Reptile & Amphibian Forums

When working with a snake that was powerfed for too long and is obviously overweight, is it best to reduce the quantity of food per feeding, increase the amount of time between feedings, both, or something else? Basically, what's the best diet plan for a milksnake?

I recently acquired a pueblan that is not grossly overweight but is a little too fat for my comfort. It certainly hasn't gone critical or anything. I know exactly what to do to make a snake lose weight fast (stop feeding it entirely) but am more interested in what methods are the healthiest option for the snake. The snake is only a year and a half old so it still has a lot of growing to do, just not so much in terms of it's girth.

It would probably be a little better to cut down on the size of the prey item, as well as let a couple more days laps by in between feedings,...i.e. one smaller mouse maybe every 10 days or so until the snake's weight becomes more optimum.

But if you have only a certain size of rodents in the freezer, etc..., you could certainly adjust this regimen by giving it a bigger one,...just less frequently for the same effect(shrug).

Do you have a pic of this "Jabba the Hut"?..LOL!.....just kidding!

~Doug

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"Better to be silent and thought a fool, than to open mouth and remove any doubt!"

Doug's answers shouldn't need any confirmations so I'll just repeat what he said.

"It would probably be a little better to cut down on the size of the prey item, as well as let a couple more days laps by in between feedings,...i.e. one smaller mouse maybe every 10 days or so until the snake's weight becomes more optimum."

The only thing that I might add is to make sure the temps & humidity are where they should be to allow maximum metabolism.

Best wishes!
HH
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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

I third that motion.

It is always better to feed smaller items less often than too stop feeding altogether. I don't know if it applies directly to snakes, but in humans if you stop eating, you start to break down proteins and not just fats (it has to do with the ability to reverse certain steps of the aerobic metabolic pathway -I could diagram it if you like ). So stopping feeding means a loss of muscle mass. If you feed small meals, the snake will maintain muscle and lose fat.

Chris
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Chris Harrison
San Antonio, Texas

Thanks for all the responses. I knew that stopping feeding as you said would be a bad thing for those crazy metabolic reasons chris didn't go into. I guess a better title for this thread would have been something like "Slim Fast or Weight Watchers?". IE: less meals or smaller meals I figured it would be a combination of the two but I didn't want to make any assumptions. I'll post a pic later.

If you do a google image search for "obese snake" there is a horrifying picture of the vent end of a morbidly obese cornsnake...

Zikes!!,....I'm wondering if that's just someone's idea of a little humor, and it's really a gravid female with a few more eggs to drop. It looks like it just starts to taper down where the person cropped the photo if you look REAL close.

That just looks too ridiculous to believe!

~Doug
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"Better to be silent and thought a fool, than to open mouth and remove any doubt!"

This is just kind of an FYI for everyone reading.

Some reptiles will actually go into "conserve" mode when food becomes scarce and/or conditions fall below their normal operating range.

I don't know about milksnakes but I've witnessed other species go into conserve mode when food wasn't offered on a regular basis. In particular, I've seen Burmese Pythons and Savannah monitors do it very effectively.

This can have a reverse effect when trying to get weight off of them because they become listless and rely on their body fat to get them through the hard times. They'll conserve that fat by becoming inactive.

By feeding a little less on a regular basis you're able to keep their metabolism going instead of sedning them into conserve mode. It's healthier and faster than completely withholding food. However, it's still usually a long drawn out process. Don't expect to see fast results but have faith that it's working.

Hang in there!
HH
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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

I think that you should keep the diet the same, and just raise the heat a tiny bit, move the obese snake to a bigger enclosure, with a bigger warm spot and handle the snake so they don't just sit there. Exploring their new home will burn lots of calories.
That will increase their metabolism, raise their muscle mass, and they will use the fat stores as they were intended, for growth.
Make sure you offer the snake a warmer warm side and a couple of hides that are different temps, that will make the snake wander from hide to hide during the day, instead of just hiding in the same log all day long.