Aurora, my butter motley is nearing 100 grams which is where I was going to switch her over to weanlings. She is nearing the point where the hoppers aren’t leaving much of a bulge. However, I can find pinkies all the way up to jumbo mice, but not mice that are sold specifically in that small adult/weanling range. I know I could just get adult mice and weigh them to determine which are in the weanling range, but that sounds both incredibly tedious and runs the risk of none of the mice being small enough. Should I just keep her on hoppers longer, feed her her adult mice, or get adult mice and weigh them? I know I am probably stressing out too much about this, but I am worried that she either won’t get enough nutrition with hoppers, or regurgitate with adult mice.
I’d be starting her on 18-20g large adult mice now if she were here. ![]()
Do you mind telling me what your general timeline is for feeding?
I’ve generally been following this structure:
Double Pinkies Every 6 Days: 15 grams - 25 grams
Fuzzies Every 7 Days: 25 grams - 50 grams
Hoppers Every 8 Days: 50 grams - 100 grams
Weanlings Every 8 Days: 100 grams - 150 grams
Adults Every 10 Days Until Fully Grown: 150 grams onward
I want to do what’s best for the snakes though, so if it should be changed then I’m happy to hear of any necessary adjustments.
If you have a reptile specialty shop nearby a lot of them will have live feeder mice. You will have to check if they will offer fresh or pre-killed feeders.
I have never had an issue with asking the local shops for a feeder between given weights. It may just take a little longer if it’s busy and can’t sort through them. At the absolute worst I’ve brought a small kitchen scale with me just in case.
Otherwise, if you’re between sizes it usually doesn’t hurt to keep them on the size they’re eating for a little longer to grow a smidge more beforehand. They can usually take a bit more than what we think though so don’t be too worried about trying to size up.
Here’s RodentPro’s size guide. For them, small mouse is hopper sized or slightly larger. So as Dean said, that larger size wouldn’t be too bad at all.
15-20% snake weight every 5 days when they’re eating pinkies and peach fuzzies.
15-20% snake weight every 7 days when they’re eating fuzzies, hoppers/small mice, and medium mice/weaned.
Once the snake is eating ~20g large adult mice at about 100g, I just offer a large adult mouse every 7 days until males are 150-175g and females are 200-225g. Depending on body shape. At those weights I start feeding a large mouse every 14 days to coast to 300g, adult weight.
After 300g, I feed based on body condition, sex, and breeding considerations.
Thank you both for the help, this information makes me feel a lot more confident. ![]()
