Posted by:
FR
at Tue May 8 18:09:09 2012 [ Email Message ] [ Show All Posts by FR ]
There is no such thing as power feeding, unless your force feeding a snake unwilling to feed.
A snake only feeds when hungry, so its a voluntary behavior.
There is such a thing as poor temperature choices or temperature mismanagement, where the temps are not sufficent to process large amounts of food properly.
Under metabolizied reptiles store energy as fat instead of using it for growth and reproduction.
For instance, I live in the desert and we have diamondback rattlesnakes. I feed several mice when they come to a specific place to feed. Which means, they must come from somewhere else and coil in a feeding posture at this one spot.
Some feed normally every three days. And they must travel 30 to 50 meters to feed. One would feed every night once its hot out.
I did the same with coachwhips and only fed them at one spot. One female, fed 14 days in a row, 4 to 7 small mice, then laid eggs, then fed 17 days in a row(same amount) and laid another clutch.
So the term power feeding is often misused and often meaningless. Its more about management of energy, then forcing anything.
In my long experience, the best breeders I ever had were raised very very quickly. And that included lots of mexicana. Cheers
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RE: power feeding - FR, Tue May 8 18:09:09 2012