Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Just been noticing lately a lot of extrememly light, year old animals in classifieds. They'd have to eat about once a month or even less to still be that size. I can't understand why you'd wanna do that, and waste so much time getting them started. Just a thought. It's 4am and nobody else will talk to me.

Ryan:

It's 1:30 AM Ca. time.

I have had the same observation. It is amazing to me how some people want to grow their snakes so slow.

I totally agree with you.

You should get some sleep.

Brian
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Brian Gundy

www.for-goodness-snakes.com

The only thing I can think of is that they are very late 07's. But, then again I had a clutch hatch in November and the ones I held back are 600 grams. I dont get it either.

depends what they eat and genetics and age...

like said..soem are late
some probably didn't start out well.
some eat mcie once a week or a rat fuzz maybe
some just grow better than others
some people feed bigger rats tyhan needed 2 times a week and wonder why the ball has a little head...?

......I have some late 07 that started a little slow and are maybe 350 to 400? grams......and I have 07 spider girls that are probably close to 800? grams?......

I feed as well as they eat..but yes some people feed less than they should.......some people have hundreds of balls in racks and don't mess with them every 5 days or more......more like maybe once a week--- or two.?...

........I see this too........I would just buy bigger critters......
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......

To tell you the truth. I pretty much expect a weight gain of a little less than 100 grams per month.

There is always that one or two finicky eaters, but it is not uncommon for my one year old sub adults to weight 1000 grams.

And don't even get me started on how much my boas grow in a year.

I've been involved with animals of all sorts for about 50 years. I learned many years ago that baby animals are genetically engineered to grow quickly. So who ever came up with this idea of slow growing your snakes is beyond me.

Just my $.02.

Brian

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Brian Gundy

www.for-goodness-snakes.com

For some it's just cheaper to maintenance feed - for others they are just slow growers. Some people don't realize that a hatchling doesn't have to be fed hopper mice for their whole first year. Whattayagunnado?
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Tosha
JET Pythons

I've known many to feed less to snakes they plan to sell, to save on costs. It's a shame.

-John

I run into this with some of my hatchlings that don't start eating right away, will only eat mice, or only eat sporadically. I’m not going to sell them until they get on a regular schedule and sometimes that puts them way behind. Then of course when they get eating well they are much smaller than their siblings that started right away so they end up getting sold last. So come the following season sometimes all you have left are the animals that were slow to get started… Granted some people do just maintenance feed to cut cost, but there are a number of reasons you can have a 300g yearling.

George Knaack

She is the WORST feeder I have.
I have 2007 males twice her size.
She will NEVER get to breeding size at this rate. She MAY be ready in 2012.

My Nov 2006 het albino female has already produced 4 albinos.

is a miserable b%$^#^!
Worst snake I ever bought and that was at 2006 prices!

I have a male 05 and he only weighs 645 grams and hes a good eater, i guess they are all different. i'd not worry about it

hi Ryan it depends on when the animal hatched in 07 i just sold an 07 albino male that was just 350 grams he eats pretty regularly on a 7 day schedule but he hatched in dec being in vegas im luck with the temps i dont have a particular breeding season i just make sure i keep the females documented on when they breed so as not to start them again till they have a 12 to 15 months break between breeding just my 2 cents

Tim Johnson
royalmorphz@yahoo.com