Poo…i bought rats at my local reptile expo a week ago, and i just realize now they’re too big for my ball python. I got med when i should have asked for small. I got 25 of them, and i have no other reptile to feed them to.
Is there anything i can do? Has this happened to other people, what did you do?
How big of a size difference are we really talking? I know that you said that you need smalls, but you bought mediums, but I’m trying to see if there are some smaller ones in the package of mediums. Because what I do is, I will feed the smallest one in the package first if it’s not too much bigger than the largest size that I would feel comfortable feeding.
This is also the method that I use when transitioning up a size of prey item as well.
I hope this helps @moonxtal
I tried feeding one of the smaller looking ones last night, he struck and wrapped it and tried to eat it but gave up. I tried leaving it in overnight just incase but he didn’t eat it. I have a small rat still ill try giving him tonight.
It honestly looks like he could maybe eat it, its a little bigger than his middle but i dunno…it might be just a tad too big.
Maybe your snake decided to eat overnight. I hope so. If not, and you think he could handle the smallest feeder, I would give it a try again next week.
I work with corns, not BPs, but when I’ve been in a similar position I’ve divided prey items into two meals. It’s a messy option and not everybody wants to do that, and not every snake wants to do that. But it’s a safe option if they’ll take the meal.
Depending on how fast your snake is growing, hanging on to those for a couple months in deep freeze might be all it takes for your snake to grow enough to fit himself around em. I defer here to the experts but I am going off my own experience with how fast my BP has grown (without powerfeeding, just once a week to eventually varying it by 7-10 days)
Hes 3years old this oct. He did honestly try to eat one of the medium rats but gave up after a few tries. Thankfully i had a small rat left over, but now i have 24 big rats i need to do something with. I’m talking to some old friends of mine who were into reptiles, seeing if i could find someone to take them off my hands. Hopefully for a lower price than i paid so i can recoup some loss.
I think reaching out to friends to see if they can take them is your best bet, because then you can use that money in return to go get the correct sizes. If no one wants to take them, I’d do what @athleticshoelace recommended and freeze them until he’s to size where he can eat them. However, being a 3 y/o male he may never need a medium rat.
@moonxtal I agree with @akmorphs. Your BP may never need medium rats so I would not push it unless you decide to use @caryl’s method.
Well now I am thinking my Finnley might a really big guy. He’s taking medium rats and still growing, not even chubby or anything.