Killing two birds with one stone....

[Jeff_Favelle]

1) I never take any pictures of males, so here is a 16 month old BRB male that is going to somehow figure into the breeding plans in 2004. It was cage cleaning time for him so I snapped a photo of the temp. cage he had to put up with for a couple minutes.

2) The question of overfeeding always comes up and many people sit on many sides of the fence (LOL!). >( I think you all know where I sit, ha ha! Put it this way, the aformentioned male is under a year and a half old and is 5 feet long and healthy (as you can see). If I told you he was this big at this age, many would think he was overfed, right? See how skinny he is? Does that look fat and obese to you? :eek: If kept in the RIGHT conditions, they can grow as fast as you want them to. I guess its all perception, but I'd love to see these overweight snakes that people keep talking about.

Take 'er easy and happy herping! The breeding season is closing in......... :D





http://members.shaw.ca/j_favelle/RM4%20003.jpg

[Clownfishie]

Wow Jeff! :) He's got awesome colour -- and he definitely doesn't look fat to me :) Just perfect actually....

[Tim_Cranwill]

He looks like a prize fighter, man!

So, what IS his feeding schedule anyway?

[Quervo]

Jeez Jeff .. what's the big idea of feeding your snake?? You want him to grow or something. :D
I think the problem is too many people confuse feeding your snake what he is capable of eating with forcing your snake to eat more than he should. Your guy looks just fine .. maybe a little snake aerobics to get rid of that mouse belly though. :cool:

[Jeff_Favelle]

Ha ha Quervo. "Mouse belly"! Waaayyyy worse than a beer belly, but not nearly as fun! LOL!

Cranwill, he doesn't have a feeding schedule. Feeding schedule's are for old people and farm animals. He eats when he is lookin' hungry! Ha ha JK, sort of.

[Lisa]

Wow, the colour is just amazing on him, i don't know why you don't take pics of your males, this one's just stunning.

[Jeff_Favelle]

Thanks Lisa! They tend to get overlooked here (and somewhat taken for granted!!), but I musn't forget that they are at least 1/2 of the equation for all the breedings that may or may not happen. LOL!

http://members.shaw.ca/jefffavelle/feeding2.jpg

http://members.shaw.ca/jefffavelle/RM5.jpg

http://members.shaw.ca/jefffavelle/RM5a.jpg

http://members.shaw.ca/jefffavelle/RM5_small.jpg

http://members.shaw.ca/jefffavelle/RM3.jpg

[Big Mike]

WOW...those look amazing :jawdrop:

[PoiSoNouS]

You really got lot of good looking snakes..
Wow ;)
:thumbsup:

[Jeff_Favelle]

Hey thanks. I appreciate it!! :D :D :D

[Linds]

Obesity in youngsters is completely irrelevant to overfeeding them. You won't see obese babies because they turn food into growth at that age, and as everyone knows, growing at accelerated rates can have serious long-term and short-term effects on any animal. Just because an animal isn't showing any immediate signs is not to say it won't suffer somewhere down the line. Slow and steady wins the race......................

[Syst3m]

Sweet Jeff,

I love your snakes. One day I'm going to come visit you just so I can see your snakes. Now you just have to move across the border so I can buy some too. :p

[Jeff_Favelle]

Ha ha Syst3m, feel free to come up and visit anytime!! And I can ship to the States. We just pulled CITES for a pair of Brazilians last week! But yeah, it is a bit of a hassle. Thanks for the kind words man!

Linds, ok, so when exactly are my 8 and 11 year old BRB's going to die then? They were fed at the same rate. I agree that SOME literature states that power-feeding (whatever that is) is eventually bad for snakes, but does any literature after 1970 say that? I mean, just because its in words, doesn't mean its true. I have a Ball Python manual that says the eggs take 90 days to hatch! Ha ha, try figuring that one out! Just because some dude who couldn't get his corns to breed at year 2 was mad at all the other breeders and wrote evil things about feeding snakes, doesn't make it so. I have living proof that completely abolishes the negative power feeding arguement, so conversely, where's the proof against it? Right. There isn't any. I applaud your desire to care for animals in the best way possible, but all the literature in the world means squat when I have 12 BRB's in my basement that say otherwise. And when it boils down to it, its really the snakes that matter, and not what the old school breeders say, right?

Cheers.

:D

[Linds]

Well 11 years old is not old at all for a rainbow, when your snakes reach ages of 25 + then you can say I told you so and I will admit that I was wrong. But until then I have seen nothing to convince me otherwise. I've seen too many pinheaded snakes as a result of powerfeeding in the hobby, a snake that's fed so fast it's own skull cannot keep up is not a good sign. Only knows what woudl happen should anyone try and rush the slower maturing species such as subflavus... BRB's do mature quicker than most boids, but still, is it really worth takin a risk? I would rather er on the side of caution, its a life at stake, not something to be toyed with. It's not just with snakes, accelerated growth rates in all living things have consequences, I'm not basing my opinion soley on the voice and observation of the old school snake breeders.......

[Jeff_Favelle]

Yeah, I've heard about pinheaded snakes and that. Scary stuff. Kinda gross too. But the only thing is, almost every snake I've owned (I've had hundreds) has pretty much reached maturity in 18-30 months and I don't own a single pinheaded snake. I wonder why that phenomenon would skip me. God certainly isn't on my side (well, maybe sometimes), so you'd think that the odds of me getting at least one cranially-challenged snake would be pretty good. Bci's, Bcc's, countless colubrids, Carpets, etc etc, and not one.

But yes I agree, I have not proven anything with my animals yet as they are only 1/2 - 1/3 of the way through their "life expectancy".

:D

[BoidKeeper]

Wow nice animal Jeff. I can't wait for mine to get that big. I do however like a schedule just because I find it convenient.
Later,
Trevor