Posted by:
jfmoore
at Mon Mar 20 20:03:41 2006 [ Email Message ] [ Show All Posts by jfmoore ]
This is an interesting topic, to be sure. But a couple or three points. And I’d like to confine this to ball pythons, not other boid snakes (or humans), if possible.
Please note - I personally believe there are many deleterious health effects which obesity bestows on different organisms. And I’ve seen plenty of pictures of juvenile ball pythons and adults of other species that I consider pretty gross in the adipose tissue department. I think if people would cut open their dead snakes and look at the usually generous fat stores on an animal that most would label “thin,” they might re-think how much they feed their snakes.
--However, in relation to the post which kicked this thread off – would you consider a 4 foot, 2500 gram female ball python obese? I certainly don’t.
--In relation to adult ball pythons in general, have you ever seen an animal four feet or larger that you would label obese? Could you (or anyone here) post a photo of such an animal?
--Can you cite any studies, even small hobbyist ones published in non-refereed publications, to support your assertion that “obese” ball pythons produce large quantities of infertile eggs?
Forums are great places to share information; that’s one of their wonderful features. But, as you know, there is precious little effort made to back up assertions with documentation (of any sort!). And strange assertions often seem to take on a life of their own. (One of my favorite weird ones is the “mice are more nutritious than rats” nonsense that comes up from time to time). It’s just the nature of the medium. And I note with sadness that few of the people with years of wide-ranging experience seem to post here anymore.
-Joan
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>>It has been known for years that fat female pythons often drop slugs or no eggs at all. It has been documented in bloods, olives, Angolans and womas to name a few. Obesity is a also a common determining factor when boas and colubrid snakes slug out. Obese females simply don't reproduce as well as healthy, well muscled girls. While it is normal for ball pythons to be heavy, I would not be surprised to hear of an overweight female dropping slugs. Actually, I bet it is more common than we realize. People probably don't attribute such reproductive failures to obesity because we assume that since balls are heavy bodied snakes, the fatter they are, the better production will be. That is true up to a point, but beyond that point, we see diminished returns on that caloric investment. Better luck with her next year.
>>
>>Will
[ Hide Replies ]
- My first clutch, can you say SUCK - kylescott, Sun Mar 19 22:49:04 2006
- RE: My first clutch, can you say SUCK - kylescott, Sun Mar 19 22:50:59 2006
- RE: My first clutch, can you say SUCK - chrisssanjose, Sun Mar 19 22:58:11 2006
- RE: My first clutch, can you say SUCK - jfmoore, Sun Mar 19 23:36:14 2006
- RE: My first clutch, can you say SUCK - MarkS, Mon Mar 20 01:26:29 2006
- Don't kick (or shoot) yourself... - Christy Talbert, Mon Mar 20 06:39:30 2006
- RE: My first clutch, can you say SUCK - nita, Mon Mar 20 08:54:59 2006
- not all problems are with fat girls..... - jyohe, Mon Mar 20 16:36:48 2006
- The only other conclusion - kylescott, Mon Mar 20 21:02:54 2006
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RE: this is a well known phenomenon - jfmoore, Mon Mar 20 20:03:41 2006