Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi. I'd like some advice on what to feed my burm's. I own one and my boss own's the other. Both were rescue's and since we've had them we've been feeding them what their previous owners did. His large 14 foot female is currently eating a single 10 pound rabbit a week. She seem's to be doing fine at that, had great weight to her, is incredibly strong, docile and has 0 problem's with obescity. However I'm told she should be eating ALOT more than that. Is this true? She's eating a rabbit a week at the moment.

I however have a 7 Foot Albino male. He's currently eating a large rat a week. He seem's to be doing fine as well. I'm also told he's eating to little, I can't see it. He's thick strong, and docile.

Are they wrong to tell me I should be feeding more? Or am I wrong for feeding the way I/we do?

About the 14-footer, I can't say without a doubt because mine's not that big, yet. I'd venture to say that one 10 pound rabbit per week is pretty close to being right. Maybe a pig somewhere near the 20 pound mark about every 2 - 2 1/2 weeks. Somone please correct me if I'm wrong.

I feel that the 7-footer, ideally, should be starting to eat small rabbits equalling the amount of 5 - 6 large rats per feeding, every 1 1/2 weeks. One large rat per week isn't enough. It should be eating at least 4 and as many as 6 per every 10 days or so.

Take care!
Mike
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It is said that 1 out of every 4 people are mentally unbalanced. Think of your 3 closest friends, if they're normal, then it's you.

Gosh, everytime I see how much people feed their burms I kinda feel bad for my Isabella.

Isabella is my female albino burm, pushing 17ft and 160 pounds, she only gets a 12lb rabbit once a month. After a long talk with my vet, we thought this would be much better for her, I mean she gets exercise, but not nearly the amount she'd get in the wild to warrant feeding her a TON!

Just my .02

Like humans, metabolism in snakes can vary. My 10ft female is a fierce eater & is borderline heavy but no matter how much I cut back on her feeding, her girth doesn't change. I know when she's hungry, & when she is, I don't give her a snack, I give her a meal. And not an overindulgence, either.

My 8ft male is the other way around. He's slender and you couldn't get him to eat 5 rats every 10 days for more than 2 feedings straight even if you force fed him. Sometimes he will, sometimes he won't. There again, I know when he's hungry and I feed him a meal.

It's quite possible that your burmese has a slow metabolism to where one 12 pound rabbit per month is enough for it. Without seeing a picture of it I wouldn't dare say that it wasn't enough. Hopefully you can tell if/when it's hungry and make any adjustments necessary, if any would ever need to be made.

I don't powerfeed my snakes. Never have, never will. I watch their girth over time and make adjustments as needed. After a few months, if a person is mindful of things, they'll know just how many of what size that snake can take without getting obeese.

I don't want my snakes to be obeese. But, I'd rather have a 17-footer that's slightly obeese than one that's all the time hungry. (I'm not trying to say that yours is hungry. )

Have a good one!
Mike
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It is said that 1 out of every 4 people are mentally unbalanced. Think of your 3 closest friends, if they're normal, then it's you.

I have two 8 foot indian python's that are very happy with one medium size rabbit "weighing about 6 pounds" once every 6-8 week's.
They are both in great shape and temprement.
Personally i think slow and steady if you want your animal to be in the best possible condition, especially if and when it comes to breeding later on.
I am from the UK-England and we hear alot about the american way of "power" feeding.