Power feeding

[BURMS]

Hi all, I just had a question on power feeding, but first I want to make clear that I would never do it because I know it is extremely damaging to a snake and can drastically lower its lifespan. Anyways, the question was: does power feeding a snake make it grow longer in the long run, or just longer quicker? As in will a snake that has been power fed and a snake that hasn't be the same size after 15 years?

Thanks!

[akane]

That might be somewhat species dependent since they don't all respond to excess food the same. Some get fat easy and some just put it all into growth. Pits like my bull will just grow and posts on the subject to the fb group seem to say the end result of heavy feeding when doing the most growing is a larger snake in the end. Versus the blood python species being known to just get fatter easier. It does seem you can stunt some snakes too. My 3year old rosy was kept cold and barely fed until I got her last summer and while she shot up in size an amazing amount she's mostly leveled out below average. She's been turning down food a lot even with the US native species saying it's time to wake up and start packing on the food for breeding and growing in the warm season.

[Andy_G]

Power fed snakes will certainly grow quicker. Some will grow larger and USUALLY longer but that can depend on species as Akane noted...but power feeding will also cause multiple health issues that inevitibly shorten their life span as you said. Genetics, food intake, and respective teperatures will all play a role in growth rates and overall adult size and this will vary between individuals as well, even if related and kept identically.

[BURMS]

Would "power fed snakes grow larger" include power fed burmese pythons? I thought power fed or not they were likely to max out at the same size, but the non power fed one would take much more time

[Andy_G]

That's a hard question to answer definitively, but I'll put it this way...all snakes grow rapidly until they reach sexual maturity and then they slow down, and just because a snake has been power fed and gets to a "breedable adult size" quicker doesn't necessarily mean that it reaches maturity at an earlier age. Genetics play a larger role in overall adult size but the limits can be pushed with power feeding. The one thing that is consistent is this- a snake that's grown and fed properly will long outlive something that has been power fed and although it may take a year or two longer to attain breedable size, it will be a more successful breeder for many more years.

[bigsnakegirl785]

Power feeding would make a snake bigger quicker but I don't see it making a longer snake in the end. With the amount of people power feeding their animals, you'd expect a lot more Fluffies in the world if all it came down to was feeding. No, a bigger end result is mostly dependent on genetics.

Add onto that, that a lot of power fed animals will die before a properly-fed animal reaches the same size (if they are meant to).

[Andy_G]

Power feeding would make a snake bigger quicker but I don't see it making a longer snake in the end.

It happens with some colubrid species so I can't imagine it to be impossible with burms but I am not sure.