Is it bad to feed multiple smaller item

[emmadiamond]

Instead of one bigger item?
Only asking because sometimes one of my snakes get fussy and will only eat mice, but would need to eat 3-4 mice to make it a substantial meal. But I read somewhere that feeding multiple items at once wasn't good for them.

 

[Monitor_Keeper]

I do not delve much into dietary conditioning of snakes but I am sure heath wise it couldn't be bad ( damaging ) to the snake ( someone please correct me if i am wrong ). I also remember watching an experiment on snakebytes t.v about feeding corn snakes different volumes / quantity of food and from memory the snake with the one large item grew much larger then the snake with quantity.

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I do not delve much into dietary conditioning of snakes but I am sure heath wise it couldn't be bad ( damaging ) to the snake ( someone please correct me if i am wrong ). I also remember watching an experiment on snakebytes t.v about feeding corn snakes different volumes / quantity of food and from memory the snake with the one large item grew much larger then the snake with quantity.

 

[Bananapeel]

I'm afraid I can't help you much there but with BHPs and womas in particular, feeding to large of a rodent too often can cause fatty liver disease so it's often recommended that rats over 250g not be fed but instead you would have to use 2 or more smaller rodents.

 

[serpenttongue]

There's no problem with it. In fact it is good to do in cooler weather/ lower temps because the smaller items digest easier and quicker than one large meal. Large meals tend to take time to digest.

However, if you are trying to achieve rapid growth with your snake, then single large meals will promote this.

 

[emmadiamond]

Thanks for your replies everyone very helpful.

 

[disintegratus]

Not sure, but I'm out of rats at the moment but have a freezer full of day old chicks. Last meal, my big coastal got 5 of them, and my 2yo Olive got 5. Haven't noticed any ill-effects at all.

 

[rvcasa]

...However, if you are trying to achieve rapid growth with your snake, then single large meals will promote this.

Although I'm not arguing with that, my Woma jumped in sizes very, very quick when I was double feeding.
(I run out of food and I could only access small feed items)

In fact it had shed 3 times in shorter times it had 1 single time in past!

As soon normal feed sizes went back to normal, jump growth and shedding slow down.



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Skelhorn]

During summer try bigger feeds, bigger feeds have more nutritional value than smaller...eg 2 fuzzie rats or a small adult!
Does hurt to up the food size. A snake won't take it if it can't! Also try scenting other food items with mice (trick it). Worth a try.

 

[Jungletrans]

We have a very nice black and gold Palmerston Jungle that will ONLY eat mice . She is 5 years old now and very solid but refuses anything but mice [ 10 at a time ] Annoying but not harmful .

 

[PistolPython]

I heard feeding my children's python lots of small mice. Instead of one big meal gives the snake a pin head. They need large food to help the head stretch and grow. It might be different for other snakes.

 

[bigjoediver]

I heard feeding my children's python lots of small mice. Instead of one big meal gives the snake a pin head. They need large food to help the head stretch and grow. It might be different for other snakes.

Think that's more of a problem with power feeding. The body grows fasted than the brain maybe?