I’ve noticed a sort of proud parent feeling when you have a reptile that eats really well, so here’s a place for all of you proud reptile parents to share stories, pictures and to just rant about your best eaters. My albino conda hognose girl named Fresa is just amazing at eating. Never skips a day, eats very aggressively and will even eat off of tongs. She even loves to eat so much that I was once filling her water bowl and she tried striking at the stream of water that was pouring into the bowl 
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All my babies are kingsnakes who were on frozen/thawed when I acquired them. I had one Cali drop her appetite with the season, perfectly normal, but I’ve taken to braining them all now - and they’re gobbled up instantly, by everyone. I just make sure that they are served on a platter so the brain juice stays away from the substrate for those I feed in situ, and for those I put in feeding containers, a paper towel does nicely for easy clean up afterwards.
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And I might as well ask this question here, I’m obesity averse when it comes to snakeys, but I got a little tiny yearling leonis that is no bigger than a hatchling and appears severely underweight. [No, I can’t do pix but I’d say she’s about 4x as tall as she is wide and she prefers to lay on her side.] She eats just fine with at least three big mighty poos per the tiniest pinkies I could find. I plan on getting a fine scale soon to mark her progress but given the circumstances, should I feed her the day after the third big poo? Or should I give her metabolism a rest & just let her catch up on a more relaxed schedule? [I favor the latter…]
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Mina, my year-old blood python, has never missed a meal. For a while I’d just leave her rat on a dish and she’d move in on it pretty quickly, but more recently she’s started striking it off the tongs, which has been fun (my other snake steadfastly refuses to strike feed). Blood pythons are known for being good eaters, and thankfully Mina’s no exception!
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We will need pictures and a weight, but if she is as small as you say, feeding every 4-5 days should work fine until she is a solid weight. Once she gets around 30 grams (or just looks nice and healthy) you can start her on a once a week schedule.
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I can’t do weight or pix at this time. I’ll be ordering a scale that is accurate to the tenth of a gram soon. The pinkies are no wider than one cm when frozen and measured with a tape (not calipers, but I’ll pick up a pair of those as well) and produce a significant bulge after ingestion that is easily more than twice her diameter. I’ll take your suggestion for feeding five days and appreciate the feedback.
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Most of all the reptiles I have eat very well but I have three that stand out.
Leyla will eat at any time in any situation. She strikes further than she should be able to and in directions you would not think possibly. She is so sweet and will come out on her own but is a different animal when it is feeding day. She will be full but still hang out in the middle of her tub begging for another one until the next morning when the lights come on. She has always ate off tongs and f/t
Roswell loves his bugs. Eats off tongs. I have to pay attention to how much and how often I feed this guy. He will eat all the time if he could.
This girl currently has no name. She is a recent pickup and hates the world. She ate f/t the same day I got her and off tongs.
I will add a runner up the the other three. Stella dropped me a clutch recently. I have to stand back from her when I open her tub. Even on non feeding days. She wants to put those calories back in right away but I have to ease it back on. She is usually more of an easy going girl.
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How frequently (in terms of days/weeks) are you feeding this animal? I never really like the “after X number of defecations” manner of feeding as it often leads to problematic underfeeding. Young animal, especially colubrids, can safely feed more frequently. A healthy colubrid baby should be just approaching round in body constitution. Not “bursting at the seems” sausage round, but sort of “if you cut a jelly bean in half” sort of round
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What kind of snake is that in the 3rd picture! Its stunning!
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Thanks it is a Scaleless rat snake. Was told she has Everglades and Texas rat in the line with a small bit of Black rat in her. I do not have real good pics of her yet. She is still in quarantine away from the other rooms of reptiles. That pic was the day I got her. Still working on her attitude.
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Very cool, looking forward to seeing more pictures and updates.
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Looks like he might need to miss a few 
his hips are THICC haha
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I’ve been feeding her weekly & she’s noticeably filled out a bit since I got her about six weeks ago, but she clearly has a long ways to go to approach good proportions. Because the pinkies are currently so large for her, she’s effectively on a boosted diet as is, even by hatchling standards - but it may be best to think of her as a hatchling who’s lost all her baby fat. For now, her three poos would put feeding at four days, but yeah, the feces schedule is subject to change. I’m good with five days.
While I’ve your attention, I’m thinking I saw a post of yours where you mentioned you use carpet? If I’m not misremembering authorship, how do you spot clean? I’ve got a newish yearling Cali who poos under his aspen and the feces hunt is not sustainable and I don’t think he especially appreciates the continual loss of his burrow system.
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My cat, jk it’s my only snake
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