Reptile & Amphibian Forums

The topic below about "Power Feeding" got me thinking, someone mentioned slow growers...well..

I was curious if anyone has had experience breeding picky feeders? I have always been under the impression that its not the best route to breed picky feeders in that the offspring might have a higher chance of also being picky too?

I thought I remembered reading about VPI and Anteresia Pythons only breeding the best feeders as they are notorious problem feeders, same with Cornsnakes, I have heard Cornsnake people do the same. I was curious what Ball Python Breeders do?

Does anyone have expereince breeding a Picky feeder? Were the offspring any picker than normal from those pairings? Should breeding picky feeders be avoided? Does it matter?

When I say "picky feeder" let me explain....We purchased an 07' Male Mojave back on November 20th of 2007 which weighed 350 grams, it is now like 13 months later and he is only 422 grams and still refuses food for extended periods of time, he is offered food on a consistant basis like our other ball pythons, but he might take 1 p/k Adult Mouse every 4-6 weeks....Conditions are not the issue, it has been a picky feeder from day of arrival, but after over a year of this type of slow growth I don't know if I want to breed him. He is kept the same way all of our other Ball pythons are kept, same enclosure, temps, substrate, everything, he is the only one that has been slow and picky feeder. I know some Ball pythons are or can be just picky feeders, but is it a good idea to eventually breed them? that is if they ever get big enough to do so?..lol

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Executive Reptiles
Amanda Kingsbury & David Kendrick
www.executivereptiles.com

I've wondered the same thing myself, and would be interested to know if feeding habits are inherited. I have a male albino that was a huge problem for a while. He needed to be assist fed for a while and I was worried that a hesitancy in feeding might be passed on to his future offspring. Fortunately, he has been eating fantastically over the past couple months, but I'd still like to know other people's thoughts or experiences with this.

First off he's a gorgeous little guy!

I have a female that came from a line of mousers, would only eat live and she was prone to going off feed for half the year. Through lots of work I did eventually get her feeding on f/t rats and since she started breeding she has become a fabulous feeder (knock on wood). However her offspring always seem to be my headaches.
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Tosha
JET Pythons
Toshas Blog

>>When I say "picky feeder" let me explain....We purchased an 07' Male Mojave back on November 20th of 2007 which weighed 350 grams, it is now like 13 months later and he is only 422 grams and still refuses food for extended periods of time, he is offered food on a consistant basis like our other ball pythons, but he might take 1 p/k Adult Mouse every 4-6 weeks....
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>>Executive Reptiles
>>Amanda Kingsbury & David Kendrick
>>www.executivereptiles.com

Have you offered him live instead of PK?

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John Vandegrift

That's what I was wondering too. Sounds like he ate well for someone else for the first few months of his life. Of course maybe you are trying to select for ball pythons that will eat prekilled. Most of mine have never seen prekilled so I could only guess which might eat them and which wouldn't.

>>That's what I was wondering too. Sounds like he ate well for someone else for the first few months of his life. Of course maybe you are trying to select for ball pythons that will eat prekilled. Most of mine have never seen prekilled so I could only guess which might eat them and which wouldn't.

It is weird that it got to 350g in just a few months with the breeder and turned to a crap feeder now. Something has to be different.
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John Vandegrift

I have tried Live, same type of response, Every Single one of my other snakes, Morelia and Ball Pythons even my baby Hognose snake takes f/t, He has taken F/T adult mice before as well, his last meal was this weekend it was a Prekilled Adult Mouse, but it had been about 3 weeks since his last meal, which was the same, he has taken F/T Mice, P/K Mice, Live Mice, even a Live Rat pinkie....but the consistancy he doesn't have....out of every attempt I offer food (weekly) he might only accept once every 4-6 weeks, this time it was only 3....but on average its 4.

I know he prefers mice, so that is what I offer, but out of all the Ball Pythons and other pythons we keep or have kept he is kept the EXACT same way..he is just a picky feeder, he eats when he wants to eat...Visually he seems ok, he doesn't look emaciated or super thin, he just looks like all the 08's we have, actually many of our 08's are bigger than he is now...

I was told he was born in early 07' we got him when he was I am guessing 6-8 months old....and 350 grams. the only other thing I have not tried is AFS, as I don't have access to them...But now that he is several years old, and grown so slowly (Stunted) and seems to still be a picky feeder...my question is should he ever be bred? Thats the last thing I would want to do is bring into this world more headaches for myself..lol
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Executive Reptiles
Amanda Kingsbury & David Kendrick
www.executivereptiles.com

For him to be at 350 grams at 6-8 months he had to eat well for the original breeder.
I would bet he would eat a lot more often if the was consistently fed live. Not all of them will be great feeders on FT. Have you tried leaving a FT rat with him overnight? The only way to find out if he will make crappy feeding babies is to try breeding him. If his babies are a pain to feed then maybe it would be best not to breed him anymore if you a really concerned with producing strong feeders.
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John Vandegrift

Maybe it wasn't a few months old. I have seen plenty of males that were maintence feed and a year old at 300 grams. Not saying there are dishonest breeders out there but how would you know what year it was born. Just a thought.