Posted by:
RandyRemington
at Sun May 6 09:40:45 2012 [ Email Message ] [ Show All Posts by RandyRemington ]
I suspect what has become "normal" feeding now days is probably feeding more than is healthy due to financial motivations. That being said I would like to feed more normal. However, not raising my own rodents and living in a location where I have to drive a lot to pick up rodents and then constrained by matching my schedule to the rodent breeders schedule and my budget to his/her prices and constraints on available rodent types and sizes I'll admit I do a sub optimal job of feeding.
By far my worst job of growing up females involves three sisters I hatched in 2004. I just got first eggs (6 each) at 8 years old from the two I raised up all their life. Their young years were the low point of mouse availability for me. At the time I could get medium rats for my older girls but mice only sparingly and then they were undersized. Just from memory I would say that at 4 years old they looked like most moderately feed 1 year olds. Eventually they got big enough to eat rats (and now I have a much better source of mice anyway). Their mother, maternal grandmother, and great grandmother where moderately sized snakes under 2,000 grams and before laying these girls where around 1,500. Their father, maternal grandfather, and great grandfather where also moderate sized ball pythons. I have two females approaching 5,000 grams so can eventually grow big ball pythons with the right genetics. But given the genetics of this particular line I would say that in spite of what most would consider extreme maintenance feeding the first 4 years of their lives I can't really say they are stunted or now that they are finally producing that they are under producing (again, for their size).
The third sister was raised by my nephew out of state and was big enough to produce in 2009. However, for some reason she has skipped the last two years so really isn't much ahead of her maintenance feed sisters (I think she will go this year and pass them up on total eggs).
So my experience so far is that they don't seem to be limited on their breeding potential by maintenance feeding, just delayed on the start. I guess to be sure ask me in 10 to 20 more years how these three sisters turned out longer term.
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Randy Remington
anyone@snakemorphs.com
www.SnakeMorphs.com
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RE: mainenance feeding? - RandyRemington, Sun May 6 09:40:45 2012