olives

[Thor1]

hi people
im just wondering if someone can give me
a rough guestimate on the size increase of
olives over time.
for example how big is a 1yo 2yo3yo etc???
thanks

[Tatelina]

Big.

[Thor1]

i thought so.
hmmm......

[Logan & Allana]

I think on average from what I've been told a metre long as a yearling and they grow to a average of 4 metres so I'm guessing a metre a year:

[alumba]

mate it really depends on how much u feed it i have seen womas reach adult size in a year

[Thor1]

ok lets say im not going to feed it everyday.
maybe once a week and then once every ten days or so??
i feed my snakes a bit slower than others do

[olivehydra]

Originally Posted by Thor1

ok lets say im not going to feed it everyday.
maybe once a week and then once every ten days or so??
i feed my snakes a bit slower than others do

Your snake will grow quite fast. 9ft within 3 years is very easy for an olive fed so often. Mine is fed every 6 to 12 weeks (one or two medium rats) and is still obese. I probably fed it what you are proposing for the first 3 years which made her very overweight.

[hugsta]

I fed my girl farily regularly for the first two years and as her growth rate slowed, so did her feed regime. I also noticed her getting a bit over weight and therefore she has only had 6 feeds in 8 months, all be it big feeds, but she has lost weight and is in better health for her first cooling season. She is about 8ft long.

[TrueBlue]

once a week imo is way to much to feed any python, once every 10-20 days for juvs and every 2 - 6 weeks for adults is a better way to feed pythons imo.

As has been said the size depends souly on the amount of food.

[Thor1]

so too much??
hatchlings should be fed how often and when are they juvs?

[TrueBlue]

hatchling/juv same thing.
I keep everything small for the first 12 months at least, as i belive this is when their organs etc need time to develop propally, if feed to much or to often at this stage i truley belive you run the risk of cutting the snakes life expectancy in half and or causing lots of problems in the future.
They have evolved to spend most of their life with a completely empty tract, yet in captivity most people keep their snakes full most of the time with out any metablic rest, a recipe for disarster imo.

[Thor1]

mate thanks heaps i had always been told hatchlings were to be fed roughly every 5-7 days until about 8 months and then 7-10 days.
can you give me ideas on feeding olives and sizes trueblue?
please

[hugsta]

Originally Posted by Thor1

mate thanks heaps i had always been told hatchlings were to be fed roughly every 5-7 days until about 8 months and then 7-10 days.
can you give me ideas on feeding olives and sizes trueblue?
please

I fed my olives every 7 days for the first 12 months or so and then slowed off a bit. They have pretty fast metabolisms, so should be fed regularly IMO. A fat snake will have no muscle tone, so you should see nice muscle defintion either side of the spine.

[Thor1]

and after 12 moths how long was your olive?

[TrueBlue]

thor, i normally feed young every 2-3 weeks, 1 item for the first few feeds, then 2-3 as they get bigger. This gives them plenty of rest bettween feeds but heaps enough food to keep them healthy, active and growing at a steady rate.
Around 1 meter is a good healthy size for a 12 month olive, hell you can easily get an olive to 2 meters in a year, but imo its not a good thing to do.