Reptile & Amphibian Forums

OK well I have a 4' retic that just started on small rats last week...hes is 375 grams exactly.....well this week the rats bigger than usual and is 100 grams that more than 25% my babys weight I was wondering if my my boy ate this rat would it be ok for 2 weeks before I feed again? Normally this rat is 2 x the size he normally eats so i figured it that way....thanks

No problem at all. You could easily feed rats equaling 25 - 30% of the snakes body weight every 4 - 5 days during their first year. Just make sure it is passing a stool at least every couple of weeks. Young snakes can get backed up if you are not paying attention while offering food on heavy feeding schedule. If this was to happen cease offering food until defecation.

Jim

Ok ive only been owning large snakes for about 5 years but I know that thats power feeding...no snake should be fed 25% every couple days 4-5 days thats way too much/...I was talking about if it is ok to let him go a whole 2 weeks without food since hes too young...But i did my researcxh and a retic of 4' and about 375 grams should be fed approx a small rats 75-100 grmas 1 x a week now what you were saying is a small rat every 4 days?? thats way too much food

It is all opinion. I have mine and you seemed to find the answer you like. Stick with what you feel comfortable with. Just for your information you could be feeding over 25% of the snakes weight every 7 days if you feed a 375 gram retic a 100 gram rat.

I made no claims to be an expert. It has only been 33 or 34 years since I have been keeping snakes. This must make me a novice keeper. Sorry I tried to answer your question. It was rude of me to try and help you out. It will not happen again.

Good day,
Jim

Jim man..EVERYONE here know's you're a total amateur. I mean c'mon you've raised what? A garden snake. You're a joke old man!

Lmfao. I'm just kidding around Jim. Just a bit of education here buddy boy, Jim is one of the original retic guys. He's been doing this longer than your pappy has had hair on his nuts. He know's his stuff. I'll keep this simple. He's right, you're wrong. You've just managed to make at least half of us wince. Learn some respect. If you're asking a question expect an answer. If you GET one be grateful not spiteful.

OK first off, you asked if it was ok to feed a 375 gram retic a 100g rat once every 2 weeks...Jim gave you an answer that yes it is and actualy retics can eat this amount every 4 or 5 days. In your original post you seemed to be worried that 100gs would be to much. Now with jims response being that they can eat this every 4 days then a normal person would think to themselves if they can eat this every 4 days then surely a longer period would be fine. Jim was not saying that you should feed more.

Now you say that what he said was to much food and no one should be feed that much. Well below is a pic of Jim's biggest retic, a 7 year old 20' female tiger. She is the one of the best looking snakes I've seen. Not obease.

Ah, thanks for the kind words but the picture you posted is actually Tony my male that is 16' - 6". To be truthful I do not find him all that special in looks. However he is one of my favorites because of how laid back he is. I'm telling you he could care less what person is handling him. Twiggy is by far a better looking retic in my opinion.

This is Twiggy the one you are talking about.

Oh, and for anyone that is interested. Twiggy is not on a 25% X 4-5 day feeding schedule. I only feed on that schedule/frequency to retics under 1 1/2 years old. Twiggy only eats about 20 - 25 rabbits a year that are in the area of 9 - 10 pounds each.

Thanks,
Jim

Opps, guess I have to relable the pics I saved.haha

OK I did not mean to be ride ok at all but all of you sure did....I was not being mean and if you guys use this froum to be "whos the best and more xperienced and better with snakes" thats fine i belong to many forums and I was just saying my opinion and what Ive read up on and experience...now I am rifht....feeding a retic 25% of his or her body weight every week is a little bit of power feeding!!! now is it ok once in a while sure...and feeding my 375 grams snake a 100 gram is not 25% a week its every 2 weeks ok making it about 12% a week which is avaerage to be fed....Now i have been doing a lot of reasearch on pythona and boa feeding how much and how often and ive come up with a pretty good idea....nw everyone feeds differently and thats fine all I stated is thats the average im sorry if I offended anyone im not trying to be better I was saying what I know but I guess here yu get trashed by that Ill make sure I dont make that mistake again RETIC MASTER!! who answered my question

sorry about the typing my retic is actual;ly in my other hand

Quick question. Where are you getting your info? I'd love to take a peek or two. I'm always looking to learn. To be honest it's almost impossible to power feed a retic under a year old. These are NOT boa's. These snakes hit 9-10 feet in length in their first year of life pretty regularly.

I guess it is pretty hard to power feed a baby tic but you have to know when to cut down right?? I get most of my info by searching many many many forums for hours!!! and alot of the feeding was discussed with bob clark in this chat thiong a while back and a really good book called whats with my snake? thats how I got the feeding thing from...the book states a full grown python/boa should be fed 2x body weight a year...if you avaerage that out its about 1/12 every 2 weeks. Sorry i always get so specific with feeding I worry too much bad habit

Im sorry the book is called "Whats Wrong With My Snake"

You're missing two important points.

1) What you feed an adult python has little beairng on what you feed a young one. Yes, feeding 25% body mass to an adult python every 5 days would make it explode, but that's not what you asked about.

2) General information you found about feeding "pythons/boas" is probably good for MOST pythons. Retics are NOT most pythons. They eat more because they grow faster, especially when they are young.

The info you researched is not wrong, it's just too general.
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What goes up must come down...unless it exceeds escape velocity.

That is fine and all that you have had large snakes for 5 years. However, after reading this post I had to ask you, do you even know what Powerfeeding is?? Well I will lay it out as I have been keeping large snakes myself since 94, powerfeeding is simply forcing the snake to eat an extra meal by placing another food item behind the first meal to make the snake eat 2x the food that it would normally take to feed. Also feeding a young and growing retic every 4 - 5 days is not power feeding. My 4 feet 5 month old retics are taking small to medium rats every 5 days, during the first year to 18 months a retic is still growing and you cannot over feed as long as you are not actually power feeding. I feed retics the way I feed my baby burms, I feed them on rat pups every 5 days and move up until they get on to small rabbits and then every 7 days. My snakes are not obese or overly huge for their age either. I would not let a young fast growing snake go longer then a week on rats. This is just my opinion..

Charlie

HELLO
So, my retic is fine, she is eating twice a week two rats equaling 20-15% of her body wight. I bought her 5 months ago but she last during the first 4 months. Currently she is 95cm long and her weight is 360grs.
THANKS FOR READING ME

I find that young retics have a very high metabolism, and that the food energy is put towards growth not fat storage.