Reptile & Amphibian Forums

The post below raises a question for me that I'm sure we've all thought about at one point or another. How often to feed a growing snake.

I have a small blood that I bought in November. I was told by the place I bought her that they fed her a small, fuzzy rat every other week. The snake is maybe 18 in. long and was about as thick as a quarter--maybe a little smaller--when I got her. She looked pretty thin to me...definitely not like the thick snakes I see in this forum, on web sites or at our local zoo (which has two adult bloods on display).

She was very picky about eating at first. Only rats and only live, which was tough for me, since I buy from local pet stores at this point.

I've now got her switched over to F/T rats. She's taking weaned rats and plumping up to look more like the snakes I see in most of these posted pics. She just had her first shed (one piece) and will take food every 5-7 days.

My question is, can our snakes make decisions about when they are hungry (or not), or are they just opportunistic feeders that basically will eat until they can't eat any more (like sheep)? If that's the case, then we could be doing them real harm by feeding too often. But, how do we know that?

I don't want to overfeed my snake and compromise her health, but by the same token, isn't she deciding when she's hungry? Especially if the hunting and killing instinct isn't being exercised by feeding her live? I've been assuming that mine is just really getting comfortable in her new surroundings and making up for lost time (and fat). I don't even bait her with the rats. Just drop one in close to her head at night and in the morning, it's gone.

Any more opinions out there about how often to feed bloods and what a good feeding schedule should be for long-term health?

This is an issue with more than just bloods and other STP's. The key is evaluating the animals lifestyle, feeding habits and relative physcial proportions.

Lifestyle: Is this a pet, a breeding female, a breeder male or a show animal? Each has different caloric requirements and different feeding schedules. Pets and show animals (for education) are fed often enough to meet their requirements of sustainance, but leaving them relatively stomach-empty during times of handling or during transport. This minimizes the impact of undigested food in the gut, which could harm the animal when subjected to short-term temperature extremes. Breeding females need more food in preparation for breeding since they tend to have a fasting period during egg development and breeding activity. Also, recovering from egg laying may take double feedings depending on clutch size relative to animal weight, etc. Breeding males also require different feeding schedules since they will be interrupted by periods of breeding activity which distracts them often from eating. So more or larger prey items may be needed before and after breeding season.

Individual Feeding Habits: Some animals just don't eat that often so larger prey items may be needed if they only eat every 3-4 weeks. I have one particular male that fits this and he is nearly ten years old. Others will eat whenever food is offered and in these cases, smaller prey items may be offered more frequently to avoid obesity. These are your token garbage disposals. Again this cycle may be interrupted if they are bred or become gravid. Each animal has its own personality so the keeper should constantly monitor.

Relative Physical Proportions: Always an issue, but tough if you don't know what a healthy animal is and it is not an exact science. It is relative to the above issues. Exposure to other keepers collections gives you a visual as to what is the range. Look out for signs of obesity such as skin visible below the scales or signs of anorexia such as loose hanging skin outside of shed cycles. Anorexia is tough since juveniles always seem to grow differently. Also, some animals like to puff themselves up at the time of handling giving the appearance of larger size. Fat on snakes resides on the inside of the body cavity not outside the ribs like us. Obesity compacts the internal organs and leads to a variety of complications such as egg binding, impaction, poor blood circulation, etc.

One hint I can offer from my experiences, watch the animal move about on the floor or in the cage. You should see the undulations of their muscles with some definition and they should move easily without difficulty turning or climbing over obstacles. Think about how we are. When we are overweight, we tend to be less active and find it more difficult to move in certain directions smoothly. Try doing a situp with a beer gut? Get the picture.

Hope it helps, if nothing else other long-term keepers may have some thoughts on how they evaluate weight.
-----
================================
Support your local herp society
www.chicagoherp.org

Thanks for the thoughtful reply, Rich.

Sounds like if my snake will take a weaned rat every week or so and doesn't seem to be stretching out too far in the scales or having trouble getting around, it's okay.

Now, if I could just get her to poop... Hasn't done that yet since Thanksgiving, but she was pretty thin.

It's surprising how fast a "thin" snake can start to fill out. In a month's time, my snake has gone from pretty scrawny to nicely shaped.

If you what her to poop, try a good soak. Besides it good for them anyway.

How do you guys soak them without them getting out of the water? How deep should the water be for a small snake?

Put him in a medium Rubbermaid container (or a sweater box, anything with a snapping lid) with about 1” to 2” of room temp (warm room/80 deg) for 20minutes. It’s good to have one of these containers for various jobs like cleaning the cage, or feeding. They will spass the first couple of times but they are just fine and will not drowned.

i honestly think some of my animals would eat just about everytime i offered them food, even if it meant regurging.

I really don't want to compare snakes to people, but heck, i can make decisions, but often times i just keep eating and eating and eating, until im about to pop and i know its a bad decision!

so maybe it has something to do w/ sensory organs, i head over to the china buffet and go to town, maybe the snake has the same sense of euphoria when it smells a prey item...

who really knows....but, some of the bloods you see are overweight...they should be strong bodied, and firm to touch, and not to pudgy...someone posted some really good photos on bloodpythons.com/forums of photos showing the differences...they were a pretty good reference.

bc
-----

www.redpython.net