Typically the size standards used by the frozen feeder vendors is what I use as a guide. For a medium rat:
Rodentpro uses 85-175g
Layne Labs uses 90-129
And while the starting weights are on line with the 90g that would be recommended, obviously anything else in that scale is overkill. And you can get some varied sizes between a single bag of frozen feeders sometimes.
You would want to be looking for a ‘small rat’ somewhere between 60 and 100 grams. But feeding would be done probably every 10-14 days as he’s considered ‘adult’ at his age.
Obviously, you want to watch his weight as well. I have one adult male who does get a medium rat every 3 weeks… But he’s over 2300g. He keeps a trim figure and looks great for 23 years.
For your guy though, right now you’re looking at small rats to feed. Just make sure he doesn’t get the pudge and you’ll be good.
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oh yeah… i just weighed the ones i just picked up and they’re 61-63 grams. Thanks for the reference though!! i was looking at buying from rodentpro instead of my local shop after hearing so many good things and also being on a tight budget and bulk seeming to be a better option for me.
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Honestly, it’s just easier when you have a couple snakes to buy bulk frozen. I even found a cheap freezer to keep mine in. The average price for feeder rats by me is at least 3x more than the average frozen vendor cost. Usually more. And keeping them in stock? Ugh.
And buying the frozen bulk and freezer worked out cheaper to feed the 6 snakes I had at the time than hitting up a pet store for them for 6 months. Lol.
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definitely…and i have an outside freezer to keep the rats away from my personal food lol. So it seems like it’ll be the better option, even if shipping is expensive the total cost is still going to outweight buying that many rats over time lol.
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That’s when you find a friend to split shipping costs on a combo order ;D
Though iirc, Rodentpro does do free shipping deals from time to time.
I’ve used Rodentpro in the past with no problems. But my collection is now at the ‘breed your own rats’ stage. So it’s been a while since I’ve checked.
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oooou…thats smart, as i have a friend who has two bp’s and hates having to buy rats at shops for them.
And i believe they had one at the time of me looking into them.
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Thanks. Also, i haven’t gotten any opinions so far as for the whistle part, but any idea on if it could be the start of a respiratory infection?
He doesn’t sit with his head up, usually only puts his head up if he’s on the couch with me and watching tv lol. I’m getting him a new tank tomorrow as his current has a crack and i don’t want to risk him getting hurt, nor do i want to keep a cracked tank. I was considering putting paper towels down just in case. He has no saliva around his mouth, no mucous around his nose, and it isn’t a super loud whistle- just faint if you put him by your ear. He could have a fuzz stuck in his nose from drying him after a soak, though…?
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Most times a whistle is the sign of a respiratory infection. However, I received two ball pythons a little over 2 years ago, both hatchlings at the time, and one of these girls kept whistling like there was no tomorrow. I took her and her sister to the vet (because they came together, quarantine together, chances are whatever she has her sister will have it as well). Turns out the snake just whistles; more of a stress thing, but it didn’t matter how I housed this snake she whistled most of the time. I even went to four different exotics vets in Texas over that two year span just to make sure that one of them didn’t miss anything. She never developed a respiratory infection, no virus/illnesses, never had any issues with eating, pooping, shedding, etc. She whistled less as she aged, but she’d really let you hear it when she was tired of you.
So there is a very SLIM chance that it’s nothing, but I was like 0.001/1,000,000 for there nothing to be wrong. I even had one of the vets I took her two say they’d never seen anything like this. So, it was a very unique and interesting case. I definitely would take any animal to the vet if you believe there could be an issue. It’s better to be sure there’s nothing wrong, then assume there isn’t and you wake up to a dead snake and a messed up collection. If money is an issue, most vet offices will work a payment plan out wtih you as well. That’s become somewhat of a normal thing to do that I’ve witnessed.
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I actually just messaged the owner of a trusted store and he said that there is a chance it most likely is just stress, because the only other symptoms he’s shown was two yawns which were after he had ate, and sneezing which was the night I switched his bedding… So I’m really on the hopeful side it’s nothing more. To be on the safe side I’m monitoring him and leaving him alone and if it progresses we’re going to try to find a vet because unfortunately none of the vets around us are even good with reptiles and are fine with my cats, but they definitely do not specialize in reptiles haha. The only good one is constantly booked out(because it’s the only herp vet around us). But his bedding settled and I got the dust off the side of the tank and he hasn’t sneezed since, and he hasn’t been propping his head up. Also there was no snot or mucus when he sneezed, so I’m quite sure it was just the dust because even I was sneezing haha. Not to mention I had just gotten a new tank and rearranged things a bit so he was exploring it and rubbing his face on the glass a bit as he was trying to poke around so I’m sure he just got some in his nose. I’m feeling pretty sure it isn’t an RI but again, if anything worsens we’ll be taking him to a vet.
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