Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Sorry to harp on a tired subject, but I'm trying to get an idea of a proper feeding schedual (doing everything for this baby several months in advance).

This was written on someone's web page in regard to blood python feeding (it's cut-and-pasted, so it's pretty verbatim):

"If fed every 3-4 days you can have a mature male in about 18 months, and a mature female in about 2 years."

THAT would be an example of power-feeding (which is very unhealthy) -- correct? Baby bloods should be fed every 7-10 days? Or is the man right -- 3-4 days is a healthy interval to produce optimum growth?

Again, sorry to keep bringing this up -- I'm just trying to figure out what's the best way to produce a big, fat (hey, bloods are fat) snake without ending up with an obese, unhealthy one.

Thanks,
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A. Fox

Everyone's got a different opinion on this, and no one's doing 20 and 30 year studies to see if power feeding actually shortens lifespans. As for me, I feed every 7 to 10 days unless it's a snake with special circumstances. I'd imagine there's fat and then there's FAT as far as bloods go.
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Peter: It's OK, I'll handle it. I read a book about something like this.
Brian: Are you sure it was a book? Are you sure it wasn't NOTHING?

You also have to take into account the amount of food you are giving them. If you are not feeding them a whole lot I guess every 3 to 4 days would be ok. However I assume it would be better to feed them an appropriate meal every 7 to 10 days. With the maturity dates that he is descibing, it appears that he is trying to describe powerfeeding methods in order to get them into a sexually mature stage quicker. Is this healthy? Personally I would say no, but as was said no one has really done 20 to 30 year studies. Tho I dont recall any animal where obesity is a healthy trait.
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"It's my snake, I trained it, so I'm going to eat it!" - Mad Max, The Road Warrior

It IS proven that obese snakes don't breed as well... but then again we're talking about a snake that should be obese compared to all other snake's standards.
But the thing that made the greatest impression on me... was a guy who posted on kingsnake on this subject. He bought a rattlesnake 30 years ago. Some of his friends bought others from the same litter. The guy fed his rattlers on a very restricted schedule, the others fed them much more. He still has his rattler, his friends have gone through several. Both large rattlers and blood pythons are heavy bodied 'sit and wait' predators. So that's what I think about when I read people telling me to feed my snakes every 5 days.
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Peter: It's OK, I'll handle it. I read a book about something like this.
Brian: Are you sure it was a book? Are you sure it wasn't NOTHING?

Looks like this is taken from my website. I fed my yuong animals every 3-4 days one prey item, at 1.5- 2 years I cut them back to one prey item every 7 days. My animals have produced for me very well. I've had no apparent health problems.

Sorry if it seemed as if I was holding you up for scrutiny -- I'm just trying to get a sense of how much to feed without overfeeding. Your animals are absolutely stunning. The only reason really that I used your testimony as an example of powerfeeding is because, when I typed "powerfeeding pythons" into Google, your site came up.

I wasn't even sure if your feeding schedual would be considered "powerfeeding" or not. I was sort of trying to get a sense of what "powerfeeding" was versus just normal feeding. As long as your animals are healthy, that's all that matters -- and the ones on your site are gorgeous, too!
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A. Fox

Thank you for the compliment. normally I feed my hatchlings that I offer for sale every 7 days. The only time I feed every 3-4 days is if I have an animal that I want to breed in the next 2 years. I also have different feeding schedules for adult animals that I'm planning on breeding vs. animals that are pets. Again thank you for the compliment and if I can answer any questions I would be glad to do so my email is on my website.
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