Power Feeding and Power Shedding

[BobW80]

I recently obtained a young pair of carpet pythons which were too young and too small to breed.So I began to power feed them in order to get them up to size for next season. They weighed 300grams 4 months ago.They were eating hopper rats at the time.They now weigh 1.2kg and are eating Large Adult Rats.To help with the shedding process I placed them in a tub with warm water and a fogger to increase humidity levels. This process sped up shed times from roughly 2 weeks down to 4 days. Both snakes seem happy , healthy, and growing rapidly. Anyone else have any ideas?

 

[jbest]

Can't wait to try this with my woma

 

[Stuart]

Ever seen a body builder after a few years? Do they look healthy?

EDIT: It's my opinion but your snakes, so take it with a pinch of salt, but no, it's not healthy regardless of age or previous condition. Snakes don't do this to themselves and you are only asking for an issue later on.

 

[thomasssss]

Can't wait to try this with my woma

i hope your joking, right ? you do know about the whole fatty liver thing with womas and bhps, if you dont then please do a little bit of research into the species it would suck for you to have the animal die young because you didnt know power feeding like this is especially bad for the aspidites species and can kill them

 

[BIGBANG]

i have an awesome idea.....STOP POWER FEEDING!!!!! i know you said you wanted them to be ready to breed next season, but what is your hurry? by bredli are 18 months old and way 485gms and 449grams and they have been on 60gm rats which i have just ran out of so will now be on 90gm rats so fair chance they wont be ready next year, i dont understand why they have to breed next year for you?
i'd put your flame suit on mate i have a feeling ya in for a toastin'

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and how old are they

 

[BobW80]

2.5 years old. They eat, move and **** fine. They are placed in a larger enclosure for regular exercise.

 

[Stuart]

2.5 years old. They eat, move and **** fine. They are placed in a larger enclosure for regular exercise.

Obese folks are put on diets and go on regular walks, it doesn't make them healthy.

Do a search mate, it is widely agreed that power feeding is a bad idea.

 

[wylie88]

I was going to say the same as the others have said. It's not healthy and just plain unnecessary. Think of all the extra strain your putting on their digestive tract, they have a slow metabolic rate they aren't built to digest lots of food quickly especially not over a prolonged period of time.

 

[jbest]

i hope your joking, right ? you do know about the whole fatty liver thing with womas and bhps, if you dont then please do a little bit of research into the species it would suck for you to have the animal die young because you didnt know power feeding like this is especially bad for the aspidites species and can kill them

lol yea sure do, couldnt help myself

 

[notechistiger]

If it's only for a short while, then I think it's fine. However, for over extended period time is just unhealthy.

 

[thomasssss]

lol yea sure do, couldnt help myself

so it was a joke all good then hopefully the op doesn't own any womas not that i think what his doing is really all that bad in some ways but doing it for breeding is a little selfish

 

[Red-Ink]

2.5 years old. They eat, move and **** fine. They are placed in a larger enclosure for regular exercise.

So let me get this right....

Basically 4 months ago you had 2 year old carpets that weighed only 300 grams... now in approximately 120 days you quadrupled their weight to 1200 grams.

I'm sure the severely underweight 2 year old carpets would have not any ill effects with such a dramatic change in their body structure in 120 days... keep up the good work.

Here's to getting them up to cash (sorry size) for breeding next season... good luck with it mate.

 

[saximus]

I thought fatty liver came from being fed large rats which put on most of their weight as fat after about 250g? I don't think it has anything to do with power feeding.
I also believe there has never been any research done into the long term effects of power feeding. It's fine for people to have opinions but all of you people jumping on the bandwagon should probably know what you're talking about before smashing this guy

 

[Nathan8]

Quadruple I believe

 

[BIGBANG]

if you are feeding to get a snake back to health as 300g is small for a 2 year old the yeah ok but his reason to power feed just to get it to breeding size so he can make a few hundred bucks off it is pethetic

 

[sanna]

I know I'm a noob when it comes to all this, but rapid weight gain like that isn't healthy for any type of living thing. I know I may be wrong, but don't snakes need time for proper muscle growth? Instead of just gaining weight through fat?
Or else wouldn't everybody just powerfeed to get their snakes nice and big? Hmmm...slow and steady wins the race IMO

 

[Bluetongue1]

A four-fold increase in body weight over four months is really pushing the envelope. They will mature earlier, as sexual maturity is primarily dependent on size and therefore they will breed earlier. If you continue with that feeding regime once they get to adult size you will end up with obese snakes and the health problems associated with that.

It sounds like you just want to use the power feeding regime to get them to breeding size as quickly as possible, so let’s ignore the obesity bit. There has not been a proper scientific study done on the effects of power feeding, beyond snakes to breeding age quicker and 2 or 3 years of productive breeding. However, there is a lot of anecdotal evidence that the breeding span is reduced and the life expectancy is considerably reduced. We are talking 10 to 12 years instead of 20 years. One of the owners of the forum, Slateman, clearly stated that in one of his rare posts (earlier this year I think).

So clearly you have something to gain in the short term but it will definitely cost you in the long term.

Blue

 

[BIGBANG]

what is average weight for a carpet to breed?

 

[Trimeresurus]

what is average weight for a carpet to breed?

Depends what type you want to breed.

 

[GeckoJosh]

Didn't Sydney University do a study on Childreni feeding rates?

Here we go:
http://www.aussiepythons.com/forum/...ildrens-python-research-prelim-results-84052/