My 5 month old bredli eats then goes and lies in his cold hide my temps are right could this mean that the food not big enough any help would be great cheers
Yes he eats normally and is on fuzzy mice they just seem to be a bit small to me he is 5 months old and is 70 cm long ps he smashes his food and after two days no visible lump from food
OK... a bredli at that age & length could quite easily manage medium adult mice - I'd try those from now on and see how you go. He may still go cool after feeding - some snakes are very individual in their choices, but as long as he has access to heat if he wants to use it, then he'll know what he needs to do.
Every time my python eats she'll then move to the colder section of her tank. All the physiological reactions that are kicked into gear from eating will def ramp up their internal temps so dont stress they know best!
If it was mine and had been being feed on such small food items .... I would give slightly bigger for a while even two then increase the size over time .... Say offer adult mice .... Then two ... over the next couple feeds give its system time to get used to the bigger food volume .... I don't know if thats the right way but it's the way I would do it if it was my own ....
It won't need any time to get used to bigger food items. They don't have a choice about food sizes in the wild - they are opportunistic feeders and take the big & the small when available. it will perfectly easily take medium adult mice, but just one every week or so. You can go from adult mice to small weaner rats as the snake grows - which it will do... & quite rapidly.
Even hatchling carpets af all varieties relish fairly large prey from their first feed - I have always started them on largish fuzzy mice - they find them attractive as food, and have no difficulty swallowing and digesting them.
Gday mate I went to 2 shops in my area best I could get were pinkie rats they bigger than the fuzzies so that will have to do until he gets in some adult mice said his supplier has a shortage hmmm he has the Pisces brand
Pinkie Rats and Fuzzy Mice are pretty much the same size...
As a rule of thumb I like to go by how long it takes my Snakes to eat their meals. If it's 10 minutes or under... Meal is too small... Or you could increase the food size after each successfull shed, either way.
Once I noticed this in my Murray Darling female I upped her food size to Weanling Mice. She takes them pretty easy but it usually takes her about 15 - 20 mins to down them. Give or take.
Edit: She probably could take Adult Mice but I'd prefer to keep her on Weanlings until her next shed.