feeding olives

[TrueBlue]

I tend to feed my adult olives a lot less often than most people but they breed every time i want them to.
Females get fed around every 3-6 weeks with 2-4 rats as a feed. Males get fed to keep in condition, around every 4-8 weeks.
I dont like the idea of feeding weekly at all, even regular fortnightly feeds is too much/often imo.
I like all my animals, not just olives, to have a fed, wait untill it has ALL been passed, give them 1 - 4 weeks with a completely empty tract, then feed again. This will also make sure that they get plenty of exersize rather than sitting around all the time digesting food.
When fed to often they always have food, half digested food and poo in them, which i think is a bad thing and a recipe for disaster in alot of cases. Pythons need time, and quite a bit of time, with any empty tract. This is how they have evolved to live.
People tend to treat them like mamals, they are nothing like mamals.

 

[cockney red]

I tend to feed my adult olives a lot less often than most people but they breed every time i want them to.
Females get fed around every 3-6 weeks with 2-4 rats as a feed. Males get fed to keep in condition, around every 4-8 weeks.
I dont like the idea of feeding weekly at all, even regular fortnightly feeds is too much/often imo.
I like all my animals, not just olives, to have a fed, wait untill it has ALL been passed, give them 1 - 4 weeks with a completely empty tract, then feed again. This will also make sure that they get plenty of exersize rather than sitting around all the time digesting food.
When fed to often they always have food, half digested food and poo in them, which i think is a bad thing and a recipe for disaster in alot of cases. Pythons need time, and quite a bit of time, with any empty tract. This is how they have evolved to live.
People tend to treat them like mamals, they are nothing like mamals.

Makes complete sense to me TB. Out of interest, what sort of feeding regime do you employ in all ages up to adult.
Cheers
Lee.

 

[TrueBlue]

cockney red,-
Hatchlings as a rule get fed once a fortnight at the most, sometimes up to 3-4 weeks, (none of this every 3-5 days rubbish). As they get a bit bigger they get 2-3 prey items. I like to grow pythons slowly for the first 12 to 18 months, to let their organs etc develop propally.
Then i feed them as ive said above, ie,- a good feed of 2-4 items depending on the animal and species, (its always better to feed them a few small, comfortable to eat items than one large hard to eat item.
Wether they are hatchlings or adults i always let them pass all food completely and give them time with an empty tract before they are fed again. As said this varies from a few days to a few weeks depending on the time of year, ie females just before and during mating get fed a bit more regular than normal but i still always wait untill ALL food has passed and give them at least a few days with an empty tract before another feed. I do this with all python species that i keep and have kept.

 

[cockney red]

I find this very interesting mate. I, myself never feed before they have exited their " last " feed. With this reverse power feeding regime, are your animals reaching average sizes, and in what sort of time frame.

 

[TrueBlue]

As long as i have enough food on hand everything breeds at 3 yrs. (mated at 2 1/2yrs with eggs hatching at 3yrs).
Yeah they all reach average and above average sizes. Ive got olives that are well over 10 feet, ive got bredli at least 9-10 feet.
No fat snakes thou. hahaha.

 

[mysnakesau]

Thank you for sharing your secrets TrueBlue. I have been told I need to back off the feeding of my olives but have been torn between satisfying their hungry restlessness or leave them be. I only feed my male fortnightly on an adult guinea pig, my female weekly on same size food. When I feed them they settle for a few days but then they are back up and spend much of their time pacing their doors. Throw a feed in they settle again. So after this week's feeding it is time to back off and perhaps take the restless noses outside for a wander might be a better idea than giving in to their mouth all the time. I want to try breed mine this year so better start practicing the advice I am getting.

Can I please just ask you, though my female is 2.6m and weighs 4.5Kg. My male is a bit shorter (only because he is missing his tail) but weighs a little more. would you say these weights within the healthy range for breeding, or overweight or need more?

 

[cockney red]

As long as i have enough food on hand everything breeds at 3 yrs. (mated at 2 1/2yrs with eggs hatching at 3yrs).
Yeah they all reach average and above average sizes. Ive got olives that are well over 10 feet, ive got bredli at least 9-10 feet.
No fat snakes thou. hahaha.

Cheers mate, anti skarf and anti thermo, both are starting to seep into my melon.

 

[cockney red]

Thank you for sharing your secrets TrueBlue. I have been told I need to back off the feeding of my olives but have been torn between satisfying their hungry restlessness or leave them be. I only feed my male fortnightly on an adult guinea pig, my female weekly on same size food. When I feed them they settle for a few days but then they are back up and spend much of their time pacing their doors. Throw a feed in they settle again. So after this week's feeding it is time to back off and perhaps take the restless noses outside for a wander might be a better idea than giving in to their mouth all the time. I want to try breed mine this year so better start practicing the advice I am getting.

Can I please just ask you, though my female is 2.6m and weighs 4.5Kg. My male is a bit shorter (only because he is missing his tail) but weighs a little more. would you say these weights within the healthy range for breeding, or overweight or need more?

Kath, thats the problem with the big uns, once they've digested, they're on the lookout. My big Diamond girl is manic after about a week of a big feed, and she has to wait at week or two. She's a nightmare.:|

 

[TrueBlue]

mysnakesau,-
I never weight my snakes so i cant really answer that propally. Your female is certainly big enough thou. Female olives start breeding around the 7 foot mark. As long as she has good condition, (not fat, you dont what to see those horribly oblvious crease marks running down their body like a lot of captive olives have), there should not be a problem.
Feeding them weekly or fortnightly is not a good idea imo, as they never have an empty tract, instead they always have food, half digested food and poo in their system. Not a good idea and can lead to what i call metabolic burn out. Let them roam around their tanks, its good for them, gives them plenty of exersize and keeps them healthy. Feed them every few weeks rather than every few days just give them 2-4 items per feed. Olives are not really aboral pythons and are far more active than boring old morelia etc.

cockney red,-
Ah another converted to the dark side. Good to see. Your animals will love you for it.

 

[Nagraj]

This is how they have evolved to live.

How do you know this?

 

[TrueBlue]

Huh, because its obvious. What other animal can comfortably live on one or two meals a year and remain healthy.????????
Every study that has been done on the stomach contents of wild pythons that ive read, only around 3-5 percent of animals tested had ANY TRACE of food in them what so ever. So as a rule its not a few days between feeds, but a few weeks/months between feeds.