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my snake eats a 7lb chicken every 5 weeks he refused his last feeding he did the same last spring is this normal?

Thats a big ass chicken! No its really not the norm for a snake to fast during the spring, its more normal for them to fast during the colder months of the year. But if your snake does it every year then its fine, as long as he starts eating for you again.
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1.1 Albino Burmese
1.0 Veild Chameleon
Waiting for more reptiles of any kind

Hey Corbin, thanks for your reply. Big chicken is what I thought too! Twenty minutes later, I thought "good boy". I was tired of raising rats! Spring is cold in Wisconsin, and my snake is in a climate controlled room so I just really don't know if he has his timing off by a little. {It's a nice room to visit in the cold of winter though.}

Every snake is unique; your's may be hormonal in the spring and the attention switches from wanting to feed to wanting to find a mate. We have an adult female who, after a 6 month fast, just started pounding rabbits two weeks ago; sometimes there's no rhyme or reason. You also might consider adding a little variety to your burm's diet. Have you tried rabbits? You will find that a burm on a rabbit diet will tend to develop better muscle mass, and, best of all, produce feces that doesn't stink anywhere nearly as bad as a burm being fed birds. Just a thought.

Rob Carmichael, Curator
The Wildlife Discovery Center
Lake Forest, IL

>>my snake eats a 7lb chicken every 5 weeks he refused his last feeding he did the same last spring is this normal?
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Rob Carmichael, Curator
The Wildlife Discovery Center at Elawa Farm
Lake Forest, IL

Rob thanks for the reply, I have actually been wanting to change his diet to pork. I have a ready supply of piglets. My only concern here is the farmer has given the piglets their first shots. I am not sure if this could be harmful to Zeus? Do you happen to know? A piglet last spring was the first time he refused food. In addition I had adopted a small female burm in "03", they do have seperate enclosures in close proximity of each other. We do beleive Zeus is a male. The mating notion may be on the money. One other thing, what should the ideal weight be of a 12'10" Burm be? He is usually very active and has no problems scaling walls and supporting himself with the lower quarter of his body. {in other words, he cannot be left unattended in my home he loves to investigate!}

Pigs would make a nice meal but you might check to see what types of shots they are getting and then call a veterinarian who works with reptiles (if you don't have one, I can refer a few to you) to see if there are any contraindications that you need to be aware of (doubtful but always better to be on the safe side). A 12' male will weigh much less than a female of similar lenght. My guess is that something in the 50-75 pound range is good (I will have to check my notes on the males we keep and weigh regularly). Hope this helps. Rob

>>Rob thanks for the reply, I have actually been wanting to change his diet to pork. I have a ready supply of piglets. My only concern here is the farmer has given the piglets their first shots. I am not sure if this could be harmful to Zeus? Do you happen to know? A piglet last spring was the first time he refused food. In addition I had adopted a small female burm in "03", they do have seperate enclosures in close proximity of each other. We do beleive Zeus is a male. The mating notion may be on the money. One other thing, what should the ideal weight be of a 12'10" Burm be? He is usually very active and has no problems scaling walls and supporting himself with the lower quarter of his body. {in other words, he cannot be left unattended in my home he loves to investigate!}
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Rob Carmichael, Curator
The Wildlife Discovery Center at Elawa Farm
Lake Forest, IL

I agree with you completely on the weight Rob. My male was around 9 foot or so and weighed about 35-40 pounds and my female was 13 foot and pushed 100. So you figure his male would be somehwere around the average of the two ...maybe a little lower.

FYI, Zeus weighs in at 85lbs., and I had feared he was underweight. I had rescued him about four years ago. At the time I had really no reliable information on him and was told he was about three years old, based on that, {he measured in at 10' then, and was kept in a 65 gallon aquarium} would his growth rate be normal? He had very little muscle tone and had loose skin falling about 1-2 inches off his body on either side. Whereas now, he is well toned with no loose skin falling around him. His enclosure is 6'x3'x4'. {Not to worry, his new habitat is being designed, he gets his own room soon.} Thank you so much for the feedback, this is the first time I feel comfortable discussing the health and growth issues that concern me. Regards Corkscrew. P.S. Can he be only 7 years old? The youngsters who previously had him did power feed.