What’s the right size Reptile Feeder for my Snake?

What size Frozen Rodents, Rats, Mice & Quail Feeders should I feed my Snake, Lizard and Frog?

During a bushwalk in the Great Dividing Range a few years ago, I came across a mature Coastal Carpet Python that was at the final stages of eating a Wallaby. It seemed almost impossible that this snake with a breadth of about (10cm) had successfully swallowed an animal over twice that size. If you look online you will find that there are even more extreme examples of snakes eating ridiculously large food in Australia, including snakes eating a cow & another snake eating a crocodile. The lesson from these examples is that snakes in the wild can eat variable sized prey.

However, in captivity we want our pets to live long & healthy lives so should try our best to optimise the best rat sizes for snakes, lizards & frogs.

The simplest guideline amongst herpers is to select food that is slightly larger than the diameter of the thickest part of the snake. This is generally in the middle of the snake. In this way, a snake will have a small lump in its body as it digests its food, after eating. Refer to the feeder diameters in Table 1 for best rodent size by reptile & animal type.

Other herpers' tips include:

• Start with the smallest feeder rodent size possible when you first feed a hatchling snake;
• Increase the size of the feeder rodents regularly as your pet snake ages from pinkie to weaner, small to medium, to large, etc;
• For hatchlings, start with smaller mice, increase size & as early as possible switch to rats (for some fussy eaters, this can be a challenging stage & there are many techniques to deal with this transition such as rubbing a mouse on a rat before feeding to transfer the smell);
• Rats are more nutritious than mice over the longer term;
• Quails are excellent reptile food, creating variety in diet & should be fed occasionally;
• Feeding smaller feeders more often (say weekly) is considered better for increased growth than an occasional larger feed;
• If your snake food provided is too big for your snake, they may actually swallow it and then some time later regurgitate it. Not pretty for you or your pet snake!
• It is often easier to feed one or two feeders per feeding that satisfies their hunger, than trying to feed multiple smaller partial meals in one sitting (which they may refuse after the first few);
• Weight of snake food ratio: another Herpers guideline is to feed 15 to 20% of a snakes body weight each feed for normal snake growth. To accelerate growth of your snake, feed up to 30 to 35% of your snake’s body weight each feed.
• Mature snkes should be fed rabbits rather than rats as extra sized rats tend to be older and more obese whereas similar sized rabbits are younger and lean.

Table 5 also indicates the best size of frozen reptile food for lizards, frogs & predatory birds or just when feeding Bearded Dragon’s frozen mice such as pinkies.

Table 1: Guide to best rodent size by reptile by age:

This table is to help new reptile owners to make their first purchase of frozen feeders size.

Where to buy feeder mice and rats?

When picking a supplier of your frozen reptile food online including bulk frozen rats wholesale Australia & bulk frozen mice for sale; after checking for great customer service, reliable logistics & perfect pricing, it is important to choose a supplier of frozen feeders for snakes that provides healthy, disease free & parasite free products.

PetWave ticks all these boxes & also are expert at delivering frozen rats for sale with free shipping to your door across Australia. 

1 Day Old	1 Week Old	2 Week Old	3 Week Old
9g	23g	47g	72g

 

Table 5: Guide to Feeder Rabbit Sizes (PetWave):

Rabbit Size	Small Rabbit	Medium Rabbit	Large Rabbit	Extra Large Rabbit	Jumbo Rabbit
Average Weight           (grams)	250g	350g	500g	700g	1kg
Weight     Range     (grams)	200 - 300g	300 - 400g	400 - 600g	600 - 800g	800g+

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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