Can I Feed My Snake Before It Poops

• #1

Hi all

On sunday, I bought a hatchling Childrens python. While I was at the sellers house, he fed it a pinky to show that she was feeding.

Anyways, today I bought a pack of pinkies and offered her one. Thankfully she took it quite easily, giving me peace of mind that she is settling in.

Anyways, she hasn't pooped her last meal yet from sunday. Is that a problem? Should I always wait for her to poo before I feed her?

Anyways, here's a pic of her dinner tonight. I was worried it may be big, but she got it down fine

• #2

No you don't wait for her to crap before you feed her again. It takes a snake more than a week to digest food. People think they eat and crap it out a few days later. That is not the case. It is most likely food they ate weeks prior, that you see in their tank. Don't worry. Let your snake have his dinner.

• #3

What a cutie. You can tell she's gonna be the one that most appreciates food. Although I'd wait a bit longer then four days between feeds of that size. I'd say every six - seven days IMO

• #4

Pinkies have no fur and soft bones so once its been digested there's not much to pass anyway. Feeding every 5-6 days is fine for a hatchie, extremely hard to overfed at that age as every gram of food goes into growth. Best of luck with the little guy

• #5

Thanks all
The guy I got it from said I could give her 2 pinkies even every feed.
Would that cause an obese snake?

Also he told me that since I have my heat on a thermostat I can keep it on 24/7? My last pythons heat was hooked up to a timer. What do you guys reckon?

Anyways I copped my very first snake bite the other day when changing her water. I'm glad its over and done with Now I'm not scared to get bitten anymore, lol,

Last edited: Apr 5, 2012

• #7

Thanks all
The guy I got it from said I could give her 2 pinkies even every feed.
Would that cause an obese snake?

Also he told me that since I have my heat on a thermostat I can keep it on 24/7? My last pythons heat was hooked up to a timer. What do you guys reckon?

Anyways I copped my very first snake bite the other day when changing her water. I'm glad its over and done with Now I'm not scared to get bitten anymore, lol,

Feed 2 pinkes if it'll take them, after a few weeks of 2 pinkies you'll be able to offer a single fuzzy weekly, as I said before any extra food will only result in extra growth at that age, so there's no risk of obesity

As for heating I would have it on 24/7 especially as winter is on its way, personally i give all my snakes under 18 mths 24hr heat

• #8

Are you feeding rat or mouse pinkies? Hard to tell from pic?

Looks like it has the eating business well under control :lol: I only had a rat fuzzy to feed my MDP the other night, it was slightly bigger than the snakes girth :shock: but I thought I would give it a try.... straight down the hatch (but I think Yarrum (my snake... murray spelt backwards) is half seagull anyway :lol:

So dont buy 100 pinkies, start thinking bigger and yes feed a couple per feed. When feeding multiple rats to one snake, I feed it one, then wait for the snake to put its jaw back in place then offer the next one. I do it like this so it doesnt strike to grab the second rat while its jaw is loose and hit something on the follow thru and damage the jaw.

Dont wait for it to poop before feeding, 5-7 days between feeds is good, lots of heat like the others said previously

• #9

I'm not sure but I think they were mice. They are tiny, less than an inch in size. Couldn't belive what some pet stores were charging! $25 for 10 at Pets Paradise Liverpool!
Went to extreme pets and got a 5 pack for $8.75 ($1.75 each).

It actually took her 2 goes to get it down, first time she grabbed it in the wrong spot. So after she dropped it i picked it up with the tongs and offered it again and she took it like a champ The women of the house weren't too keen on keeping them in our freezer but didnt want the extra cost of runing the spare fridge in the garage for that tiny little package, lol. So I triple bagged it, wrapped it in newspaper and duct tape lol

Recently bought some feeding tongs and a little snake hook too, God bless ebay, I only paid a third of what the were asking in Pet shops.

Thanks again for all your advice, I'll try to get more pictures to share after she settles in.

Cheers
Kev

Last edited: Apr 6, 2012

• #11

I get my rodents and quails from Rodent Farm.

• #12

I will probably start getting mine from the same place I get my crickets.
Personal Pet Services. I don't think I'm allowed to post a link but you can google it.

Very good prices IMO and they deliver all over Australia. Pack of pinky mice was $5 something if my memory serves me correctly.
And their Buckets of Crickets are great value. $33 shipping included!
Check em out if you haven't already. Scott & Erica are always a pleasure to deal with.

Btw, here's another pic of yesterday's main course. I have no idea if I bought rats or mice, can anyone tell from this photo?

After posting that pic I just noticed that she already has pooped, lol
It was so tiny I didnt notice it, its been cleaned now.
Lol I feel silly for starting this thread now, hahaha

Last edited: Apr 6, 2012

• #13

Lol looks like a pinkie rat to me. She's taking like a champ. She must love you atm. Full belly and a clean house

• #14

Oh yeah, just wondering about vet visits?
Should I take new animals to the vet? Or do they need yearly shots or visits like cats and dogs?
Or do I only need to take them when they get sick?

Thanks to my worried over-protective personality I took my beardie to a vet when there was nothing wrong with her (just the winter blues), lols, but am glad as I found a very good reputable reptile vet that is honest with pricing (only charged me $50 consultation fee as there was nothing wrong with Wicket my Beardie, I was worried about how much it was gonna cost, the vet we used to take our dog too is a greedy vet imo, lols, we have since changed vets....)

Last edited: Apr 7, 2012

• #15

lol i believe you only need to take it when theres signs of sickness but it would be smarter to take it for full checkups from time to time just in case there's something that you missed and stuff like that.

• #16

I don't think checkups are essential. That is just my opinion but Vets charge a fortune anyway so I believe it is un-necessary stress on the snake having to move it about for the checkup, and un-necessary cost. Coming from someone of a lower income I'd rather save that money so then I have a good amount there waiting for emergencies when they prop up.

• #17

Hi guys,
Had another feeding question, thought I'd put it here instead of starting up a whole new thread.

I've had the Childrens python for about 2 months now. Have gone through 2x 5packs of pinkie mice. Can I upgrade her food to fuzzies yet?
I'm not seeing much of a bulge after her feed, and she's getting em down pretty quickly, less than 3 mins before she's finished. And I have been sneaking in 2nds every now and then which she accepts happily. I find she doesn't really poop unless she has 2x pinkies in a week.

I think its safe to upgrade, but just wanted to make sure, as she is still so small.
If not I guess she is happy having 2 pinkys per week, just costs twice as much...

I have a video of her eating her pinky the other day, in case you wanna see her size compared to the food. It looks to me like the food is quite large for her already (check out 1:45), but I am not noticing a bulge or bump in her.
And I apologize for the music, I couldn't help myself lol
[video=youtube;zF8hoRxy6VE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zF8hoRxy6VE&feature=g-upl[/video]
Keen to see what you guys think

Cheers
Kev

Last edited: May 29, 2012

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Source: https://www.aussiepythons.com/threads/feeding-and-pooping.184145/

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