Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My next question is, just how big DO these things REALLY get anyway?!? This is one of the the same cute little womas I posted on here some time ago. Now she's up to four rats a week and it looks like a Shetland pony is using her cage for a litterbox!

Fat females don't have room to produce mature follicles...and normally reabsorb them. Why would you feed that thing 4 rats a week? I just don't see why people insist upon power feeding.
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Jim Kuroski

Yes,
That female should be plenty big enough to breed. Are you feeding big rats or little rats 4x times a week? She is a beautiul woma!

Bret

I am somewhat offended by the gentleman suggesting that I am power-feeding! I have spoken to Don Hamper, Dennis Mountain, and Pete about the best approach for feeding her. This snake is kept alone in a 36" x 18" Vision cage and strikes at the glass when hungry. My male (which was close to the same size upon purchase) is now around half the size of this one. I have fretted about an appropriate feeding amount, but the two seem to have different needs. I feed Cajun "small rats" to them (which are pretty sizable), he often refuses the second of two, she bites anything that moves after both of hers! I feed them every Tuesday and Satuday, and offer two per feeding. With her appetite and feeding response, I could probably double that should I care to power-feed. She also passes waste much more quickly. I have checked temps and even swapped cages to see if environment is a factor. I also had Clay Davenport (Arbreptiles.com) who is an old hand at Australian pythons inspect her and he found her to be muscular and of proper body mass considering five feet of length. If you are going to attack someone's practice's, please inquire first!

Thanks Brett, I really hope she produces for me. They may be the most enjoyable species I've ever worked with, in spite of the individual differences between the two I have. I look forward to seeing those beauties come out of the egg!

"I feed Cajun "small rats" to them (which are pretty sizable), he often refuses the second of two, she bites anything that moves after both of hers! I feed them every Tuesday and Satuday, and offer two per feeding."

That's 4 rats a week...try one appropriate sized meal every two weeks or weekly. There is no need to feed that snake that much food. He attitude has nothing to do with if she is hungry or not. How do you know that she is hungry?
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Jim Kuroski

"I also had Clay Davenport (Arbreptiles.com) who is an old hand at Australian pythons inspect her and he found her to be muscular and of proper body mass considering five feet of length."

Considering five to six feet is the average adult size, makes me think it has been pushed at bit. I also have never seen a round woma before. Also the pre vent area looks totally bloated.
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Jim Kuroski

Yeah I would lay off dude. You can see how its totally full of feces and then the tail gets small. I am currently injecting my GTP with sodium chloride, 12cc's daily. She got that bloated-then small tail look that yours has. I wouldnt feed her for another 2-3 weeks man. By the way jim, my Adult coastal has fed twice for me since our little debate, so miracles do happen!
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Many feel that I need to be balanced with equal time. Wrong. I AM equal time.

-Rush Limbaugh, 1992

Doing anything different, or just decided to eat again?
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Jim Kuroski

Well yes one thing. Im killing the rats differently. I just throw the rats in the same bucket (no air holes) with a huge chunk of dry ice. All the rats seem to completely die in 2 minutes. It looks like the rats are having a slumber party, to see all those dead animals. But its a dirty job, and I have to do it. Anyway, istead of wacking the rat on the head, its dying a little more cleanly. Im not sure if this is why the python is going for it, but twice in a row now, she just started eating it, no constriction or anything. Its pretty cool, i just hope she keeps it up!
Thanks, john
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Many feel that I need to be balanced with equal time. Wrong. I AM equal time.

-Rush Limbaugh, 1992

I assume she's still hungry because she strikes at the glass if I'm anywhere in the snake room when she's "hungry". Also the tail twitching that they do when hungry. Do you own womas? The belly is flat, and even the much smaller male has a sharp drop from vent to tail. Every woma I've seen does. I've cut back to one feeding per week since the discussion, and the snake is almost unhandle-able now. She may not be hungry, but she clearly wants to eat! I thought power feeding meant feeding as much as a snake would ingest. She would clearly eat more if I offered. Perhaps I am overfeeding, but I basically treat the womas like I would any other snake I own. For her body weight she's probably eating less mass than my colubrids. I appreciate your advice, but you kind of gave me a reaming for my husbandry, which I would never knowingly approach in an unhealthy fashion just to grow something quickly.

"I assume she's still hungry because she strikes at the glass if I'm anywhere in the snake room when she's "hungry". Also the tail twitching that they do when hungry."

Well I am going to relate this to a wild specimen, which I don't often do. First of all, a woma in the wild will caudal lure while it sits and waits for a prey item to be attracted. They could be waiting for days. I just don't think that this is a good indicator that she NEEDS to eat. Womas are aggressive feeders and will appear to be very "hungry" all the time, whether it is in their best interest or not.

"Do you own womas?"

No I don't but I do know a bit about them and snake in general. Not professing to be an expert. Just stating my opinion.

"The belly is flat, and even the much smaller male has a sharp drop from vent to tail. Every woma I've seen does."

I was more referring to the dorsal area...I normally see a much more discernable backbone. Yes they do taper as all snakes do, but it looks a bit distended. Maybe I am wrong.

"For her body weight she's probably eating less mass than my colubrids."

Colubrids have a much higher metabolism...comparing apples to oranges.
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Jim Kuroski

That would be the 1st I've heard about not feeding womas a lot as most the folks that actually keep and breed them feed the crap outta them.

Personally I wouldn't worry as the snake in the picture looks to be fine.

Phil