Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Do any of you here cut your feeders skin after thawing them out? I heard this helps with growth and digestion for snakes but am curious if it is fact or myth.
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~Markus

The very existence of flamethrowers means that sometime, somewhere, someone said to themselves..."You know, I really want to set those people over there on fire...but I'm just not close enough to get the job done!

They may even grow faster if you strap the snake down so it can't burn calories then feed it a liquified mouse using a tube feeder.

Snakes that are always fed small meals tend to lose some ability to handle large meals. Well, maybe not lose the ability, but certainly it is reduced a bit. Snakes that are always fed meals that are opened to speed digestion could conceivably eventually not be able to handle a regular meal as easily. So why potentially impair what may not be broken?
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Mark

haha!! Well check out this thread and see for yourself:

http://www.cornsnakes.com/forums/showthread.php?t=25837&highlight=pinky cutting

I didnt know what to make of it so I thought I would see if anyone here is doing it perhaps
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~Markus

The very existence of flamethrowers means that sometime, somewhere, someone said to themselves..."You know, I really want to set those people over there on fire...but I'm just not close enough to get the job done!

I tend to agree with much of that as well. Splitting the skin on feeders in my opinion is generally used by some mainly to help ensure that a snake that was very ill intestinally to recover without regurging after treatment. And even then, if everything is taken care of properly as far as diagnosing the problem, and the correct medication(s) are given(and proper amount of time to recover stomach acids, electrolytes, enzymes and good bacteria flora), when simply fed smaller meals initially, things are usually fine.

I have never had to split any feeder's skin before, with the exception of "braining" rodents for scenting purposes. I'm thinking it can get real messy in certain conditions too.

~Doug
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"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

my website -serpentinespecialties.webs.com

Thanks for the input Doug

Just was making sure I wasn't out of the loop on some hidden herpers secret haha!

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~Markus

The very existence of flamethrowers means that sometime, somewhere, someone said to themselves..."You know, I really want to set those people over there on fire...but I'm just not close enough to get the job done!

I am absolutely certain there are many that do this in a crazy attempt to force the animal's to grow in record time, and there are other methods used in conjunction with this too (more heat, etc..). But too much, too fast is simply not healthy for the snake,....or necessary. I know some people that treat breeder snake's like they are race cars, and try to get every single possible ounce out of them for EGGS!, EGGS!, EGGS!. But this sort of thing is very taxing on the animal's organs and overall health.

~Doug
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"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

my website -serpentinespecialties.webs.com

Yeah I agree and hope I am not guilty of overfeeding myself! I do not cut my feeders and am giving my black milks all one good size meal each week along with my pink pine, but my mussurana who is still a tiny thing, is taking 2 small fuzzies each week (Thursdays and Mondays) and seems to be keeping up with me as I find she has usually defecated already before I feed her. I also increased my 3.5 foot Leucistic Pine to an adult mouse on Mondays and Thursdays too and he seems to be doing well with it. I just want him to get up to a good size for my wedding haha! But once everybody is an adult in my care, weekly feedings or less will be the max I feel. The mussurana may need more but we will see when that time comes

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~Markus

The very existence of flamethrowers means that sometime, somewhere, someone said to themselves..."You know, I really want to set those people over there on fire...but I'm just not close enough to get the job done!

Well IMO, the best course to follow with any captive wild creature is to approximate its wild diet and enrvironment as closely as possible. Snakes in the wild eat what they catch without any special preparation. It should be enough that we provide that food on a regular basis, as opposed to the hit and miss capture and eat cycle they naturally encounter in the wild. I would imagine if you studied a snake's eating cycles in the wild you would find that they consume considerably less than a one guaranteed rodent a week as in captivity, so in reality we are all providing a maximum diet already. No frills necessary.

I think you may be surprised about how much wild snakes eat when food is around. If food is available, snakes eat, alot.

When food is more scarce, say during a drought year, the wild snakes can go underground and stay at very cool temps to reduce calorie burnoff, thus increase chances to survive. And that is something they cannot do in captivity in a room held at 80.5 deg. So we keepers HAVE to feed them enough..

I guess what I am saying is that it isn't all one way or another. The wild snakes take advantage when they can, and they reduce activity and metabolism when conditions are not so good.

One other tidbit about wild snakes - they will eat large food items. I've seen it too many times to think otherwise. Then again, a wild snake can find pretty high temps when need be - higher than the aforementioned 80.5 degrees - so the big meal is easily handled.

In captivity, only so large a meal can be handled at 80.5 degrees. Depends on species of course. The old care sheet advice to feed a meal "not much larger than the snake's midbody" is probably wise after all for captive snakes due to the temperature range usually offered in captivity.
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Mark