Milestone for Lucy!

[WiccanWolf88]

Hey everyone! Sorry I haven't been on in awhile, been busy on vacation (with no computer access) and now some much needed home repairs/chores (painting).
Anyway, I thought I'd share a milestone for Lucy. She ate her first small rat the other day! so proud and happy I was a little worried about the size, but she is big enough now in the middle that it didn't even seem to faze her. She actually looked very content after eating this time. For awhile now I was feeding her two large mice and she was always looking around for more food. This is awesome! I guess from reading on here from others that sometimes snakes have a hard time switching from mice to rats, but she was a champ. Proud mama!

[DennyS]

AWESOME!!! I never had any problems either with mine. Glad your back!!

[lihed]

Awesome, most of my snakes made the switch to rats with no problem.

as soon as you notice there is no lump in her mid-section after she eats, switch her to mediums, she's 4 years old, it actually won't be long and she'll be on larges, then jumbo's or small rabbits. LOL. you'll notice, now that she's on rats she's really going to grow!

don't worry yourself to much about switching her to the next bigger size, as a matter of fact my rule is, if i'm feeding them 2 of the same size it's time to move up to the next size feeder. with your recent pics you posted she most likely can take down a medium with no problem.
good luck with your girl.

[WiccanWolf88]

Ah thanks guys! Yeah, the last time I fed her before the rat she was eating two large mice...and then there was this little one left so I gave her that one too. I was thinking, "this is a pain in the butt." I was happy to see that after she ate the rat and I went to pick her back up and put her back into her tank she was calmer and wanted to stay out longer, in fact. I had a hard time putting her back to bed, lol.
Actually, when she got it down to her middle, I didn't even see a lump anymore. It was kind of funny, really. I had measured her with my fingers to have an idea of how big she was and was in the store a few weeks ago opening the frozen boxes of small rats. And measuring them the same way. Was a little apprehensive, but it turned out to be unfounded. There was this little kid there looking at the turtles and he saw me and asked what I was doing. I told him I was buying food for my snake. He was like "cool" but his mommy didn't seem to think so.

[lihed]

since you can't see a lump after Lucy ate the small rat, next feeding day feed her 2 small rats or a medium rat. I can guarantee you she will not be on mediums rats very long before putting her on adult rats. just always keep in mind when you cannot see a lump anymore, buy her bigger feeders. she'll feel so much fuller and be a very happy snake.

[WiccanWolf88]

ok sounds good! thanks for the advice!

[buckwheatpw]

How old is she now? Sounds like she should be on med rats by now. Since she made the switch and you start feeding her bigger rats she'll really start to grow. Sabina that I got from Franky is eating small rabbits now! Just curious, but whay do you not feed in her cage?

[Roy]

I understand its good to get them eating rats ASAP. If anyone has problems getting them to eat rats, you can rub the rats against a mouse. The snake will pick up a faint smell of mouse and recognize it as food.

[WiccanWolf88]

Buckwheat: she's over 4 now...it does look like a med rat will do her. I have heard that if you feed them in their own tank then there is more likelihood of them to associate when you get them out that food will be there. And I hold her a lot. I have been using the same system since I got her and it seems to work out great for both of us.

[WiccanWolf88]

I had a quick advice question:
with the Med rats she looks like she might still be hungry and there is no lump at all. So I was thinking of moving her up to the large rats starting next month. I have her on a two week schedule for the med rats. Do you guys think that if I feed her a large rat then I can move her to a one month feeding schedule; instead of every two weeks I can move her to once a month?