if i give my snake to big of a feed will it die?

[SxcAy]

The title says it all.

 

[Jacknife]

short answer yes, but there are 1000 extenuating circumstances that will lead to death from too large a meal also...

 

[Darlyn]

If you don't have a good understanding of feeding requirements, tell us size, age feeding regime etc. If you just want to give it a huge meal for fun, there is a recent thread where an animal died from 1 feed that was to large.

 

[TheChondroCharm]

If you don't have a good understanding of feeding requirements, tell us size, age feeding regime etc. If you just want to give it a huge meal for fun, there is a recent thread where an animal died from 1 feed that was to large.

thats true. the woma was fed an over-sized rat and it appeared to pierce its stomach.

snakes wont take a meal thats too large though. they know what they can and cant fit inside them. having said that they are opportunistic feeders and will take what you give them most of the time.

 

[Bluetongue1]

I cannot agree with the first answer. There numerous images taken in the wild of pythons eating huge items. Scrub pythons and large Olives eating wallabies, for example. Another that comes to mind is a Black-head Python taking five hours to consume a Yellow-spotted monitor. So long the snake can maintain sufficient temperature to enable digestion, it will survive and benefit from such a meal. However, the associated risk is two-fold. Lack of heat access can see the contents of the stomach rot to the point where bacterial toxins are high enough to do the animal harm. Having a large meal on board considerably slows down an animal and make it more vulnerable to its natural predators.

The term already used is that snakes are opportunistic feeders. Unfortunately, this is very often misunderstood and misapplied. To make it clear what this means and entails, let’s look at another species which are opportunistic feeders – fish.

Those animals which have an available on-going food source, be it nectar from flowers or sap from trees etc, eat regularly but only eat what they require to see them through that day. They know the same food source will be available the following day. So they eat daily and take in only what they require.

Other animals search daily for a food supply but often do not locate something to eat. So there extended periods when they have to go without food. When they do stumble upon a food source, they take the opportunity to eat as much as they can while there is food available. Such periods of indulgence are brought about by the intervening period of lack of food availability. This can be seen in the behaviour of fish. Fish soon learn to associate human presence with feeding. So whenever they see a human in front of their tank, they behave are ready to eat, reacting opportunistically to the potential of food. If you fed fish every time they behaved hungry, it would be a short matter of time before they would start dying as a result of glutting themselves.

It is up to as keepers to feed our animals an appropriate amount over time. 5% to 20% per week for about the first 12 months, followed by 10% to 20% per for fortnight thereafter and reducing that a little at they reach full size. So if you wack in a meal that makes your python expanded to three times it normal diameter, then keep up the heat and skip the appropriate number of feeds before you feed it again.

I hope that answers your question.

Blue

 

[thomasssss]

If you fed fish every time they behaved hungry, it would be a short matter of time before they would start dying as a result of glutting themselves.
e

i can vouch for that , ive seen brim (sp) eat themselves to death a few times when caught in fishing nets with prawns , we gutted one and the fresh prawns went all the way from the stomach right up into the back of their mouths /gill area

 

[SxcAy]

Thanks for the great answers everyone and a special thanks to blue tongue whom gave me a great explanation of feeding.

 

[Jacknife]

short answer yes, but there are 1000 extenuating circumstances that will lead to death from too large a meal also...

I cannot agree with the first answer. There numerous images taken in the wild of pythons eating huge items. Scrub pythons and large Olives eating wallabies, for example. Another that comes to mind is a Black-head Python taking five hours to consume a Yellow-spotted monitor. So long the snake can maintain sufficient temperature to enable digestion, it will survive and benefit from such a meal. However, the associated risk is two-fold. Lack of heat access can see the contents of the stomach rot to the point where bacterial toxins are high enough to do the animal harm. Having a large meal on board considerably slows down an animal and make it more vulnerable to its natural predators.

The term already used is that snakes are opportunistic feeders. Unfortunately, this is very often misunderstood and misapplied. To make it clear what this means and entails, let’s look at another species which are opportunistic feeders – fish.

Those animals which have an available on-going food source, be it nectar from flowers or sap from trees etc, eat regularly but only eat what they require to see them through that day. They know the same food source will be available the following day. So they eat daily and take in only what they require.

Other animals search daily for a food supply but often do not locate something to eat. So there extended periods when they have to go without food. When they do stumble upon a food source, they take the opportunity to eat as much as they can while there is food available. Such periods of indulgence are brought about by the intervening period of lack of food availability. This can be seen in the behaviour of fish. Fish soon learn to associate human presence with feeding. So whenever they see a human in front of their tank, they behave are ready to eat, reacting opportunistically to the potential of food. If you fed fish every time they behaved hungry, it would be a short matter of time before they would start dying as a result of glutting themselves.

It is up to as keepers to feed our animals an appropriate amount over time. 5% to 20% per week for about the first 12 months, followed by 10% to 20% per for fortnight thereafter and reducing that a little at they reach full size. So if you wack in a meal that makes your python expanded to three times it normal diameter, then keep up the heat and skip the appropriate number of feeds before you feed it again.

I hope that answers your question.

Blue

Read a post properly before objecting to it.

 

[RSPcrazy]

I was speaking with another breeder quite a few years back about this.
He told me, he went on a holiday and left a friend in charge of his collection. While he was away, his friend fed one of his Woma's a rat that was way to large for it. Unfortunately, the Woma managed to dislocate it's spine from taking this masive rat, causing everything bellow the dislocation to become paralyzed.
He had to have the Woma euthanized.


I have seen a lot of snakes eating massive meals with no problems, but I am also aware of the risks involved with feeding oversized meals. In my opinion, it's risking to much and I'm not for it, you don't need to take risks like this.


So put me in the boat of yes, it CAN kill your snake, not it WILL 100% kill your snake, because I have seen plenty get away with it, but it CAN kill your snake.

 

[Paintbrushturkey]

So put me in the boat of yes, it CAN kill your snake, not it WILL 100% kill your snake, because I have seen plenty get away with it, but it CAN kill your snake.

Living ultimately kills you so..., but if you don't feed your herps meals that are stupidly large (ie bigger than 2x their body diametre / ~10% or the snakes bodyweight) or have sharp edges or spines you will be fine...

 

[Bluetongue1]

That dislocation story sounds suspect to me. I reckon he did more than just over feed it.

Badsville, as I understand it, you answered yes, highly likely. I answered no, but it is possible. But then one does have to define what "to big of a feed" actually means.

What I will say is there is nothing to be gained by reproducing my long post, other than to irritate forum readers.

Blue