Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i fed my snakes on 8/20 and can't buy food till next payday on 9/9. will health active snakes be ok during that time? i know they can go without food for long periods but is that for the ones that refuse food, sheding, etc? or can normally active snakes go that long also. thanks anyone.

this is what i have:
6 foot jungle carpet python
3 corns
soloman island ground boa
honduran milk.

only one i have food for is my baby corn and i think she went into shedding mode.

They will be fine.

Snakes can go quite a while without a meal, it's just typically not healthy to abuse that ability. I would say that your snakes will be just fine if you can't get food until then. I would just try my best to not make it a habit and try to stock up on frozen foods as frequently as possible.

Hope this helps,

Chris
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Chris Law
U.A.P.P.E.A.L. (Uniting a Proactive Primate and Exotic Animal League)
Herpetoculture Element Representative

i normally feed every 7-10 days or so. i was out of work for a few weeks and now i'm playing catch up. this is a once in a while thing for me. otherwise they eat like kings.

Most of my snakes are on a two week cycle (and skip a feed when in shed). The exceptions are my Waglers and Eyelash vipers as well as my Cerastes c. which are monthly (every two weeks is too much food for them) and my racers which eat weekly (opposite situation).

While many here try to feed every four days, IMO it is not the best thing and my snakes are all in good body weight.

Frank
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"The luxury of not getting involved departed with the last lifeboat Skipper..."

I also, do a two week cycle, and for those species that over-winter, they get at least three months out of the year without food.

.

Pretty much same as above. I don't like to force growth. My most frequent feeder by the way is my Japanese Green Snake that eats two Night Crawlers every three days.

Frank
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"The luxury of not getting involved departed with the last lifeboat Skipper..."

ATM, i'm feeding two items every week. I am considering to dropping to either one item a week, or two items every 10 days. Might do that Thanks.
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Happy Herping

I take a different approach, and feed hatchling as much as I can. I don't consider it forcing growth. In nature the neonates will eat as much as possible, becuase be small means being prey for a large number of predators, also nothern snakes that have to face over-wintering grow so they can edure the colder temperatures better. So I consider it natural for them and healthy. Obesity kills, so you do have to watch out for it, as long as your snakes are growing and putting that food to growth instead of fat, your in good shape. Some snakes have to fed this way as neonates or their adult size will be stunted and they will be more aggressive. Burmese, and reticulate pythons for example. I think most colubrids are just fine if you feed them less. There are studies that indicate that snakes that are fed to often and grow to fast have a shorter life span. I believe that this a result of them continuing to be fed large amounts after they have reached adult size. Regardless of your feeding regiment, one of the best things you can do for your snakes is to be able recognize one that is too fat, and needs to be fed less. Also some snakes have higher metabolisms and need to be fed more often, racers, and garters for example.

Thanks Rick.

Let me qualify myself. I asked the question regarding hatchlings and juvies, but answered it regarding older.

I usually feed 2 items every 5 days for younger.
And 2 items every 7 days (soon to be 10 days) for yearlings and older.

I agree that hatchlings feed more in the wild. But, that is only to grow as quickly as possible so as to avoid predation. Is this what is good for them, or, alternatively, only what is necessary to survive? Yes, i feed a little more, but not too much as there's no necessity to avoid predation in their little boxes
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Happy Herping

It is a difficult balance as baby snakes can over feed in some cases to the point of gross obesity.

I remember two autopsies we did on California kings which had grown magnificently up to 2.5 ft and then died mysteriously. In both cases we found that the heart and other organs had litterally been out grown by the rest of the body causing heart failure when it could not keep up. Some others just got fat to the point where the heart was compressed.

Some snakes do not know when to stop eating.

(It is similar to the situation in some desert snakes that instinctively "tank up" on water in captivity, as where they are in nature drinks are few and small. They just don't have the instinct to stop drinking. This can be lethal in species whose metabolisms are designed to survive on little or no free water (what fluids they need comes from prey animals).

I have a very healthy Mojave Sidewinder for example that I have had for 4 years, that has never drank water (lives on sand in AC so it's super dry). The only Sidewinder I ever lost had a water bowl. This I should point out is not carved in stone as I have met people who have raised these snakes with waterbowls successfully. Go Figure...)

Baby snakes eat whatever they can find in nature not just because they need to grow quickly, but also because in nature meals can be few and far between. They also burn off more calories in their quest for meals (in active hunting species vs ambush predators) then one sitting in a ten gallon aquarium waiting for it's meal to be dropped.

Feeding on a less than two week schedule is also very bad for species like for example Eyelash vipers, Wags, Sidewinders, C. cerestes and some western ratsnakes like B. rosalie, triaspis and Subocularis.

In the case of the ratsnakes over feeding can result in the snake going into a pattern of eating and purging not unlike an Aenorexic-with lethal results. Again I have had deaths in Trans Pecos Rats that clearly (through Autopsy showed excessive fat on a two week feeding schedule.

The old truths about diet and excersize count in the snake world as surely as in ours.

Frank
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"The luxury of not getting involved departed with the last lifeboat Skipper..."

Right, the real point here is you've got to know the snake your working with. Different species have different requirements and different limits. You can generalize and say the neonates can eat more then adults, but how much is enough or too much is going to depend on the species. We should also mention food items play a big part in this as well. Generally fish, and frog eating snakes eat more often even every day, my Drymobius Margariteferus (jewel racers) eat gold fish every day or two days, and remain super lean. Likewise insect eaters, worm and slug eaters have high metabolisms. Mouse eaters and rat eaters are generally going to eat on a weekly or bi-weekly schedule, and large pythons eating rabbits etc. once a month or less. I heard some python keepers feed there big snakes a large prey item like a pig or goat once a year.