Bredli

[Snakelove]

well i know that he shouldve given the bredli a bigger food item but its normal for a snake to not shed for three months? is that due to the food item being too small or health problems?

 

[beeman]

well i know that he shouldve given the bredli a bigger food item but its normal for a snake to not shed for three months? is that due to the food item being too small or health problems?

If the feed item isnt large enough the aniaml wont grow and thus wont shed.

Consider it this way if you are weighing your animals on a regular basis(when they have just shed and defecated) you will find that they only convert to growth approx 17% of the food item to weight/growth gain, the rest is waist and gets deposited in the enclosure.

So 1 weaner mouse is going to go no where as far as weight/growth gain on a yearling and thus the animal wont need to shed !

 

[Snakelove]

If the feed item isnt large enough the aniaml wont grow and thus wont shed.

Consider it this way if you are weighing your animals on a regular basis(when they have just shed and defecated) you will find that they only convert to growth approx 17% of the food item to weight/growth gain, the rest is waist and gets deposited in the enclosure.

So 1 weaner mouse is going to go no where as far as weight/growth gain on a yearling and thus the animal wont need to shed !

wow 17%? thats it? i thought itd be more than that. So if i feed a 100gram rat to my woma, 17grams of that adds to the bodyweight? and the rest is waste?

 

[Hooglabah]

the general rule i use is the space between the eyes of the snake x2 should be the the smallest food size and x 3 the biggest.
that was until i mastered weighing them eg my biggest snake atm is my bhp he weighs just a touch over a kilo so i feed him 150 - 200 gram small rats. about 20% of total weight seems about right it reduces the total waste while still encouraging a health growth rate eg: a shed every three months with a 5% increase in size roughly

 

[Hooglabah]

btw hes only a bit over year old and is almost 5 ft long thats a healthy size for a queensland bhp a carpet should be about 4-5 ft by that age and still a little skinny yours is about right but you really must step up the feeds.

id recomend fuzzy or wiener rats.

 

[Hooglabah]

hopper mice are way to small to be feeding any capet over 6 months old you should be on fuzzies by that stage.

general rule of thumb feed mice for the first six months then go to rats.

 

[Sock Puppet]

I have 2x 1yo Bredli, both a little over 1m in length, the male last weighed at over 360g (female to be weighed at next slough) & they're both on 40-50g weaner rats, so that is about 11-14% food size to body weight. Once they've exhausted the current supply they are getting a larger food item. They've both gone approx 12 weeks between sloughs last time around & both regularly defecate 4-7 days after eating.
Conversely, I have a Woma that is 114g & eating 20g mice at the moment (17% food to body weight) & hasn't defecated for over 2 weeks. She'll also be upsizing her food once the current lot is gone.

 

[Hooglabah]

i hate it when they need an upsize but you have a tone of left over food.

its why atm im only buying food weekly. only have 2 snakes so its not a huge issue

 

[Hooglabah]

the biggest issue im haveing atm is alot of pet shops dont weigh their rats and im still at home so i cant breed my own, so working out the correct size is a bit of a hit and miss as i like to keep to as closer weight as possible for each feed.

 

[Hooglabah]

Now do I feed him again tomorrow like I would normally do or should I wait till he poos if I feed him tomorrow it's 3 feeds with out a poo??? Sorry guys

give him 2 fuzzy mice...
even a hatchling carpet shouldnt be on fuzzy mice weaner at the smallest idealy
ive found the best starting food to be pinkie rats then weaner mice then fuzzy rats then adult mice then weaner rats then small adult rats then medium then large and once its big enough to eat jumbo rats try to get 800 - 1000 gram rabbits as often as possible.

 

[Sock Puppet]

i hate it when they need an upsize but you have a tone of left over food. its why atm im only buying food weekly. only have 2 snakes so its not a huge issue the biggest issue im haveing atm is alot of pet shops dont weigh their rats and im still at home so i cant breed my own, so working out the correct size is a bit of a hit and miss as i like to keep to as closer weight as possible for each feed.

Yeah, they don't have too many left to go of the current stock, about another 5 feeds each I think. Although the last of this lot are slightly larger than the ones they've been getting. The last time I bought rats was from a local breeder, not a pet store, was considerably cheaper & they're quality rats. Sorry, that's a bit off topic of the thread subject.

 

[sk17zn]

Thank you every one for your help, I got home today and noticed he had a bit ok skin about 5cent size shedding so I bathed him to which he has now pooed an skin is getting very loose thank you all and will be buying him larger food to start him off tomorrow thanks again