Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My husband recently got a new supervisor at work. Yesterday she told him that she had gotten a 2 yr. old burmese python, fed it on cat food and vegetation (!!!) until it was 16 ft. long, and then donated it to the San Diego Zoo. I said it was BS, but I have collubrids and rosy boas, and I'm not that familiar with BP. Is there any way this story could be true? I know the vegetation part is crap, but cat food? How could a BP possibly reach 16' on a diet of cat food, even if it would eat it?

Looking forward to your replies!

Jeannie

Maybe if she fed it CATS,.. but not cat food. There's no way a snake could even manipulate any known forms of cat food into it's mouth as their mouths are designed to consume solid prey items. And even if one COULD somehow deliver large amounts of cat food into a python, it would not thrive and grow so well to reach such a large size. The food would be deficient of necessary vitamins and nutrients that only "whole food" can provide. So a snake would not only be stunted, but would likely die a very early death. Just a lack of roughage (hair, feathers, etc) would likely affect it's bowels in a negative way as this is necessary for proper and healthy stool development.

I have known people who fed their snakes wet dogfood/catfood. Sad but true.. Ive had these pictures for years. Don't remember where exactly they came from.

crap.. ok why does HTML not work... thats lame.. well here's one photo anyway..

That really is a boa with freakin dog food in its mouth. WTF?

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Randilyn -;,-
Nyxie.com

is it possible for it to reach 16'? She said she had the snake until it was 7, then donated it to SD Zoo (which begs another question: why would the zoo accept a snake which had to be in hideous condition, unless it was from sheer mercy?).

I just can't believe anyone would be so idiotic. I also can't believe that poor snake lived that long on such a pathetic diet.

Thanks for your input.

Jeannie

What do cats eat in the wild?...mostly things like lizards, rodents and birds...right? Wild dogs would eat somewhat larger animals, but still the whole animal...bones entrails and all. So, theoretically, a diet that was PROPERLY balanced for a dog or cat might not be that bad for a snake...

Hmmm...maybe something to look into... (But probably not.)

That picture was truly upsetting. I mean, its just the idea that it would be correct, correct to feed a bloody snake dog/cat food. I cant imagine it being healthy for the snakes body, and pshycological system. Not that snakes think too much, but anything out of the norm can be quite annoying to a snake. Not to mention incredibly inconvinient (at least with frozen thawed prey, it can be falsley constricted). My blood python wont bite, so do you think hes tame? Hell no. Hes vicious, aggresive. Just because a snake is to nurvous to bite doesnt mean its not irritated, or agressive. You have to learn how to read a snake no matter what. Sorry for the irrelevent tangent, but gosh. That picture irritates the hell out of me

A friend of mine put his bermise on a power diet and fed it dog food for extra protien and fat and all that good stuff. it looked like it worked cause it was 17 feet plus. but i have never herd of only cat or dog food i think the snake would have dieid from lak of nutrition. i wouldnt belive the story and a 16 foot bermise at 7 years old is kinda big for being fed dog food. anyway i wouldnt belive the story but the owner could have fed it cat food.