Chris:



Thanks for the compliment.



Many years ago before I ever thought of breedeing snakes professionally I caught a very large gopher snake in the wild. It was so fat that I thought for sure it was gravid. It didn't have a huge bulge like it had just eaten a large animal so I took it home hoping it would lay a clutch of eggs. The next morning I found a pile of dead rodents in its cage. It was obvious this snake had found a group of rodents and gobbled them all up. Years later when I was breeding colubrids I would watch my king snakes as they would constrict two mice at the same time while killing the third one by pushing it against the wall of its tub.



As a young man in High school I took four years of agriculture (FFA). After I graduated from high school I worked at an animal hopspital for 9 years. This is where I learned most of what I know today about animal husbandry. I learned that baby animals are naturally engineered to grow. The caloric needs of baby animals is much greater than the needs of the adult animal. Look at dogs how roly poly they are as puppies, but soon grow up to be lean adult dogs. The needs of adult animals changes and a maintenance diet is needed to maintain a healthy weight. Even humans show a tendancy to be fat as babies, but soon loose that baby fat as they reach adalesence then into adulthood. My son was a chunkie little baby, but if you saw him now at 19 he's a skinney as a rail.



I know feeding boas is a very contriversal subject. I guess you could say I just went to different school than most boa breeders.



Again thanks for the compliment about my collection.



The best of luck to everyone's season.
-----
Brian Gundy



www.for-goodness-snakes.com

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