over feeding snakes

[spoonman]

Just wondering what other peoples opinions are on feeding up snakes to make them grow quicker.
I have 2 young bredli's and the boy is bit larger than the girl. Was thinking about just catching her up to him and then backing off the food. Have heard a few different things about it though.

 

[bouncn]

I feel that it's cruel. Puts strain on their digestive system for no reason and overfed snakes seem to have small heads.

they look gross and unnatural i think

 

[hugsta]

This is a well discussed topic, you should search APSs data base.

what do you consider over feeding bouncn?

Cheers
Daz

 

[bouncn]

any more than once a week, or perhaps letting them go hungry during shed and trying to play catch up with more or bigger food...

I'm no expert but I just don't like the idea of 'fattening' them up.

 

[cris]

Feeding them more over a short period shouldnt hurt while they are growing or before breeding etc. Long term overfeeding will most likely kill your snake eventually.

 

[Khagan]

I dont see the point in 'catching it up in size' =\ its not like the snake is malnourished thats causing its smaller size, being smaller than your male wont make any difference will it?

 

[bouncn]

my point being that you can easily fall into that habit of regular over feeding.

 

[0_missy_0]

Is every 5 days ok?

 

[bouncn]

i do poo feeding or whatever they call it.

feed day or 2 after poo and never have probs

 

[bouncn]

dont forget they say that some pythons can go 16 weeks without food before showing signs of under nourishment.

not that i'd ever leave it that long

 

[cris]

Never ever feed your snake 2 days in a row or god will kill a kitten.

 

[bouncn]

i heard that a fairie dies...

 

[mr_muesli]

I feed my 8 month spotted two fuzzies every 10 days...Is this ok???, or is it considered overfeeding???

 

[JasonL]

Never ever feed your snake 2 days in a row or god will kill a kitten.

Really? Wow, I've kept him buisy, and to good use as well!

 

[Magpie]

Skaarf the crows, is it that easy to get rid of cats?
I almost always feed my pythons in bursts of heavy feeding, then back off for a while.

 

[Scleropages]

Skaarf the crows, is it that easy to get rid of cats?
I almost always feed my pythons in bursts of heavy feeding, then back off for a while.

Fairie killer!:shock:

 

[Colin]

very hard to say what is overfeeding as it depends on the age and size of your snake and the size of the food item that your feeding.


Snakes are opportunistic feeders in the wild and can gorge themselves when food is available and then go for long periods without feeding. What I tend to do is feed enough so that the snake sheds approximately every 6 -8 weeks, so if its shedding quicker than that, slow down the frequency and/or size of the food item or if its taking a fair bit longer than 6-8 weeks to shed, increase the frequency (slightly) and/or the size of the food items. After a while you seem to just 'get the hang of it' and feed individual snakes accordingly, rather than feeding all on a set day and with same size food item.


But you should keep an eye on obesity and maybe miss out on a feed here or there to keep them growing well but trim. Breeding females need to be a good size but not overweight and breeding males (imo) always do a bit better if slim and trim (but not underweight)


Its a difficult subject and (imo) each snake should be assessed individually for their requirements as some seem to grow quicker than others, even when from the same parents and same clutch.

 

[Pythoninfinite]

As Magpie suggests - they probably go through boom & bust periods in the wild, as food availability and weather permits, so it's not a bad idea to simulate that in captivity. Most snakes are probably fed far more frequently in captivity than they ever would in the bush. I feed my youngsters at least once a week, and the adults might sometimes go for 6-7 weeks between (large) meals on some occasions.

For the first year or two it's not a bad idea to feed every 5-6 days to get some size on them, but overfeeding sub-adult and adult snakes is not a good thing. Having said that I wouldn't subscribe to the regime of feeding only after a poo, some snakes are very irregular in that regard (it seems to be an individual thing, as it is in humans!) and it is quite an unnatural approach. It certainly doesn't do them any harm to eat before a defecation, and a snake in the bush will eat where and whenever it can - it won't think to itself "I can't eat that now rat because I'm not going to crap till next week..."

Jamie.

 

[hazzard]

Skaarf up!

There is very minimal scientific evidence available to support any method of feeding. The debate about wild feeding rates is bound to come into this. The fact of the matter is wild feeding can be just as erratic, and if food were regularly available, they eat it (eg water pythons at fogg damn, they skaarf themselves).

It is interesting to actually see what happens when a snake is fed to it's absolute limit (feeding to refusal). In captivity it's hard to overfeed hatchlings because of their potential growth rate and the constant temperature that is maintained. As they reach sub-adult size which can easily be achieved by 9 -12 months they begin to refuse food on their own and regulate their own intake (in childrens pythons anyway).

There are a few scientific studies going on a present that could aid in shedding some light on this subject.

My personal opinion is that you can go fairly hard (skaarf) from hatchlings to sub-adult hood. Poo cycle is fine, which is every 5 days for mine. Once at this sub-adult stage food can be backed off to fornightly or even monthly with small lean rodents. The quantity is not as important as quality (IMO). Fat rats make fat snakes).

Many breeders have succesfully bred pythons such as womas at 15 months of age and these pythons are still alive today.

Fatter liver disease isn't from regular feeding of lean rodents it's caused from regular feeding of high fat meals just as it is in humans!

 

[shamous1]

Feeds

I feed most of mine every 7 to 10 days. Sometimes I will vary it and offer a bit more than usual and then I will let the go without for 3 weeks.

In the wild you can bet they line up at the tuck shop to get a feed on time every time.