feeding olives

[RELLIK81]

hi guys
my olive python is 6-7 foot long...
i was just wondering what others with similar sized olives or any species really feed their snakes....
i am currently feeding mine 1 extra large rat every 2 weeks....he seems to be doing well ...not skinny at all...but he does seem to get hungry after the first week....
i was thinking if changing to 2 large rats every 2 weeks but not sure if it is too much...

any info would be great

 

[Surfcop24]

Hey Rellik....

I am picking up my first Olive hatchie this arfternoon... And so I have read a fair few articles, and spoken to several people about olives....

Apart from rats.. Depending whats available... You can also feed them Chicks... Chickens... Quails... Or Rabbits.... Some may be cheaper than rats at the moment, and therefore you can afford to feed yours more...

I have a 8 ft Coastal carpet, that i am trying on a Rabbit in a couple of weeks... And I have been told it will easily satisfy him for a Month.... Will see...

 

[mysnakesau]

It probably isn't too much. There is no real true answer. But olives are always going to make you think they are hungry. They have endless appetites so you could easily overfeed them if you give in to them .. like I do. hehe ... I feed mine, they settle for a few days then they come back out and nose up and down the front of their enclosure. I know they want feeding but I would have obese snakes if I fed them every time they did that. Perhaps you could feed them 1 large rat each week, but really 1 a fortnight is fine, its just the snake that disagrees. It is more than he'd get if he was a wild boy as they don't have XL rats jumping into their mouth on a regular basis.

 

[seumas12345]

How long after you feed him is he defacating (taking a crap)?

 

[mysnakesau]

Mine will crap after a few days, week but that isn't the rat they just ate, coming out. It would be a meal they had weeks before. Some ppl think that snakes eat and then crap a couple days later, they are empty but that isn't the case at all. I was told by a reptuble source that the new feed going down helps push the digestion along which is why you would see them poop within the week after a feed.

 

[RELLIK81]

How long after you feed him is he defacating (taking a crap)?

not realy sure....no longer than a week.....
i havent really timed him but id say no longer than a week.....

 

[seumas12345]

Ahh fair enough.. It would be interesting to test that theory because I know when my girl defacates she doesn't crap again... I've had times where she'll feed, crap a week later and stop eating for a few weeks as she's due for a shed, and in those 3-4 weeks she doesn't crap again.
I can see the logic in what you're saying though.

 

[seumas12345]

I guess overall i'd say you've got three options...
Stick with the extra large rat every 2 weeks
Change to one large rat every week
Try bumping him up to a medium rabbit and that should last him 3-4weeks

For most people it is more just a matter of what is convinient and cost efficient, however, what you are doing is perfectly good and healthy.

 

[becca]

We feed ours chickens

 

[RELLIK81]

does anyone know where i can get medium rabbits in SA

 

[seumas12345]

We feed ours chickens

Hehe I've seen that on an animal show once where there was a giant olive in a chicken pen with a big gut full of chickens. Haha I reckon just throw your olive in the chicken pen when he's hungry and he'll sort out the rest :lol::lol::lol:

 

[batcho101]

i just recently got my first olive and she has already eaten 3 day old quails in a week and hasnt put a bump in her mind u she is only a month or so old...also this isnt to do with olives but thought it might be a good comparison for size of snake compared to meal size- my 6.7 foot coastal gets one large rat a week and is still growing very nicely and is showing no signs of getting fat.
I'd suggest 1 large rat a week or decent size chook or rabbit a fortnight/month. i have read on here on a couple of occasions that large rats are better then xl due to less fat content

 

[Already_Gone]

My olive would probably feed 3x a week if there was food on offer. She is about 8 1/2 feet and Im giving her a try on a white fluffy bunny... I fed her a 600g rattie just over a week ago, so i will give it a crack next weekend. The rabbit cost $20 and atm a rat a week is about $12... so its about 1/2 the cost because I;ll only feed once a month. Sometimes I throw her the odd chicken to.... true olive spirit... as long as you can swallow it, its fair game.

 

[Already_Gone]

i just recently got my first olive and she has already eaten 3 day old quails in a week and hasnt put a bump in her mind u she is only a month or so old...also this isnt to do with olives but thought it might be a good comparison for size of snake compared to meal size- my 6.7 foot coastal gets one large rat a week and is still growing very nicely and is showing no signs of getting fat.
I'd suggest 1 large rat a week or decent size chook or rabbit a fortnight/month. i have read on here on a couple of occasions that large rats are better then xl due to less fat content

I think i had mine on adult mice at that age... but she had started on mice from the word go

 

[batcho101]

I think i had mine on adult mice at that age... but she had started on mice from the word go

yeh she is on velvet rats now. was just tor the first feed cause my rats dont want to co-operate in this heat

 

[wokka]

Any feeding regime depends on what you are trying to achieve. My observation is that a fortnightly feed of about 5% of the snakes bodyweight will maintain the animal and any food beyound that tranfers to growing the animal. A 6-7 foot Olive probably weighs about 4 kilos and so needs about a 200 gram food item each fortnight for maintenance.
I have 6-7 foot animals eating around 1 kilo a week which are gaining around 1 kilo in bodyweight per month. Obviously my aim here is to grow the animal.
My adult males eat about 400 grams a fortnight which maintains them at around 7-kg; whilst females are now being on an increasing feeding regime ready for breeding of around 500 grams each week which should get them from their current 6-8 kg to say 7-10 kg

 

[olivehydra]

Any feeding regime depends on what you are trying to achieve. My observation is that a fortnightly feed of about 5% of the snakes bodyweight will maintain the animal and any food beyound that tranfers to growing the animal. A 6-7 foot Olive probably weighs about 4 kilos and so needs about a 200 gram food item each fortnight for maintenance.
I have 6-7 foot animals eating around 1 kilo a week which are gaining around 1 kilo in bodyweight per month. Obviously my aim here is to grow the animal.
My adult males eat about 400 grams a fortnight which maintains them at around 7-kg; whilst females are now being on an increasing feeding regime ready for breeding of around 500 grams each week which should get them from their current 6-8 kg to say 7-10 kg

my sample size is way smaller than yours Warwick, but for what its worth i've found 3% of the snakes bodyweight in food per month maintains a 14kg olive (about 10 years in age). Perhaps the maintenance level drops with age? However agressive feeding response increases exponentially

Cheers,
Dorian

 

[wokka]

my sample size is way smaller than yours Warwick, but for what its worth i've found 3% of the snakes bodyweight in food per month maintains a 14kg olive (about 10 years in age). Perhaps the maintenance level drops with age? However agressive feeding response increases exponentially

Cheers,
Dorian

I think your probably right. Most of my animals are only 5-6 years old and so still growing a bit. I know at 53 year of age I turn food to fat a lot quicker than I did at 18!

 

[pythons73]

So basically it all depends on what you have planned for the animal.If you plan on breeding,obviously the feeds are bigger per fortnight,or if you just have a display animal or pet,a 5% feed every fortnight would be sufficent.Is that the way i read it,

 

[wokka]

So basically it all depends on what you have planned for the animal.If you plan on breeding,obviously the feeds are bigger per fortnight,or if you just have a display animal or pet,a 5% feed every fortnight would be sufficent.Is that the way i read it,

Take into account age and sex and thats pretty right,