I have enjoyed following your discussion of diets for large pythons, and the nutritional composition of various foods such as chickens and rabbits. There is a lot of food for thought in these threads. I would caution readers not to assume, however, that because something is thought to be good for a human diet, that it naturally follows that this would be true for a python diet



I’m neither a biologist nor a nutritionist, but I am unaware of any long-term, controlled feeding studies of snakes from birth to death which could scientifically answer questions regarding their maintenance, much less reproductive, nutritional requirements. So I would think that the assumption that one would naturally prefer an animal food source with the highest protein and lowest fat composition has yet to be demonstrated. And although we should always strive to feed our snakes as “clean” a food source as possible, one can’t deny that these creatures have evolved to consume other animals (sometimes long-dead scavenged carcasses) with bacteria species and counts that would kill a human in short order.



My point? Keep the anecdotal information coming, and also feel free to extrapolate from studies on the needs of other life forms. But be flexible and don’t present or take all such speculation as gospel. For myself, I’m thankful that I got interested in reptiles which consume whole animals. Now lizards and tortoises, on the other hand - they’re difficult to feed.



-Joan

[ Show Entire Thread ]