Posted by:
EdK
at Sat Aug 14 18:11:14 2004 [ Email Message ] [ Show All Posts by EdK ]
Hi Andy,
I suspected that it is a belief statement that may be an outgrowth of what is known about mammal and bird growth (as most of the understanding of reptile and amphibian biology is/was to some extent based on the models developed there).
What I suspect that it depends on the species involved and the mode of growth/reproduction of the species in question.
What I strongly suspect happens is animals that are power fed to adult hood often continue to recieve the same amount of calories and no longer are putting those calories into growth. These leads into obesity and other concomitant problems.
I suspect that Ceratophrys and Pyxicephalus may be hard to overfeed as juveniles as they have high metabolisms to allow for rapid growth and will feed as often as possible in the wild. However once the animals approach sexual maturity the keeper needs to reduce the caloric intake of the animal in recognition of its lower needs.
In animals that are commonly powerfed to sexual maturity such as burmese and reticulated pythons I am unaware of any shortening of life spans or any data supporting this issue. I am aware of a large number of anecdotal reports indicating a trend in many colubrids, chameleons, bearded dragons, and wood turtles that indicates that early reproduction combined with double clutching can shorten the reproductive lifespan of an animal but still have not seen any such trend in the total lifespan of the animals in question.
As a personal anecdote I have reared several horned (actually six) and african bullfrogs (four) on high calorie diets that were decreased after sexual maturity and had the horned frogs live for more than 8 years and one of the African Bullfrogs is now over 11 years (almost 12 now on display at the Philadelphia Zoo) of age.
Ed
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RE: new pac man owner - EdK, Sat Aug 14 18:11:14 2004