Is my Bredli overfed?

[Andrew Lloyd]

Hi all,

Recently had a run in with someone (you might know the type, never owned a snake in their life but knew a guy who did which makes them an expert) who claimed I was abusing my animal by overfeeding him. Now I'm 90% sure that I'm doing nothing wrong but for the sake of my pet I'd like a more educated opinion.

My Bredli is about 5-6 months old and currently gets two pinky rats per feeding. Started off as one pinky rat, then a pinky rat and a pinky mouse (because I had some and didn't want to waste them) and now two pinky rats. He gets a feed once every 6-7 days, Usually I wait for him to defecate then a few more days for good measure.

Hes a very active snake, always moving about his enclosure and gets handled for around 45 minutes a day if I have the time so he is well exercised. I measured and weighed him recently and he is 61cm approx and 90 grams, which to me seems like a perfectly valid weight.

 

[pythoninfinite]

I would change the food to adult mice because fur, bones and well developed organs provide much better nutrition/bulk than mushy pink rodents. I would probably feed it every 7-10 days until about 12 months of age, then feed every fortnight for the next 12-18 months, then about every 2-3 weeks after that. We tend to overfeed our snakes, especially adults.

Jamie

 

[Bl69aze]

I wouldn’t say “abusing”.

I would recommend getting off pinkies though to a larger feed

45minutes a day is ALOT if u are doing It every day and should be more like 45m a week (I know I know you want to hold them, but that long every day stresses them)


(I think everyone thinks they’re an expert if they know an expert ! Me included, however I quickly get shutdown being told I’ve given bad info )

 

[Andrew Lloyd]

I would change the food to adult mice because fur, bones and well developed organs provide much better nutrition/bulk than mushy pink rodents. I would probably feed it every 7-10 days until about 12 months of age, then feed every fortnight for the next 12-18 months, then about every 2-3 weeks after that. We tend to overfeed our snakes, especially adults.

Jamie

I'm hesitant to buy mice, the only reason he would eat the pinky ones was because he had a rat first and was in the mood. would always refuse them if I offered it by itself. And I'm trying to get my hands on some fuzzy rats but every pet shop around me doesn't have them in stock.

I wouldn’t say “abusing”.

I would recommend getting off pinkies though to a larger feed

45minutes a day is ALOT if u are doing It every day and should be more like 45m a week (I know I know you want to hold them, but that long every day stresses them)


(I think everyone thinks they’re an expert if they know an expert ! Me included, however I quickly get shutdown being told I’ve given bad info )

When I say "handled" for 45 minutes I mean that he is out of the cage for that long and it's not EVERY day, usually days I have off from work so around 3-4 times a week. He generally slides around on my glasses and head for about 10 minutes then moves to the furniture around me or curls up in my hoodie. And I know the feeling of wanting to be an expert, I have mates who are snake catchers and fauna spotters but even then I try to defer to all kinds of opinions to keep the ego down.