Reptiles are like a car motor. Keep the gas peddle down and it uses lots of fuel. At idle, it uses very little fuel.



With reptiles, the temps and humidity are the gas pedal.



So to say what your snake WANTS, is not dependant of the snake, when its in captvity, but more on the conditions you support your snakes behaviors and functions with.



If given a good usable temp range, a young snake will feed daily and grow very quickly, often reaching sexual maturity in less then a year or thereabouts. AND very successfully by the way.



Of course, daily actually means many days in a row, then skipping a few days to shed, etc. So lets say, feeding around 5 days a week.



Of course, you can feed less and expect less actual progress. Both of these are natural and occur naturally. Again it depands on conditions like temps/humidity and prey availability.



In captivity, you can have an endless supply of prey, so all you have to do is understand what conditions allow the snake to reach its genetic potential.



With reptiles you have two basic sets to think about. One is genetic potential, the other is conditional potential. The first is what they CAN DO, the second is what conditions allow them to DO. As you should understand, reptiles have a RANGE of adult sizes that reflect this. For instance, a Cal king can and will reach adulthood(sexual maturity) at around 2 feet. That means they can and do successfully reproduce(recruit) at that size, but can also reach 4 feet before they become reproductive. They can also be 5 feet as adults. So cal king females can reproduce from 2 to 5 feet, with the average being in the 3 to 31/2 foot range. Hmmmmmmm pretty accurate too.



To go back to the car motor. You are wanting your motor to use more fuel, your snake to eat more, when the motor is not burning the fuel fast enough. At poor conditions, your snake can only digest prey as conditions allow. Like the motor, it must process the energy/prey/fuel before it wants more.



The point is, conditions and genetics are BOTH responsible for their progress. So before you think of what your snake wants, make sure you provide the conditions to allow your snake to actually know what it wants. Theres not much you can do about their genetic limitations, but you can provide optimum conditions to reach their potential. Cheers

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