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With my first Black Milk her feeding schedule was based on how she reacted to what I offered ... she hit the food item hard and I'd feed her every 3 days... she took her time and I'd wait 5 days. To this day she's still eating every 5 to 7 days, very rarely does she refuse that schedule.

With my new BM there only seems to be one reaction... ravenous. I currently feed him a single pinkie every Sunday and Wednesday but I'm certain he'd take two on each of those days... or a single one every other day because he just seems to want to eat.

So the question is... Is it advisable to feed him that much/frequently? I know some of you do "power" feedings, trying to get the snake to breeding sizes faster or other reasons... but is there a down side to it? As I've said, right now it doesn't seem I can feed him often enough.

Polyz are doing great as well, won't eat from my hand like the BM so I can't judge how hungry they are but a pinkie disappears from their hides every Sunday and Wednesday also. Contemplating upping their feeding schedule as well just to see if they are up for it.

Anyway, time to say hello to and feed the bottomless pit... thanks for any replies.

Gerry

With young snakes, as long as they can thermoregulate to temps that will allow swift and efficient digestion, their bodies will definitely put all those food calories to good use for optimum growing.

However, when snakes get more mature, it is more important to keep a close eye on their weight, as they can sometimes become obese on some feeding schedules. This taxes their internal organs and entire body to a much greater degree than a more slender, fit, healthier snake that is fed a little less.

If a female is to be used for breeding purposes, it of course is nice to have some decent weight put on for the production of eggs, but otherwise it wouldn't do much of a benefit for the animal. It is similar to the engine in a race car always having to work at full output basically, this can help you get to the "finish line" before the other cars, but probably won't last as well in the overal long run of things.

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

my website -serpentinespecialties.webs.com

Sound advice Doug and good analogy to the car engine.

I basically feed babies as much as they want, when they want. Good growth but without really powerfeeding.
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BigT
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Thanks Gents... at least I assume gents...

Rather figured the answers you offered would be the case, especially given the fact that Mr. Haneisen has made the same observation with the entire clutch. Thought I'd through the question out there simply because his appetite seems to be far beyond the "hearty" appetite my female exhibited at the same time/age. Temp range for all the snakes is good, though I do keep both BM's in a narrower range of 68 to 72 simply because my female has always disliked anything above or below that.

Doug, I do keep an eye on the females weight, no porker yet IMO (I do hope to breed her this year if my boys male Sonny is up to the double duty)... in fact between her last two sheds I've taken multiple photos of her and used the snake measuring program multiple times as well... keep getting between 5/8 to 3/4 of an inch growth... doesn't seem right given she's 5 years old now... but she's in blue again so I'll do it all over again and see what I come up with for growth this time. I'd like to think she' still growing at that rate but I suspect having to use a wider angle to get her in the picture in one shot is throwing things off.

Anyway, thanks again gents... two pinkie's per feeding it is if that's what he wants.

Gerry

Yeah, it sounds like you are doing fine with yours Gerry. And I certainly agree about them liking slightly lower temps than some other types of milks too.

I have always found that I can usually ALWAYS get a snake to get most of the way stretched out next to a tape, while having a very loose grasp on the neck, and slowly and gently pull it straight out for an accurate measurement before they even know what was going on and start pulling back. With my very long arms I can accurately measure to the fraction of an inch anything up to like exactly 5 and a half feet by myself with no problem. Just the other day I got a super accurate measurement on my large 63 inch male brooksi. And he is one big muscle-bound brute!..LOL!

Good luck with those beauties you have!

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

my website -serpentinespecialties.webs.com

Yeah, that is always a good way to roll!

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

my website -serpentinespecialties.webs.com

Gerry:

I usually don't worry too much about frequency of feeding. If every five days works, I stick with it. I'm usually more concerned about size of prey item. Blacks start out on large pinks then I usually bump them up to two at each feeding, then fuzzies, etc.

That said, I think every couple days is a little too frequent but I guess maybe one way to look at it is this: If this snake was in the wild and encountering prey very frequently and eating whenever it could, is that a bad thing? Sometimes we should probably let the snakes dictate what they need and as keepers listen to what they are telling us. Glad your new guy is on his way to becoming a monster like his mom and dad.

Rob