Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I talked to some breeders and they said that you can restrict growth by limiting the size of prey. Are they wrong? Why, how does this harm the snake? Will someone give me some answers? Please.

Matt

This is acurate information, but a touchy subject to post in a forum where people tend to spoil their pets with frequent meals. But meals in the wild for these and any snake species are truly not regular and may be few and far between. So for someone to tell you that your burmese "has to" eat a big meal every week is not true. There is a lot of leeway in "proper" feeding techniques and or regimenes and anything within a healthful range is acceptable. So yes, smaller prey items are in fact, fine. And less frequent feedings are also fine. As long as the snake's body is visibly healthy and not thin or emaciated. Any time that your snake has an unhealthful physical appearance it probably indicates that you are underfeeding him. A moderately sized meal every week or two should reduce your python's average rate of growth without posing a risk to his health. Example: a good sized (large) rat every week or two for a 6 or 7 foot male burmese. With a feeding regimen like this you should expect about an inch per month and a perfectly healthy snake. As he grows, however you will need to gradually increase the size of his prey items to mirror the approximate percentage (ounce to pound). The snake will still get large over time but it will take him a lot longer to reach the larger sizes than when raised on a more generous diet.

Personally,.. I believe that smaller prey diets are healthier for captive burmese than more generous diets that cause our snakes to be big fat lethargic sausages. I feed my males very moderately and they grow very slowly yet they remain thick and healthy. I feed my females much more, but before I am labeled a hypocrite I must state that the extra weight is necessary for proper egg development and the females need this and lose it all each year when bred.

>>I talked to some breeders and they said that you can restrict growth by limiting the size of prey. Are they wrong? Why, how does this harm the snake? Will someone give me some answers? Please.
>>
>>Matt
-----
Believe in yourself and your abilities and you can accomplish anything.

Thank you for your information. I will make sure to be careful and thanks again.

Matt

I just want to state that I do not believe that I stated that feeding smaller prey items would be detrimental to your snake. If I did imply that than I apologize. The point I was trying to make was that genetics play more of a role in the over all length a snake will obtain. I think that if a snake is going to get 15' then it will obtain 15' if it lives long enough. If you feed it moderately with small food sources then it will just take substantially longer for it to get that size but it will still get there. My main point I was trying to make was that in my opinion what you will end up with is a snake that is always hungry and therefore always looking for food. This could lead to a dangerous situation if proper procedures aren't followed. Todd