Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have power feeding a young snake is bad, but how about an adult? Here is my situtation...I just lost my last female to a virus. The symptom was extreme weight loss, even with feeding. My male also started losing weight. He got down to 90 grams. He was treated with antibiotics and for parasites. I have been feeding him every other day and have gotten his weight up to 100 grams (but I can still see the bones in his tail ). His body is processing the food very quickly, as he is pooing the very next day. He is approx. 24 inches long. My thinking is that this will not hurt his organs, since they are already developed. Am I wrong in this conclussion? And what is the ideal weight for a male Eastern this length? Has anybody had success in recovering from a virus, or is it always fatal?
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Jenea

1:0 Eastern Hognose
0:0:1 Florida Redbelly Snake
0:1 Gulf Coast Box Turtle
1:1 Red-eared Slider
2:0 Cats
1:1 Kids
1:0 Spouse

I think you will be okay with your current treatment. Getting proper nutrition is just as important as any antibiotic treatment for a sick snake. I wouldn't exactly call what you are doing power feeding. To be specific I think power feeding is usually reserved for people who are trying to achieve unnatural growth rates for the sake of breeding or profits. In your case, the snake has been sick and desperately needs to recover some of its body weight. I don't think there will be any long-term damage from this treatment, especially considering the damage to the snake if you did not feed it as often! The consequences certainly would change if the snake got better and you continued to feeding it this often. In cases like these organ damage can occur regardless of age or their state of maturation, so it will not matter if he is an adult. But like I said, she won a put things in terms of organ damage, he's more likely to get it from the extreme weight loss or the effects of a virus.

Recovering from a virus is absolutely possible, "virus" is such a broad group of "organisms" that without the more specific I can't really comment on survival rate.
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Virginia Herping
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/VaHS
Virginia Herpetological Society
http://fwie.fw.vt.edu/VHS

If there is a just God, how humanity would writhe in its attempt to justify its treatment of animals. - Isaac Asimov