almaron
Well-Known Member
Ok, all you new olive owners out there. I got some info you might like to know. Back in mid December I acquired a really neat scale. I have been meticulously keeping track of my snakes weights, and just as important, exact numbers on how much they eat. Here are the stats:
Male olive:
hatched on 7/28/02
test period 12/16/02 to 2/28/03 (about 10.5 weeks)
Start weight - 191g
Mice intake - 131g (7 mice)
Rat intake - 453g (10 rats)
Total food intake - 584g
End weight - 450g
Total weight gain - 259g
Female olive:
hatched on 7/29/02
test period 12/16/02 to 2/28/03 (about 10.5 weeks)
Start weight - 199g
Mice intake - 379g (17 mice)
Rat intake - 55g (1 rat)
Total food intake - 434g
End weight - 383g
Total weight gain - 184g
From all this, we can figure out the cool stat. How much of their food did they convert to their own body weight.
Well, for the male, he took in 584g and gained 259g, so he converted 44.3% of the rodents he ate into body mass. The female took in 434g and gained 184g, so she converted 42.4%. Pretty close as you can see.
The amount of rats vs mice wasn't intentional, but it did show something I had been wondering about. I have heard a few places, that rat fed snakes grow faster than mice fed ones. This doesn't seem to be the case for my two snakes. Even though the male did gain more weight, it appears to be because he ate more, not because of what he ate. The growth rate was fairly proportional. Only 1.9% difference. I would also note that both were fed about once every 6 to 10 days. They were fed on the same days, except during shed, and both were offered as much as they wanted in one sitting. The difference in end weights is due to the fact that almost everytime, the female ate less than the male.
Hope you all find this as interesting as I do. It's neat, to me anyway, to know that if I give them a 30g mouse, they're going to gain about 13g. Well at least it's something to give me a rough idea. I'm sure that as they grow, that ratio will probably drop. I also know that 10 weeks ain't all that long of a test period. I'm dying to know what it'll be like at the end of a year. I'm also keeping track of my ball pythons, but didn't figure it was relevant to any of you guys. Anyway, hope you like.
Male olive:
hatched on 7/28/02
test period 12/16/02 to 2/28/03 (about 10.5 weeks)
Start weight - 191g
Mice intake - 131g (7 mice)
Rat intake - 453g (10 rats)
Total food intake - 584g
End weight - 450g
Total weight gain - 259g
Female olive:
hatched on 7/29/02
test period 12/16/02 to 2/28/03 (about 10.5 weeks)
Start weight - 199g
Mice intake - 379g (17 mice)
Rat intake - 55g (1 rat)
Total food intake - 434g
End weight - 383g
Total weight gain - 184g
From all this, we can figure out the cool stat. How much of their food did they convert to their own body weight.
Well, for the male, he took in 584g and gained 259g, so he converted 44.3% of the rodents he ate into body mass. The female took in 434g and gained 184g, so she converted 42.4%. Pretty close as you can see.
The amount of rats vs mice wasn't intentional, but it did show something I had been wondering about. I have heard a few places, that rat fed snakes grow faster than mice fed ones. This doesn't seem to be the case for my two snakes. Even though the male did gain more weight, it appears to be because he ate more, not because of what he ate. The growth rate was fairly proportional. Only 1.9% difference. I would also note that both were fed about once every 6 to 10 days. They were fed on the same days, except during shed, and both were offered as much as they wanted in one sitting. The difference in end weights is due to the fact that almost everytime, the female ate less than the male.
Hope you all find this as interesting as I do. It's neat, to me anyway, to know that if I give them a 30g mouse, they're going to gain about 13g. Well at least it's something to give me a rough idea. I'm sure that as they grow, that ratio will probably drop. I also know that 10 weeks ain't all that long of a test period. I'm dying to know what it'll be like at the end of a year. I'm also keeping track of my ball pythons, but didn't figure it was relevant to any of you guys. Anyway, hope you like.
