Reptile & Amphibian Forums

To achieve maximum Health and Vigor. Why do the Fools not realize this? Becuase they are Ex Locomotive Hobbists.

wtf? -- good one

we have all been just aimlessly drifting here wondering how to take care of our snakes until you came along.

Keith
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And this is the same person a couple of months ago that stated he fed his 30 inch Cal. King a full grown Rat.
It's never a good thing to be in left field without a glove.

Steve

Understood greatly one ques tho then ? my herper is tellin me ten days apart feeding sch for my two Kings (desert n Brooks) do all agree? there on two pinks ech. Mike.S

Not if you want the to reach maximum potential. I feed hatchling every 3-5 days depending on how they look when the next feeding comes around. Yearlings are fed every 5-7 days and adults every 7 days, unless it's for females producing eggs, then they are fed every 5-7 days. You'll see how much larger your babies will grow on this schedule......and it's not power feeding.

Brandon Osborne

Understood Brandon, against what the guy who does reptile shows and sold me my snake told me and what your telling me im going with your advice im going to keep the sch of feedin every seven days instead of ten,do you breed ? and if so how long have you been herpering ? And this really isnt power feeding? i just saw a post that said let them grow naturely?so that ten days thing that he told me is i guess for lack of a better word Bs ?i just would like them to have enuff food! and grow at a decent rate im not trying to get my two kings to max size in the shortest time its just well you know there cute as babies (my desert king is about lil less then a foot n my brooks is bigger in size roundwise but less in length had th desert for three months now brooks One month)but i would just like to see them hanging from my neck ? i dont know call me silly! would love to hear your precise breakdowns on this intense sub Greatly Appr Mike S.

Mike, I've been breeding snakes since early highschool. I just turned 30, so that's about 15 years. The hatchling feeding schedule isn't necessarily for how fast you can get the snake big, but how effeciently you can get them to reach their maximum potential size. I experimented with a few snakes 4 years ago, to see how feeding schedules affected growth rates. Now this wasn't really done in any scientific method, but the end results were much different.

I had 6 hatchlings from 3 different bloodlines. Two were fed one pink every 10 days, 2 were fed one pink per week, and 2 were fed every 3-5 days. The snakes fed on the accelerated schedule reached 3' before they were a year old. The snakes fed once per week were around 24-30", and the others.......well, let's just say they weren't up to my standards. Although all snakes, even runts will eventually reach an average adult size, in my opinion, the most crucial growing stages are achieved within the first 2 years of age. If you can maximize the potential during the first 2 years of growth, you will notice a HUGE difference in production, as well as, fertility and overall vigor.

I kind of did the same experiment with Green Tree Pythons this past year. In a previous clutch, I only fed babies every 7 days, out of fear of prolapse. Although the babies from the 01 clutch grew fine and were healthy, they are now 3 years old and not what I would call large for their ages. With the 2003 clutch, I fed babies every 5 days, and also increased the size of the food item more frequently. Babies from the 03 clutch reached larger comparitive sizes before they were one year old, that the first clutch didn't reach until they were 15-18 months old. I had this my 03 babies on adult mice before their first birthdays.

Again, none of this has to do with science, but it's just my experimental experience. I'm sure others will have similar results and some may not. The best advice I can give anyone is, do what works best for you. Sometimes experimentation will work, and sometimes it will not. Sorry to ramble. Good luck.

Brandon Osborne

Understood Brandon, against what the guy who does reptile shows and sold me my snake told me and what your telling me im going with your advice im going to keep the sch of feedin every seven days instead of ten,do you breed ? and if so how long have you been herpering ? And this really isnt power feeding? i just saw a post that said let them grow naturely?so that ten days thing that he told me is i guess for lack of a better word Bs ?i just would like them to have enuff food! and grow at a decent rate im not trying to get my two kings to max size in the shortest time its just well you know there cute as babies (my desert king is about lil less then a foot n my brooks is bigger in size roundwise but less in length had th desert for three months now brooks One month)but i would just like to see them hanging from my neck ? i dont know call me silly! would love to hear your precise breakdowns on this intense sub Greatly Appr Mike S.

i appr it, i didnt think it was rambling, good reading, like i said before im going to talk to the guy who sold me the snakes and just tell him that i will feel better if i keep then on the seven day cycle, as u mentioned the vigor is upp, i have two males so im not intrested in fertilty, but health is a major factor! n i kinda have a free hand in getting pinkies or hooppers whatever they be on at the size of there growth i think the name of the site is rodentpro.com im going to use that site to order a shi%load of pinks n hoppers, unless u have a wiser course of action for my snakes meals? well just tryin to let you know i appreciate the help in more ways then one, thank you for you patients wit a beginner! Mike.

Not a problem at all Mike. Feel free to email me anytime. I'll try to answer any question I can. Good luck with the critters.

Brandon

Thank You Very Much, its nice to exchange posts with a decent human being, whats your email ? i'll try not to bother you for every lil thing. Mike S. pps nice to keep up posts with ya!

What is your problem dude? Must you disagree all of the time?
Jeff

Can U Say Over Kill ? or rather over feeding? lets not forget Overheating?

>>To achieve maximum Health and Vigor. Why do the Fools not realize this? Becuase they are Ex Locomotive Hobbists.

...hopefully to lethal amounts. j/k. thats mean

seriously, calm down. go fishing, see a flick, turn down those snake temps, and for gods sake dont pick on locomotive hobbiests. lets not forget what cinematic gold the "Dolemite" movies were...