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Pinhead

GrotesqueBurgess May 06, 2008 03:22 PM

I've heard burmese pythons get "pin-headed" if you feed them too much. Does anyone have a photo example of such a thing?

I don't really have a set schedule in feeding my girl, but on average she gets fed a rat every 5 days or so. She's just over 6 feet long. Am I over or under feeding her?

I don't want to over feed her, but I certaintly don't want to starve her either. I've heard lots of conflicting information about how 1)burmese python owners grossly overfeed and 2)you can't overfeed a young burmese.

Oh, and P.S., she took her first rabbit last week. Left a bulge, but not an uncomfortable looking one, and she really liked it. What a momentous day it was :P

Replies (9)

TheSerpentsCoil May 06, 2008 06:00 PM

I don't have any pics but I have seen this first hand. It's an animal with a head much smaller then it should be compared to the overall size of the animal. Usually this happens with powerfed animals, although it doesn't always happen. Your feeding schedual sounds fine. ALOT of reptiles are overfed in captivity! In the wild they really don't have the access to the food we feed everyday, they may go days, weeks, or months without food! Yes you can overfeed a young burm, or any snake for that matter. I typically feed more in their first year of life because they get the most growth at that time, then I'll slow the feeding to a normal rate. Rabbits are great but expensive, I'd try looking into pigs! Boids can handle a prey item up to 3 times the size of their girth. Personally I like to feed larger meals less often.
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John Light

GrotesqueBurgess May 06, 2008 08:24 PM

It would be really great to have a picture reference
Is 6 1/2 foot at 2 years of age a good size?
Sorry for the questions, I just want to do right by my girl.
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~Sara~
"If you look down on me, I am evil, If you look up to me, I am God, if you look straight at me, I Am you"
-Charles Manson

joshhutto May 06, 2008 10:44 PM

I would not consider it to be too small but I would say the on the smaller side of a 2yr old burm. I usually say 4 ft per year for the first 3 years then slows down considerably is ideal. I also have known some people to get females up over 10ft in one year by feeding them every 3-5 days which leads to fat small headed (pinheaded) adults.
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Josh & Krysty Hutto
J&K Reptiles

Various Ball Pythons, boas, dogs, cats, fish, an amel tiger retic female, a couple sulcatas and a few other odds and ends.

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

HappyHillbilly May 07, 2008 01:07 AM

Hey Sara!
Just to make sure you're on the right track, what some people call "pinheaded" isn't anything that affects the size or features of a snake's head, it's the appearance of the head in relation to the rest of the body.

When snakes are overfed they're bodies become big, obese, but their heads don't grow to match their body size. It's more common in heavy-bodied snakes like Burmese Pythons.

Like Josh said, your snake is a bit on the small side but it's not severely undersized. I've got a 3 or 4yr old burm (het labyrinth) that I just recently got and it's only 4ft long. The guy was too worried about "powerfeeding." His feeding rate confusion is pretty common.

There's more to proper growth than just feeding, cage temperatures play a big part as well. Remember that Burmese Pythons are naturally heavy-bodied snakes and not sleek, slender, like reticulated pythons or colubrids.

I see where someone stated that boids can handle a prey item up to 3 times the size of their girth. While that may be true it doesn't mean that it's good for them to do so. Two smaller prey items are much better, easier on the digestive system, than one very large prey item. Without a doubt. Hands down.

I suggest you slowly increase either the amount of prey items or the size of prey items (sometimes it may require both) and keep an eye on your snake's girth. You may also need to adjust the frequency of feeding. If your snake moves about it's cage after a meal as much as it did before the meal, it's not getting enough to eat.

For instance: At just over 6ft you should consider trying to feed it about 3 medium rats or 2 large rats every 7 - 10 days for a couple of weeks straight & go from there.

Actually, you said it just ate it's first rabbit, that's great! In that case, I wouldn't go back to feeding it rats if it will rabbits readily. Just try to match a rabbit's (or more than one rabbit) mass size to the mass size of the number/size rats I just mentioned. I don't weigh my rabbits so I'm not good with the weights of them.

As for rabbits being expensive, I don't think so. I went in a Petsmart the other day & them goofballs were charging $10 for a large rat. I about had a heart attack! I can get 7-pound rabbits for $5 - $7. There are whole lot more rabbit breeders in our neck of the woods than there are pig farmers. I'm a hillbilly but I don't feel like raising pigs. I raise rabbits, no problems. I can even raise Flemish Giant rabbits that weigh 22 pounds or more.

Stick with rabbits. You're way ahead of the game in that area already.

Good to see you again!

Take care!
Mike
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Due to political correctness run amuck,
this ol' hillbilly is now referred to as an:
Appalachian American


www.natures-signature.com

GrotesqueBurgess May 07, 2008 10:17 AM

Okay, thank you so much for your reply. I was under the impression that the a pin-headed snake would have a thinner, elongated head, which is why I was worried. That one burm I rescued a while back had a much wider/stouter head than my girl, and I was concerned that I may be over feeding or something.
But her head doesn't look disporportionately (I think I just slaughtered the spelling of that word, but oh well) small to her body, so I guess I was worried for nothing.

The rescue snake has since found a home with a person who supplies a good number of the feeders to one of my favorite reptile stores around here, so she'll never have to worry about going hungry again

HappyHillbilly May 07, 2008 10:36 PM

You're on the right track, you'll be fine.

Good to hear you found a good home for the one you rescued. Got any updated photos of your gal? If I remember right your Burmese had a nice golden color, right?

Catch ya later!
Mike
-----
Due to political correctness run amuck,
this ol' hillbilly is now referred to as an:
Appalachian American


www.natures-signature.com

GrotesqueBurgess May 08, 2008 03:33 PM

here are my most recent takes...
from a few days ago

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~Sara~
"If you look down on me, I am evil, If you look up to me, I am God, if you look straight at me, I Am you"
-Charles Manson

HappyHillbilly May 09, 2008 05:09 PM

Very nice, Sara! I think that's a pretty Burmese Python.

Did you by chance see this thread from a few weeks ago?
forums.kingsnake.com/view.php?id=1512969,1512969

While yours isn't exactly the same as the ones pictured in that thread I think that it is somewhat close.

Nice! Thanks for sharing the photos.

Catch ya later!
Mike
-----
Due to political correctness run amuck,
this ol' hillbilly is now referred to as an:
Appalachian American


www.natures-signature.com

GrotesqueBurgess May 10, 2008 12:48 AM

thanks

Yes, I did see that thread and thought to myself that with just a little more white and a little more fading, my girl would fit right in.

She keeps getting more white along her sides the older she gets, so we'll see what she matures into
-----
~Sara~
"If you look down on me, I am evil, If you look up to me, I am God, if you look straight at me, I Am you"
-Charles Manson

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