Small headed pythons

[Fuscus]

One of the things I have noticed with captive carpet pythons is that they tend to have smaller heads than their wild breathen of the same length and some individuals have very small heads.
Now, is this related to feeding, if a snake has a lot to eat its body bulks up but the head grows at a fixed rate ? If so then does the head size catch up?
I'm asking this because I have a very greedy yearling snake and are worried about the consiquences of over feeding.

 

[Greebo]

That's exactly what happens.
It is unclear yet as to whether over/power/speed feeding (whateva you want to call it) is detrimental to a snakes health in the long run.There is simply not enough research done yet.
Personally I reckon it cant be good for them.However, I feed my younger snakes more for the first couple of years then gradually feed them less as they get older.

 

[Fangs]

Here we go again.I would like a dollar for everytime I have seen this question asked around the forums.
Everytime it comes up people say its true.Of all the pictures of captive bred snakes I have seen I have yet to see one with a head disproportionatley smaller than its body.Seen plenty of pics of fats snakes however but there is a difference between a fat snake and one with a small head.
If anyone has a pic of a snake with head out of proportion to its body could you please
share it with us please?

 

[Greebo]

er...I was actually agreeing with Fuscus about wild snakes having bigger heads than a lot of captive bred snakes. I wouldn't say that the heads are disproportionately smaller...just smaller.
I can share some pics of wild snakes if you like?

 

[Fangs]

yeah greebs stick em up in the gallery.....especially snakes with small heads(not on small bodies)

 

[NCHERPS]

I agree with Greebo's comments, and would like to add a bit.

The condition you describe is commonly called 'Pinhead' syndrome, a name that has come about through Herpers rather than scientist's, but a Vet in the UK who specialisted in Reptiles, said that he had come across some very large adult python's that had 'Pinhead' and that they did suffer complications ranging from obesity, to heart conditions.

You have noted yourself the clear difference in head sizes between wild snakes and some captive ones, i think that it is just a fact that unless we fed our snakes very infrequently, and more like the wild population, we won't ever solve the problem.

Having said that, probably 90% of captive snakes, are probably physically in good shape head wise, and as you have noted every now and then you get one you think, hold on, his body is getting a bit big for his head, I better slow down his feeds for a while.

Neil

 

[NoOne]

It takes a considerable amount of feeding to get the pinhead effect.
I've only seen a few snakes that have had out of proportion heads, they were adult pythons that were fed like juvis, they still didn't look unheathly.

 

[Fangs]

No what I was saying is that captive bred animals are overfed in comparison to wild(some moreso than others).
A fat snake will look like it has a smaller head than an wild animal of the same length that hasn't been fed so well.

 

[Artie]

I came across an article that may be of interest on this subject. Following is some of it:
Studies of wild snakes have revealed, that temperate-zone snakes generally consume two to four times their body weight in food per year.
Inactive species, closer to the bottom end, and very active species were expected to have requirements closure to the upper end.
Using this as a guideline and considering that most captive snakes get little exercise in captivity the average half kilo snake would require approx. one kilo of mice per year. So on an average weight of 50 grams per mouse, that would be 20 mice.

Assuming an eight month period of activity and feeding, and four months of hibernation (brumation) that means approx.one mouse every two weeks to maintain a one kilo snake. This is only an approximate guide and does not take into account a reproductive snake or extra growth. Generally it is believed that these levels are far exceeded by most snake keepers, obesity is commonly the result especially after the snake?s reproduction stops if the intense feeding regime continues.

Males seem to be much more prone to obesity than egg laying females suggesting that energy requirements for females may be higher than for males.

 

[+Gecko~Gaze+]

I was told that it's the size of the prey Item. Snakes need to stretch their mouths to get around their prey ( i know they dislocate their jaw aswell ) But I mean think about it. A captive bred snake is mostly feed on mice and rats all its life, where a wild snake would eat what they can get like larger snakes might go for possums ect, ( and the occassional cat )
Anyways, I am not saying that theory is right, but just another way of looking at it I guess.

Cheers

 

[ReptileRascals]

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[Pinkie]

Sprung!

 

[+Gecko~Gaze+]

Bugger...How did you know?

 

[Brodie]

HAHAHAHA

 

[Alexahnder]

HAHAHAHA -LOL

 

[ReptileRascals]

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[+Gecko~Gaze+]

If you are wondering why...i realised how much of a pain in the @$$ I was and wanted to start over, but I knew if I used my Old account no -one would give me another chance. And now that you've found out you probably not gonna give me another chance anyway?

 

[+Gecko~Gaze+]

Yeah well I guess so RR. I am new to this whole herp thing and dont know much, so being so vunrable I guess you'll believe anything...

 

[ReptileRascals]

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[Alexahnder]

Anyway welcome back. Has you intergrade or hybrid started feeding??