Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i have a 7 month old female ball python and she is 250grams and i want to bump her weight up as much as i can and ive heard of power feeding but not to sure wat to do if you could help me out that would be great.

thanks mark

That's only adding bad weight onto your girl.

From what I understand it, powerfed girls do not produce as well as slow fed and easy growth girls do. (I remember reading this on a large breeders website, but cannot find the link)

Be patient, and try not to overfeed your snake.

It may end up that she might get ill from being fed too much, so just try to do it slow and easy...
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www.HeathersHerps.com

-Ohh, what a Lady-

Balls for Life, Baby!

Feed that gal as much as she'll take thats a ball not a burm,,when balls are in the eating mood feed ,,feeed and feed some more because they will slow down beleave me.I'm just someone that kinda knows ,but do what you want

Greg VanZweden
http://www.vanzwedenreptiles.com/

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Forever Trust in what we are,and nothing else Matters

I agree to a point. it's not if a ball will go off feed but when. They seem to have a knack for knowing when they are getting overweight. We have a het pied female that was eating every 3 days for 2 months non-stop even in shed. Well guess what, a month ago she stopped eating and still show's no intentions of eating. She was starting to feel "soft" like she was building up too much fat but now she's nice and toned so hopefully she'll start back soon but if not she will on her own schedule. This is the aspect that makes it hard to get those females up to breeding weight in 18 months, most just won't let you feed them too much but some will.
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Josh & Krysty Hutto
J&K Reptiles

Various Ball Pythons:::

1.0 striped vanilla
1.2 Citrus Ghost and hets
1.2 Albino and hets
2.3 het Pied
1.1 Pastel (male has additional gene going on with him)
a bunch of female holdbacks and several rescue normal males

0.1 columbian boa, she's a feeding monster, controls my
over production of rats, lol
0.1 brazilian rainbow boa, another rat eating monster
1.1 corns

a BAD dog is MADE not bred, support the American Pit Bull Terrier as the greatest breed of dogs on Earth!!!!!

feed the need. IT seems they can feel when they are outta shape and they will go off feed. Balls are disciplined and comitted, health-consicous dieters. lol

There are several bad things about power feeding and only one good thing, over taxing the stomach and digestive track has a lot of ill effects and can make them more prone to herniation as well as improper growth of bones and reproductive organs , of coerce they will eat more if you offer it until they see there is no shortage of pray , it is in there nature to fill the tank as much as they can to be able to survive when there isn't pray available just like in the wild but it is a proven fact that it is healthier to feed 1 appropriate size meal on a once weekly schedule until 1 year old and then every 10 - 14 days after that . The only good thing is you did what you set out to do , get a fat Ball. but don't take my word or any one elsses consult a good reptile vet .

Hey,

"Power" feeding is getting your snake to take one prey item, and then continuing to place food items in it's mouth as it is swallowing to "trick" the snake into taking more food than it actually killed. Some people even do it with chicken legs instead of p/k or f/t rodents (ugh!).

Feeding your animal what is will voluntarily eat on its own is not "power" feeding. You may feed your animal as much as it will eat on it's own, regardless of the "feelings" of some people on this forum. Imagine a ball python in the wild without someone regulating it's food intake- How would they ever make it without these "caring" people to limit it's growth, which can be dangerous(unsupported by any study, a conclusion based on "feelings)?! (insert sarcasm here!)

More "power" to you!

Steve Harrison
J-ville, FL

That just my point these aren't wild they are captives as such they don't get the same exposures and its the same as how they can't survive in captivity with the parasite loads that they do in the wild,(know what your talking about) isn't that what you said.!!

He did have a point though, I honestly didn't know exactly what power feeding was until he outlined it. While I can understand it being beneficial if it's a skinny, SKINNY snake that won't take appropriate sized meals, and you're slipping one in right behind a mouse, most snakes won't need the boost.

My snakes and the snakes I work with both go on and off their feed without any seeming rhyme or reason most times, so when they're willing to eat, they get as much as they want. I for one would like them to have as much weight on 'em as possible so that it's not a big deal if they skip a month (or four, as my female likes to do) of eating.

~jenny
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1.1.1 normal ball pythons (Cindy, Darwin, and Periscope)
1.0 rex rat (Scurvy)
0.1 bunny (Spazz)
2.1 betta fishes (Vicious, Killer, and Butters)
2.2 great danes (Shasta, Odysseus, Merlot, and Watson)
1.0 fat fuzzy mutt (Smokey)
1.1 cats (Thidwick and Turtle)
2.0 horses (Buddy and Sam)
1.0 goat (Billy Jack)
2.25 chickens (Jacques the rooster and his harem)

but what I really want is more ball pythons!

I agee good luck

Then feeding too much is called OVER feeding..

More likely to regurge, cause intestinal problems and so forth.

Still not a good thing, no matter what.

Unless you want an obese snake...
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www.HeathersHerps.com

-Ohh, what a Lady-

Balls for Life, Baby!

yes I agree , some times it is hard for me to find the right words to say what I mean and right now I'm having a hard time typing my 2 ft. savanna monitor is trying to type for me. good luck

For those that know what there doing ,they already know as you know most balls go off food so we feed them while they eat as much as we can.There not fat ther not skinny there balls and they can and will give you a hard time sometimes while feeding 'So feed them good as far as it ruining bone growth can you please post something to that,something to back that up?I should have check this sooner WOW....I'd like to see your findings on this

Greg VanZweden

http://www.vanzwedenreptiles.com/

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Forever Trust in what we are,and nothing else Matters

Fest lets get it right I did not say ruining bone growth ,I said impair ,there are several definitions for that so let me clarify it for you ,impair -to change , impede , disrupt , distort ,. as to my statement I was inferring that if you power feed you can cause unhealthy acceleration in growth , and the only way to keep it from making the bones form correctly you would need to add a lot of supplemental vitamins mostly D and this in such amounts can and more than likely will cause calcification of the reproductive organs as well as being hell on the Kidneys , now I can go on about this but if you know any thing about what we are talking about you know I'm right and as for as not mentioning the vitamins ,you didn't ether and I asume for the same reasons ,given as directed on the label it is safe but in the amounts to do what this is about it is not safe at all unless you do blood work and x-rays weekly on your snake. it is in most good vet. med. books . I don't know the name I borrowed them from my vet. good luck with all you do .

No you said,,, improper growth of bones and reproductive organs ,,,I have just never seen this in Ball pythons.If there hungery feed'em.Was that book printed in the 60's? j/k take care
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Forever Trust in what we are,and nothing else Matters

That just go's to show us
that we don't now it all ,I learn new things daily . if we are not learning we aren't tring hard enough in what we are doing . Don't you agree . sincerely , have a good weekend OK . David