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Ha - Sdaji has it one... or is it 2?
Basically juvies will put a huge amount of what they eat into growth, not fat. Graham Thompson at UWA did a lot of work on python metabolism through the various stages of digestion and during non-feeding periods. This demonstrated clearly that snakes which are unfed for longish periods can and do change their metabolism to suit the prevailing circumstances, and this prevents harm to them.
I worked with him (I had a group of 8 neonate M.s.imbricata which were unfed when I got them) and supplied these critters over a period of about 4 years as they grew, in various stages of "fedness" or unfedness", preslough, etc, and he produced some very interesting results.
I also weighed, to the gram, every food item each snake ate for the first 4 years of life, and the total food intake came to about 84kg average, per animal, over the 4 year period. Almost 650kg of rodents for 8 medium sized pythons in 4 years. They would no doubt have eaten more if offered, but the largest animal after that time was a female at about 2.9kg - not a bad size for imbricata.
So - snake metabolic rates can vary by a factor of 5 or 6 if I recall (a huge range). Basically you can feed them however you like. Juvies will grow faster if you feed them more, and adults may become excessively fat if fed very large amounts of food frequently. That's about it...
Jamie.
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