Reptile & Amphibian Forums

All that everybody talks about how their spiders eat everything, and anything. Just seeing if anybody has had any feeding problems with their spiders. My little ones born 9/03/04 are already almost 300g!!!
Ryan

Yes, people do talk about spiders eating like crazy.
I have a couple that seem to do that, but I've also got
some that eat more along 'normal' patterns. I think that
one other thing that happens to people is that they tend
to feed their most valuable snakes first (maybe giving
them an occasional 2nd item if they are up for it), thus
causing them to grow 'faster'. In general, I do think
that spiders seem to be great eaters though.

Good luck with him!
Chris Simone

My female spider is up to 500g. We also got her in 9/04. They do grow amazingly fast, but some of my possible het pied females are close to 1000g and were born in the summer. I only feed 3-4 mice a week. Just add food and heat and watch them grow. Hope my title wasn't offensive (wasn't trying to brag, just an attempt at humor). Awesome snakes. How about a picture of yours? Here is mine back in Aug and I posted a pic earlier this week of her a couple weeks ago.
Justin J

AAR

people think it is okay to feed a Ball so much it literally grows 10X's faster than it should. The snakes fed alot will most likley show health problems or die WAY before they should, plus they will probably not be very good consistant breeders.
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Chad Bachman

That MAY be the case, but just wondering what evidence do you have of feeding schedules impacting Ball python longevity? It would take large numbers and 30-40 years to be able to say that conclusively. Take care, Dave

Fat, pushed snakes do not make good breeders. I'm talking feeding an animal 3-4X's per week, or stuffing them to the extreme 1X a week. Since I'm a nobody, ask any of the "Big Boys" if they prefer a fat overweight breeder, and if the fat overweight animals breed well, or at all. It's common sense to say an overweight animal will not live as long as a well fed healthy individual, but you are right, it will take a long time until you have proof I am right...LOL.
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Chad Bachman

of data when they died in 2 years........

not mine...but I know of a pair of albinos that did actually die in 2 years...peobably due to over feeding.........

......yes.it happens.......

.........see you in 30 years to let you know more.......
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You may be right. Hatchlings are a bit of an exception to that thought as they are designed to eat a lot and grow long fast or eat little and grow slow depending on conditions when they are born. Take the water python in Australia. If a hatchling hatches in a good food year then they will grow extremely fast. If born in a bad year, then they will not grow fast and will take their time to grow. There have also been studies on adult size and breeding capacity on these two groups and guess what? The hatchlings born in a good year and grown 10X faster than the ones born in bad years were not only larger adults, but also had better reproductive success. There is a natural example for your consideration. So it is also concievable that by not giving a hatchling enough food (and heat for that matter) when they are young so they can grow quickly, you may well be negatively impacting long term reproductive success. Just food for thought (no pun intended).
Justin J
AAR

I agree to feed a hatchling well, (I feed 2X's per week) and some will grow fast if only fed 1X per week, but stuffing a snake with food is not healthy, gauranteed.

I've bred cobras mainly, and wether fed alot or moderate, they all became sexually mature around the same age, but the fat animals would lay infertile (if any) eggs most of the time.

Look at pics of CBB Balls that were pushed, most have pinheads. Have you ever seen a WC Ball come in with a pinhead, or so fat it can hardly make a tight coil? Mother nature does not over feed its animals, and I'm sure there is a reason for it.
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Chad Bachman

Once they get to the country they do not look the same as when they left, so unless you are catching them in Africa, then we don't really have anything to go on. I do agree that force feeding a ball or cramming it full of food is unhealthy. It seems like you can feed a ball python until you are blue in the face, but if they are not hungry, they don't eat. And I have also never had one regurgitate because it was too full.
Justin J

Another example of an animal feeding a lot and getting to breeding size fast are the Australian dwarf monitors. Again, much like many male Balls, I have went litterally from baby to baby in a year or less wih no problem with a couple species when I was into them. I think what we are finding more & more is that a lot of animals are geared to feed extremely heavily when there is an over-abundance of food available, and their systems are able to handle it. I think it depends more on the species and even the sex. Some Chameleons are the same way. But the old paradigm was do not over feed your animals or they will not breed because they are too fat, which has a lot of truth to it. But that is an old axium, a generalization really, and does not prove true in all situations. Ball pythons are an excellent exanple of this. Excellent thread - what the forum is REALLY for !
Paul Edwards

I agree, also, I never caught a fat wild snake, or a very thin one for that matter.
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Chad Bachman