Moving from Pinkies to Fuzzies

[Ariande]

Hi all, I'm fairly sure about this, but just want to double check with you experienced people...

My sexy little spotted is a bit over 3 months old and is feeding/shedding/pooping excellently!

I fed him last night and he seemed to really have the munchies [as normally he just lazily wanders over, sniffs the pinkie for a while and starts eating... But this time he lunged for the pinkie and snatched it out of my forceps :shock:] so I gave him 2 pinkies... And despite this, there wasn't much of a bump in his stomach after he finished, so I thought it might be time to move him up to a fuzzy once a week.

So my questions are, at what age do you move your snake/s on from pinkies to fuzzies? What is a good size for them to be? Did they adjust well to the change?

 

[Hoon84]

Are you talking about pinky mice or rats, if 2 pinky mice arent sufficient, try 2 pinky rats,

 

[Vixen]

Hoon why on Earth would you feed two pinkys? If its capable of eating two pinkys then it should be upsized to a fuzzy, much better nutrients.

I assume its mice seeing as its a spotted? If so try a fuzzy or even hopper mouse, it should be big enough to leave a slight bulge. Then once its big enough you can transition over to fuzzy rats.

 

[funcouple]

move it on to fuzzy mice, not pinky rats as has been said. the sooner your snake gets fur in its diet the better. fur is like fibre to humans. also the amount of calcium in a fuzzy mouse is higher than a pinkie rat

 

[Mayhem]

I dont know where u get ur mice/rats/pinkies from, but im finding the frozen supply from Pices to be really really inconsistant, like in a "frozen pinkie mice" bag, you might have a newborn, tiny little thing and in the same bag, somthing that almost looks to be the size of a pinkie rat.

Also the fuzzy mice bag I got the other day was more like hopper mice, far too big for my little guy.

I've just moved on to feeding pinkie rats instead of fuzzy mice, its more consistant.

 

[Vixen]

Yes pisces have a habit of that which is why I started breeding my own, also I found 4/5 packets were rotten, and they were always covered in poop.

 

[Mayhem]

they were always covered in poop.

Yep, also that too. Pretty uncool considering the price they charge.

 

[Jason]

for hatchy macs i usually offer them 2 pinkies from there first feed, straight out of the egg they will eat two smallish pinkies, after this feed id try them on fuzzies or atleast a velvet... they'll get it down. id try and get them onto small adult mice by about 6 months. some of the yearlings i see for sale are as small as a 3 month old should be imo. pump them the first year and then i back off to fortnightly feeds.

 

[Ariande]

the sooner your snake gets fur in its diet the better. fur is like fibre to humans. also the amount of calcium in a fuzzy mouse is higher than a pinkie rat

That's actually really helpful info, I didn't realise that there were issues with nutrients from pinkies!

 

[chewybd]

I have one of codereds blonde macs and a sibling to yours, i have been feeding mice fuzzies for about a month already so yes you should get fuzzies. There is no transition as the smell is the same and they will just gulp it down as per usual

I expect to switch it to rat pinkies in 2 weeks, so a good bet is for you to switch it to rat pinkies in about 1 months time. Try to get them onto rats as rats grow bigger and are easier to feed once our macs are adult size.

They do grow fast when they get off the mice pinkies that is for sure.

good luck

 

[Ariande]

Wow we have siblings!! How cute

I will start him on fuzzies and see how he goes then!

 

[KaneMortlock]

I have hatchie stimmies (that I bred). They have had 13 feeds now (and shed 3 times). At least the last 5 - 7 feeds have been fuzzies. Last week, they were hungry again after 3-4 days, so they got another one and gulped it straight down.

In my limited experience these smaller snakes can eat something about twice their girth at the widest point of the snake. When they clamp it down with their jaws it doesn't end up that big and the bulge is probably only 1.5 times normal girth.

 

[FAY]

move it on to fuzzy mice, not pinky rats as has been said. the sooner your snake gets fur in its diet the better. fur is like fibre to humans. also the amount of calcium in a fuzzy mouse is higher than a pinkie rat

Agreed...snakes need fur and bones to grow. A pinky will keep it going but that is about it.......
Like fc said...the sooner you put it on fuzzy mice the better...then go up from there.
Don't take any notice of the size of the head of the snake.....go by the size of the snakes body.

 

[CodeRed]

Well to give you some impression of what they CAN eat the one I held back is eating weaner mice already. It was one of the bigger/greedier snakes in the clutch but I would expect all the siblings to at least be eating hopper mice by now.

 

[coz666]

yay , its growing.
congrats on your new baby.
if it can take 2 pinkies it can take a fuzzy,
if it can take 2 fuzzies it can take a weaner.
after a few sheds your python has grown and you cantry the next level of food.
keep record of what you feed and when it sheds. and you will be able to see the growth spurts.
warning, not all pythons are like clockwork. so every season will affect your python differently.
some will feed when on shed and others wont so if it is off its food you can put it on your records and after a while you can see what habbits it has.

 

[Colin]

Agreed...snakes need fur and bones to grow. A pinky will keep it going but that is about it.......
Like fc said...the sooner you put it on fuzzy mice the better...then go up from there.
Don't take any notice of the size of the head of the snake.....go by the size of the snakes body.

I agree. I feed all my pythons mice up until they are about 12 months old and then convert them to rats.