur!!
My son originally tried using a heat mat under a glass tray to warm them up (rat-b-que) but it was too slow so now he does it my way


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## kittycat17 (Mar 15, 2017)

dragonlover1 said:


> we don't defrost quickly,we leave them in the fridge for a several hours to defrost and then warm them up using a saucer over warm water in a saucepan to bring them up to eating temps.Because wet rats get substrate stuck to the fur!!
> My son originally tried using a heat mat under a glass tray to warm them up (rat-b-que) but it was too slow so now he does it my way



Lol I'd get in so much trouble having 6 xlge rats, 4 weaner rats, 2 day old chicks and 30+ mice weaners defrosting in the fridge [emoji23][emoji23][emoji23] 
I just pop em in warm water straight from the freezer, much quicker 


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## pythoninfinite (Mar 15, 2017)

kittycat17 said:


> Lol I'd get in so much trouble having 6 xlge rats, 4 weaner rats, 2 day old chicks and 30+ mice weaners defrosting in the fridge [emoji23][emoji23][emoji23]
> I just pop em in warm water straight from the freezer, much quicker
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk



And better. If wet rats get substrate stuck to their fur, cover the substrate with newspaper while the animal is feeding, or remove it from the enclosure when feeding. You're already priming them for decay by taking so long to do it.

Jamie


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## Peckoltia (Mar 15, 2017)

I thaw my rodents in warm water. If food items are not eaten for whatever reason, I will just double feed another snake that is happy to eat. I never refreeze any thawed foods.


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## pythoninfinite (Mar 15, 2017)

Peckoltia said:


> I thaw my rodents in warm water. If food items are not eaten for whatever reason, I will just double feed another snake that is happy to eat. I never refreeze any thawed foods.



But you could if you wanted to...

Jamie


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## kittycat17 (Mar 15, 2017)

And I also think that a snake in the wild doesn't care if they get some substrate along with there dinner.... I only remove it if it gets stuck in there mouth


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## Buggster (Mar 16, 2017)

My Woma is my garbage disposal. Last few weeks she's been getting a small rat + a hopper that the Stimsons won't eat.

If you've got leftover food, you don't have enough snakes


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## SKYWLKR (Mar 16, 2017)

I'm pretty sure this is what my local Chinese restaurant does. They have a pet shop adjacent to them too!


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## reen08 (Mar 18, 2017)

If you have a python it can eat 1 1/2 times its body width so don't be afraid to go bigger


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