Hey Everyone.

I just fed my pythons tonight and i just thought i should check up on whether or not i am feeding them the right size rodents.

I have a 45 cm childreni on fuzzy mice, a 60 cm spotted on pinky rats and a monster 1 m spotted on fuzzy/weaner rats. I am feeding the two smaller ones weekly and the bigger on monthly. Are these adequate for them?

Also when should i move them up onto bigger food?

Thanks Gav

Gavin, I reckon you could probably bump them up a size. Our yearling spotted (just a little worm) happily takes a pinky mouse like they're being banned tomorrow, our 3 year old girl has no problem whatsoever with quite large fuzzies, while our "monster" big girl (1 meter, with a huge girth) regularly eats large (pet shop large, at any rate) rats within half an hour or so. It certainly doesn't hurt the animal to have to work a bit to get their feed down, as they'll usually spit it back out if they cant achieve it. If they're eating their feed within 30 min or less, you can usually increase the size a bit. Taking around an hour to get it down wont hurt them, and actually helps to work out their jaw muscles.

I have to agree Gav, id bump the spotteds to the size up, and the childreni to fuzzy rats. A big bulge dont hurt em, there built for it mate.
my darwin (fussy bugger wont go rats unless there coated with mouse blood) ate 5 mice one after another tonite, hes pretty bulgy but itll be gone in about 3 days.
but smaller foods are a pain, by the 3rd or fourth mouse its really hard for him to constrict because not only is a mouse small, but hes already got a bulge, thats another reason one large feed (if they take it) is better than smaller feeds more often imo.
I m sure they get a real digestive work out from constant small feeds, that they wouldnt in the wild. I dont know if thats in any way negative but larger prey sure is easier!

Ok thanks for that.

I think this is a really great topic! My coastal female, though growing now, is a midget bugeyed tadpole worm, and she would steal fully grown rats and take all day eating them.... I was told by the vet to be very careful to downsize her food, because snakes can get the equivalent of ugly stretch marks that sometimes don't go away (the scales distend and become malformed). So now I have to feed all the snakes separately in a special enclosure (which i should have been doing in the first place) as Rowan is a pig that will eat anything and steal everyone's food (even meatballs off the kitchen sink getting ready to be cooked)..
However, I was also told by a vet that rats are more nutrious than mice, and if I can just feed the appropriate sized rat (tell that to the jungles!!!)
I am finding it really hard to get it right.. too big is bad, too small is bad... I wish someone would come up with a size/weight to food ratio!!!

I think the ratio is about 20% body weight from memory, dont quote me on me. Safest is just to leave a noticble bulge and you wont go wrong, in any case, food all goes into growth in young snakes, nobody worries about obesity except in adults.