I have a female Ball that just ate after many months (7 to be exact) off feed. The classic 1000 gram hunger strike will drive you nuts every time. I notice that she didnt pass very much waste from this feed when she went. To me it seemed like her body had absorbed as much nutrition as possible from this first meal after a long break. This is something I have thought about before when considering the drawbacks and benefits of feeding my snakes as much as possible to add size and weight for breeding purposes. Exactly how much food can a snake's body absorb if it is given at a constant rate for an extended period of time? Will they just pass most of that extra nutrition out the back end at some point if it becomes too great? I know that increased feeding does work to certain extent, because you do see increased growth and also increased obesity in animals that are fed very frequently, but there must be a point where the animal's body cannot process any additional food.
I believe that you can bulk up your snake with 'power' type, increased feeding, especially after it has just laid eggs, or comes off a hunger strike, or you get the animal from someone who has kept them as a pet and has fed 1 mouse a week for five years and the animals body is starved for nutrition, but you really have to know your animal and its habits, otherwise you are just wasting your time & money and hurting your pet by over feeding it.
Interesting stuff..
