At a healthy wieght?

[Paleosuchus]

Since my post "In need of alittle wieght gain" i believe my female to be at a healthy wieght now but would like to have more opinions on this then just mine. Thanks, jason

This is one of the first photographs i took of her.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v493/Paleosuchus/mpp.jpg


An this is her as of today, last pic was roughly a week ago a few hours after a meal.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v493/Paleosuchus/et4.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v493/Paleosuchus/emeraldtree.jpg

[BoidKeeper]

A week is nothing to an emerald especially when they only eat every 3 weeks. It takes six months to but weight on an emerald. If you push her she'll puke so be careful.
Cheers,
Trevor

[Paleosuchus]

Its been more then a month, she has been fed a small rat every 9 days for around 3 weeks. Most recent being a week ago, she will be fed in around 4-5 more days

[Manitoban Herps]

I like yah, you ask lots of questions :D

[SnakeyeZ]

He's a nice snake Jason, goodluck with him bro!

[BoidKeeper]

You're over feeding her. If you keep it up she is going to puke. At the most I would feed her every 3 weeks. Some people push it to every 2 weeks but I think that is asking for trouble.
Cheers,
Trevor

[Paleosuchus]

I planned on cutting back to ever 2 weeks being she is at a healthy looking wieght from what i can see now which was my main question. But i will feed her every 3 weeks like you suggested Trevor, thanks for the help.
Jason

[CraigC]

Nine days is a little bit on the risky side, however I disagree that two weeks is feeding too often. We use a two week feeding schedule with no problem. We do have one rule that they only get three meals without a bowel movement. Some of our emeralds will go in the cage, some have to go outside on the jungle gym for some "rain time" before they will go.

Remember emerald metabolism is very slow and we usually allow 5-6 days of digestion before moving them ie putting a male back in with a female or taking out for exercise. My suggestion would be to increase meal size on a 2-3 week interval. I honestly don't think they are too selective about prey size in the wild to pass up a meal because it is too large or too small. Just use common sense.

CraigC

[bistrobob85]

I agree with CraigC. I've read all over the internet that feeding an adult on a 14 days schedule would make it regurge and suffer a long recovery but i know people who feed their ETBs every 14 days and theyr babies every 7 days and they actually breed their snakes with good results... As for me, i play it on the safe side, feeding my babies every 10 days a good sized meal ( for their size ) and i have them defecate every 2-3 meals.

[BoidKeeper]

Feeding an adult health ETB every 14 days and feeding something that is under weight and potentially sick are two different things guys. We're not talking about maintaining the weight of a CBB adult that we raised our selves here now are we. I think it best to air on the side of caution in these cases and stick to 3 weeks for a few months at least.
Cheers,
Trevor

[CraigC]

Hey Trevor,
If she has good hydration with no evidence of a digestive problem such as undigested bone in the stool or runny stool, then increasing meal size some what, on a 2-3 week schedule, would be better for putting on weight then feeding smaller meals at the interval mentioned (9 days).

CraigC

[BoidKeeper]

I agree with all of that Craig and granted that a lot of the info out there about feeding ETBs on a 4 week schedule was written with the acclimation of WC adults in mind. However, when someone ask for feeding advice I always air on the side of caution having little to go on normally. In another thread someone asked a similar question and my responce was more in line with yours because in that cause I'm familiar with both the animal and the keeper. In this case I'm not and the animal was said to have been underweight with no reason given for why it was underweight.
Taking the time to find out more about said animal first and offering advice second like you've done is the way to go. As apossed to playing it safe and offering the easy way out.lol
Cheers,
Trevor