Reptile & Amphibian Forums

how much should i feed my 3 foot female normal each week.People keep telling me she could handle 4 large mice at a time or 1 medium rat but i am not sure who's right?Thanks.Matt

i like to let my retics tell me that... when ever they start to give me that look then i know they are hungry.

but as a general rule for hatchling/juvi/sub-adults it will be normal that they will want to feed once a week.

adult i feed every other week.

hope that helps.

Brian W.

about I have several retics (over 10). Mine their pupils change rapidy (dialate)kinda thing and the head cock thing going.

I don't own a camera but I do have an old pic of a retic I still have from years ago....reg ole tic...alot bigger, he don't fit in cute little boxess any more lol

Frank Roberts
R&R Herpetological

This one is a silver I bred with a friend, our own bloodline not related to any out there, imported tics from the 80's old school retics lol, regs are beautiful too, I only have one albino and 3 tigers all the rest normals from my own bloodline, these don't stay small, mother female over 20 feeet and 28 years old, she doesn't breed anymore however, she's done breeding, but produced alot of babies in the 90's, like 400 in fact, she lays very small eggs (average 60, record 94 in 1995 no kidding). funny thing babies are realy small but grow into MONSTERS.

Normal Silverhead...

You can easily feed your snake an item 25-30% of your snake’s weight. In other words if your 3' retic weighs in at lets say 350 grams, you could offer a rat equaling 87.5-105 grams. You could also offer 4 mice that are 25 grams each. Just try and shoot for an amount that is equal to 25-30% of your animal’s weight. This is a rule of thumb that I came up with and has seemed to work well for me when the are young. The animals that I am keeping I try to feed every 4-5 days when they are young. My hatchlings that are inventory are fed on a weekly schedule and smaller amounts.

Once a hatchling reaches a year or around 10', I change the feeding schedule to a 7 day cycle and continue this as adults. I no longer try and shoot for a prey item or items equaling 25-30% as adults because this is a great deal more then they need. At this time I go by looks and not weight.

I would not argue with the advice Brian gave and feel it is very good. I respect his opinion and advice. It’s just that I do things a little different. I am a heavy feeder, and I do this to achieve maximum growth. It is my belief if large amounts of food are offered at an early age this will help them reach the upper limits of the spectrum. Yes people genetics are just as important but there are other contributing factors that cannot be ignored. Temps are another important factor. I happen to keep my retics on the warm side. I shoot for belly temp 95-100F. This helps aid in the digestion with heavy feeding schedule/amounts. Even at these temps the snakes hardly wander to the cooler side of the cage.

Jim

do you weight your feeders? i think that is very interesting... the 1/3 body weith sounds like a majic number... like, 1/3 is a constant number for retics.

i wonder how much the total mass of a clutch of eggs is... maybe, 1/3 the snakes body weight? what was you big tigers weight before she was gravid and after she layed jim... the vet had to take a weight on her. that would be interesting to see if her final weight is 1/3 less than her initial weight. sorry it is just that i keep hearing that number in regards to retics.

jim if your recording your weights (feeder & retic), and you keep them at a fairly contsnt temp... you could get something out of those numbers and their relationship to metabolosim... which could help support you ideas about feeding heavy.

i really think there is a fine line between growth and getting fat... the animals cells will only divide so fast with the amount of nutrients available in the blood (relative to metabolic rate)... the rest of the nutrients are stored by the body. and as far as growth, we are taking about musculoskeletal growth, which growth is slightly different than other tissue types growth.

to be honest i actually feed pretty heavy too... but there seems to be a point where my snakes say enough is enough (something inside says to stop eating cuz its unhealthy for it), and they fast for a month of two... like they are taking a break or something. then they get really hungry again and do nothing but beg for food.

i have one snake that wont eat like i would like her to... i think her metabolism is just slower than the other snakes i have. she could easily eat one meal a month and still look like she is plump.

imo - i feel that feeding heavy will take your retic to its maximum groth potential... and of course make it a little fat too... but thats it... food connot make DNA majically change and turn a retic into a 25 foot beast.

maintenance feeding on the other hand... or "holding back on food" has a different affect. i believe that the body goes through a few phases... at first the body utilizes the food energy to build bones and muscle... once there is enough growth to support sexual reproduction... the body then uses the food energy to deposit fat, instead of using to maintain musculoskeletal growth... as to make the animal be successful in what it was designed to do... make babies.

these are just my thoughts.

Brian w.

To be honest with you I've never heard of this 1/3 ratio that you are referring to. It is only what I have done for more years then the average age of the members here. This is what I came up with myself. I've done this with just about every young snake I have ever owned.

Yes, I weigh all feeders no matter the size. Record keeping is a very important tool in order of giving the best care. Its funny you mentioned the 1/3 ratio loss after egg laying. Though I do not know what my super weighed after laying her clutch, my tiger was almost 1/3 less on the head. Strange!!! I have never heard of this before and you may have something there.

You are going a little deeper in thought then I do. However, it makes a lot of sense in what you are saying and what I have witnessed over the years. I have seen countless giant pythons over the years, which happened to be several years old and only a few feet long. Smaller types? Some could be, but there are plenty of under fed giants that become stunted. There is an ample amount of people that are willing to purchase one of these wonderful beasts before knowing the food requirements. Worse yet, some loose interest in a few months and no longer feed their captive as they should. Just go to the classified section here and you too will see what I am talking about.

Anyhow, back to the topic at hand. Feeding an item weighing 1/4 to 1/3 the weight of their pet will place most people on the right path. Once a keeper learns how to read body language of their pet they will develop their own method and schedule. I only offered what I said as advice from my own experience.

Jim

maybe its a good indicator to when follicular maturation will occur.

as in... once the female puts back on that (1/3) weight (after she lays) she will be ready to breed. as you know retics wont mature their follicle until the have good fat reserves.

what do you think?

i have 3 retics all about the same size now about 6 feet... but i feed them just as a rough guess about 2.5 times the size of their head... if that helps any...and mine eat every friday
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