When to feed a snake?

[Reptilez123]

So last Wednesday I fed my snake which was his first feed of me having him/her and im just wondering should i feed him/her this Wednesday or wait till he/she defecates his previous feed ?

 

[thomasbecker]

How old is it?

 

[Reptilez123]

its a yearling

How old is it?

 

[hrafna]

feed it this wed. sometimes they will not poop, sometimes they will poop, they don't tend to live on a time schedule (although mine seem to know if it is a thurs night and it is feeding time.)

 

[Wrightpython]

Feed them every three days at that age

 

[intoxicated88]

mine is a sub adult. i feed her once a week same day same time every time

 

[Wrightpython]

I don't think my snakes have a calendar so they don't know if its Monday or Thursday and as there deaf even when I tell them it's Wednesday they don't quite get it, feed young snakes every three days until adult size, young is under three years.

 

[BIGBANG]

i feed my yearling diamond every 5 days

 

[Chanzey]

Feed them every three days at that age

I don't think my snakes have a calendar so they don't know if its Monday or Thursday and as there deaf even when I tell them it's Wednesday they don't quite get it, feed young snakes every three days until adult size, young is under three years.

[/QUOTE]

This is the first time I've heard this, seems a little excessive?...

 

[hrafna]

I don't think my snakes have a calendar so they don't know if its Monday or Thursday and as there deaf even when I tell them it's Wednesday they don't quite get it, feed young snakes every three days until adult size, young is under three years.

This is the first time I've heard this, seems a little excessive?...[/QUOTE]

powerfeeding for breeding maybe?
doesn't feeding too much too soon eventually lead to certain growth defects? such as smaller skulls etc etc.

 

[blakehose]

There's absolutely no need to feed them every 3 days. You'll just end up with an overweight snake and an excessive food bill.

 

[thomasbecker]

once every week is what most people seem to use.

 

[Cold-B-Hearts]

i feed hatchy about every 3-4 days yearlings once a week (twice if power feeding) and adults once ever 2 weeks- 1 month.
find something that suits you theres not right or wrong time as snakes are opportunistic ambush predators. hence a snake might come across 2 rats in 1 week in the wild and not see any for another 6 months and still be perfectly healthy

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i feed hatchy about every 3-4 days yearlings once a week (twice if power feeding) and adults once ever 2 weeks- 1 month.
find something that suits you theres not right or wrong time as snakes are opportunistic ambush predators. hence a snake might come across 2 rats in 1 week in the wild and not see any for another 6 months and still be perfectly healthy

 

[thomasssss]

Feed them every three days at that age

really ? we dont eve know what species it is yet , for all we know it could be a woma in which case that is kinda bad advice depending on the food type and size it could lead to very well in result in fatty liver , yes i know that is more of a problem with older snakes on fattier rodents but from reading the article on sxr website it kinda appears it could also be a result from power feeding when young and growing them to quick

 

[Venomous_RBB]

i feed hatchy about every 3-4 days yearlings once a week (twice if power feeding) and adults once ever 2 weeks- 1 month.
find something that suits you theres not right or wrong time as snakes are opportunistic ambush predators. hence a snake might come across 2 rats in 1 week in the wild and not see any for another 6 months and still be perfectly healthy

That's what I do with my snakes, as I have a Hatchy, a Yearling and an Adult.
My Hatchy Bredli gets fed every 3 days, sometimes 4 days, depending on if she is hungry.
My Yearling BHP gets a feed every week, sometimes 3 times in 2 weeks, it depends again on if she is hungry.
My Adult Spotted gets fed every 2 weeks, through winter she got fed every month as she was in partial brumation.

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really ? we dont eve know what species it is yet , for all we know it could be a woma in which case that is kinda bad advice depending on the food type and size it could lead to very well in result in fatty liver , yes i know that is more of a problem with older snakes on fattier rodents but from reading the article on sxr website it kinda appears it could also be a result from power feeding when young and growing them to quick

I agree, it's the same if it was a BHP as well, as they also get fatty liver, as you would know.
But yeah most likely once a week, what species is it by the way?

 

[Snowman]

Feed them every three days at that age

Worst advice I've seen on APS in ages.

Weekly is fine.

 

[notechistiger]

You guys feed your pythons a lot of food for something that doesn't need it haha. My hatchlings get fed once a week-ish, yearlings once every 1-2 week and adults every 4-5 weeks depending on the season (of course none of them are fed like clockwork). My adult males don't get fed for any of the cooler months because they have better things on their mind.

a snake might come across 2 rats in 1 week in the wild and not see any for another 6 months and still be perfectly healthy

Exactly this.

Also their defecation has no relevance to whether or not they're hungry or able to be fed and so forth. Feed them regardless if they poop or not that week

 

[Venomous_RBB]

You guys feed your pythons a lot of food for something that doesn't need it haha. My hatchlings get fed once a week-ish, yearlings once every 1-2 week and adults every 4-5 weeks depending on the season (of course none of them are fed like clockwork). My adult males don't get fed for any of the cooler months because they have better things on their mind.



Exactly this.

Also their defecation has no relevance to whether or not they're hungry or able to be fed and so forth. Feed them regardless if they poop or not that week

I can understand why you do what you do, but unfortunately I cant do that with my snakes, all three are handled everyday, if they are not fed then my Spotted (adult) especially gets fiesty and starts looking at my hand like food. I handle my guys alot so it is good enrichment for them, I dont have a time schedule, they fed when they are hungry, all three snakes have a way of telling me they are hungry. I am just letting you know why I dont do what you do but I get your point.

 

[CaptainRatbag]

I feed my 10month old MDP every 7-10 days and the adults every 10-14 days. They tell me when they are hungry :shock: If they are not hungry, they hang out in thier hides or on a branch and totally ignore me, usually after a week, they always watch what I am doing and where I am going...... when they are due for a feed, they are 'hunting' on branches in strike position.... eyes like dinner plates :shock: and you feel like you are getting little laser beam burns from thier eyes :lol:

Make sure the feed is about 15-20% of the snakes body weight

Hungry?.......................................Not hungry? :lol: Can read my lot like books

 

[Bluetongue1]

Interesting!

The amount of food a snake gets is a product of HOW MUCH times HOW OFTEN.
The question of how much seems to have been overlooked.

Using food items in the range of 10% to 20% of the snake’s body weight is considered quite adequate by most experienced keepers. Those who feed to refusal will be averaging around 30% per feed.

Using food items of 20% size, weekly feeds for the first year or so stretching out to fortnightly feeds thereafter is considered more than adequate. So more frequent feeding of smaller food items could well be equivalent.

Consistently feeding above he previous amount, such as feeding to refusal and shortening the interval between feeds can accelerate the growth rate and decrease the time taken to reach sexual maturity in young snakes. They will breed earlier but anecdotal evidence from reliable keepers who have done this and had others on ‘normal’ feeding regimes is that their reproductive years of those powerfed are reduced and their overall life span is significantly reduced.


Anywhere between 4 days and 4 weeks can be a normal time span for a snake to void the wastes from a given meal. The usual is about one to two weeks. It depends upon a number of differing factors.


An interesting comment was made about snakes in nature… that they are opportunistic feeders. My question is why are they opportunistic feeders? The reason is that their feeding opportunities are irregular and often infrequent (as was mentioned). So if you want to use nature as a guide, you should be feeding them much less often and maybe even irregularly, not stuffing food down their throats so long as will take it. Opportunistic does NOT equate to frequent.

Blue