Too much food?

[Snakegirl55]

I have a 2 year old female spotted python who was eating 2 small rats per week but was starting to seem hungry so I moved her up to two small rat they last about 10 days and then she is hungry again. As the rats near me only come in packs of 3 that's a lot of trips to the shop so today I bought some medium rats instead but I know this type of snake are prone to obesity and she has a small head that I'm worried she wont be able to stretch over the bigger rats. I will post a picture of her so you can see her head in proportion to her body. She is 1.2 metres so not a small girl he is my first snake and non of my friend have snakes so its hard to get a comparison.

 

[Snakegirl55]

Sorry I haven't posted a pic yet but my laptop is having a meltdown I will try again later

 

[Paintbrushturkey]

how much does she weigh? my spotty boy sits at approx 400g (pre feed) and gets a day old chick (~80g) or an adult rat (~100g) every other week he is approximately 1,3m.

without a weight to go by i would say 2 small rats (75g each) or a medium (100g each) per week is a bit much. so even factoring that your is still a juvie (my boy is 8yrs) and may have some developing to do you are likely far beyond the 20% bodyweight per week, that most people follow..

I can't say more without seeign the snake but given that you are likely feedign somethign around 30 - 35% of bodyweight or that your snake is somewhat obese, i know there are websites out there telling you that a spotted can/should weigh in at 2-3 pounds (1-1,5kg (the weight of a small 2-3 year carpet)) but that is in my opinion utter horsecrap... and simply not healthy

as you have mentioned that she has a small head that would further indicate to me that she may be at an unhealthy weight for her age, but hard to say one way or another until i have a weight/ pic

 

[someday]

Alot of snakes are going to seem Hungry all the time. Its just part of owning them. To me she sounds well fed.

 

[congo_python]

2 small rats a week is plenty if not too much....I have adults that get 1 Large hopper rat a fortnight and they are breeders.
P.s. PBturkey a 100g rat is not an adult rat ?? I don't buy from pet shops i breed my own and i dont weigh either but I would say a 100g rat is a small rat at best. JMO thou

 

[nintendont]

according to the sizes indicated on a table someone posted around here before: 80-149g is a medium rat.

 

[someday]

DOA Rodents they have a graph on there sizes with weight,

 

[nintendont]

 

[Paintbrushturkey]

The point i was making is that my boy gets between 80-100 g of food (or 40-50g per week for a 400g snake i.e. ~10%) per fortnight and does fine on it, whether this be a small medium adult rat does not matter, the overall weight of the food does.

However, as we have no empirical data on the weight of the food fed to snakegirls spotty i have approximated the weight of the food based on her statements, this led me to the conclusion that her spotty was fed 150g+ weekly which is excessive in my opinion even for a juvenile (2yo) as the spotty would have to weigh at least 600g.

This weight is, i believe, excessive for a 2 yo spotty and as such would require attention as long term obesity would drastically shorten the life or the snake.

 

[andynic07]

2 small rats a week is plenty if not too much....I have adults that get 1 Large hopper rat a fortnight and they are breeders.
P.s. PBturkey a 100g rat is not an adult rat ?? I don't buy from pet shops i breed my own and i dont weigh either but I would say a 100g rat is a small rat at best. JMO thou

This is exactly why I use weight only when describing rat sizes because there are that many rat size charts around.

 

[Pythoninfinite]

If you fed your dogs or kids every time they "seemed" hungry, you'd be doing serious damage to their health. Managing your own impulses to feed every time your snake looks hungry is an important factor in successful husbandry. These things can, and maybe should, go for weeks between decent feeds. Feeding a snake 20% of its body weight every week is absurdly over-indulging it, and extremely unnatural for these creatures. Just because they can eat every week doesn't mean they should. I occasionally leave my snakes for 4-6 weeks without food, without any ill effects at all, and I believe it keeps them healthy and alert, and at a much more normal weight.

Jamie

 

[Wing_Nut]

I never thought I would read about Jamie making a comparison between dogs and snakes, much less humans, and all in the same breath

I do however agree with Jamie that feeding shouldn't be over regimented and would add that prey item size is not the be all and end all. I have a large variety if prey items available and my snakes get fed different prey, differen sizes, random times with no ill effects. There seems to be an over emphasis on prey size in my opinion.

Regards

Wing_Nut

 

[wokka]

Why are you feeding the snake? If you are trying to make it happy then I cant help you because I dont know how to tell if a snake is happy. 1.2meters for a 2yo spotted is on the long side so she is obviously growing well. I think a 100 gram rat would be fine but spin it out to a few weeks between feeds. I think it is better to let the reptile 'rest" between feeds rather than digesting 24/7.

 

[Snakegirl55]

Sorry I can't get a photo to upload I will try again later. Also I wasn't clear she was eating 1 small rat per week but I moved her up to 2 per fortnight, but the packs of rats near me only come in packs of 3 so she gets through them really quick and I was wondering if I could move her up to 1 medium rat a fortnight rather than 2 small. Sorry for the confusion.

The other reason I want to move her up is because someone told me if you feed them a bigger prey less often it causes their heads to grow so they can swallow the larger prey without so much strain but by feeding less often they don't become obese, Is this true? And she is a big girl (length and width) I saw some adults at the Newcastle Expo that she was bigger than.

 

[Snakegirl55]

Still can't upload pic so I tried to put it as my profile picture... don't know of it worked can someone let me know if you can see it either on here or on my profile.

 

[Hamalicious]

Why don't you just buy more of the small rats....?

 

[Snakegirl55]

Why don't you just buy more of the small rats....?

Because people always say its better to feed a larger size less often than multiple small sizes, as it gives the snake more time to rest before feeding again. Also because of what I said before about the head growing to take a larger prey item. I have bought some mediums now so I will give her one soon and see how she goes

 

[nintendont]

I'm curious to see a pic now. Could be a candidate for the fabled "pin-headed" snake title, of which I am still a non-believer.
and no your DP isnt showing...

 

[Snakegirl55]

I'm curious to see a pic now. Could be a candidate for the fabled "pin-headed" snake title, of which I am still a non-believer.
and no your DP isnt showing...

She's not that bad but I cant find a way to put the picture on because the upload button keeps disappearing. I could start a new thread with pictures of her and post the link on here?

 

[Snakegirl55]

Flickr: whatever1266's Photostream Snake outside | Flickr - Photo Sharing! Try These links to see pictures of her I don't know if they work but if they do I will put some more pictures of her on.