baby retic feeding question

ReptiZone · 04-15-03, 12:53 PM

I met this chick a reptile show and she had a baby retic on display it was a verry tame retic and then went on teling me she did not like ppl who boost there snakes (power feed).
after that I told her that I hade a burm that was 6 feet at 8 monts old female and she said that i was insane she asked me how often I fed my snakes I told her when it was a baby it was 2 rats every 3 day but once she hit 4 feet it was 3-4 rats every saturday once it was 6 feet it was eating a small rabit every saturday and later on it was eating 2 small rabits every second saturday

then she told me she was feeding her baby retic once every 3 week to a month and her male burm was a year and a half and was only 4 feet.

I figured that this can not be healthy for the snakes could this stun there groth speed I wounderd then I thaught of you guys I figured some one can inform me on the subject

J_Riley · 04-15-03, 02:11 PM

Well, personally, I think you're overfeeding and she's underfeeding.

I personally feed neonates/juveniles once every 5 days and after 8 months or so, once a week. Once they hit the 12 month mark, I switch to once every 10 days and once they're 2 years + (unless it's a really slow maturing species), every 14 days.

I also try to feed one appropriately sized food item per feeding, but sometimes that's not possible with finicky snakes. For instance, I have a 4' ratsnake that won't eat rats, so he ends up with 2 large mice instead.

She is feeding her juvenile on an adult schedule, IMO. Probably very similar to their feeding frequency in the wild. It may stunt their growth in relation to captive python growth rates, but I don't think it's going to do any physical damage. It may make for an irritable, constantly hungry snake though.

Overfeeding is just as unhealthy as underfeeding, the musclature grows too fast in relation to the skeletal system. While it is not uncommon for a properly fed burm to hit 8' by it's first birthday, a 4' burm eating 3-4 rats, even small rats is too much.

But I don't own the snake, you do, this is just my opinion.

herm · 04-15-03, 02:20 PM

Did your Burm ever regurge?

nicola_boulton · 04-15-03, 02:59 PM

i think mabey feedin like she did was stunting the growth but it will live 4 longer than power feeding a snake.

ReptiZone · 04-15-03, 08:23 PM

no my burm never re-gurged and it was on a steady feeding diet until it was sold I dont know how it is now I was 17 and was feeding it as long as it would eatso I never thaught I was doing any thing wrong untill the vet told me to continue the way I was but to only do it once a week. that is what I did and later on i figured I could try to feed it biger things and what do you know it took it down like it was nothing and after the fecond guiny pig I tryed a rabit and that is when you start to see a groath spur so that is how my burm got so big so fast.

Herpkingdom · 04-15-03, 09:23 PM

Having had many burms and retics over the years I tend to think that she was underfeeding and Chrondo was over feeding.
I have never fed a snake more than once a week. I've raised retics and burms from babies to over 15 feet on weekly feedings. There is no need to get a snake to be 15 feet in 18 months. It is not good for the snake. For people who want to breed these large snakes, they are not only an investment of money but time as well. Even with colubrdis many people feed them every few days in order to get them big enough to breed in two years instead of waiting an extra year. You just end up with a small clutch and a very thin female afterwards that may or may not recover from the ordeal.

So weekly feeding is my advice. Just be sure to have to proper size feeder. I fed my baby burms 2 mice a feeding and after 5-6 months went to small rats. Same with the retics. Once on rats I would just up the size rat as I felt was warranted. Then as adults they were switched to rabbits, and again the size was increased as the snake's girth did.

Even now I feed my snakes weekly. No point in stressing them out trying to get them ready for this year. I'd rather wait a year and get more viable eggs from them then to get 10 eggs now that most likely won't even hatch.

The_Omen · 04-15-03, 09:32 PM

Quote:

i think mabey feedin like she did was stunting the growth but it will live 4 longer than power feeding a snake.

Stunting growth due to lack of food equals starving.
this has it's own miriad of problems, immuno system, the heart, lungs, kidneys, all systems are affected by this and will shorten any animals lifespan.

Power feeding on the other hand, can still affect all the same syatems, in much the same negative way.
it can and will leave fatty deposits aroung all the organs, especially the heart and lungs, giving them a reduced capacity of operation, over tax the liver and kidneys to the point of failure and still lead to an early demise of the animal.

There needs to be a balance on the food intake.

Too little or too much are both bad.

Snake Lady · 04-15-03, 09:47 PM

Hello Everyone!

Well im snakelady as you all know im chondros gf as well. I dont know the whole story with the burm cause he had it when he was younger and before he met me. I know he had to sell it due to him moving here to quebec. All i can say is that we have 2 columbian boas(BCI) right now and they are not overfed. We got them from JK reptiles and they were feeding them every tuesday and thats what we are doing now to keep it like a routine.

Plus as i reread his post earlier, he said he fed his burm every 3 days when he was a baby? so... when he was a little bigger ,which wasnt too long after, he slowed down and ate every week...and then every two weeks. I dont think that its that bad. Its not like he was feeding them huge meals every 2-3 days all the days of that burms life just to get him bigger. As i can see..yah he was feeding him every 3 days when he was little..but he was feeding him exactly like you (herpkingdom) every week like a month later. So it didnt do much to his way of life afterall.

Well, thats just my point of view..its not that im backing my bf up...cause if he was wrong..id admit it but i just dont think he was that wrong because yah he didnt know probably but like 3 weeks after..the vet told him to feed it every week.

Quote:

I never thaught I was doing any thing wrong untill the vet told me to continue the way I was but to only do it once a week.

Omen i agree totally with you. Some people really dont know how much their snakes are supposed to eat. They should really ask and do a little research.

Snake Lady

The_Omen · 04-15-03, 10:33 PM

Well,
I am glad thatyou clarified chondro for us, as it read to me, and others, like he was power feeding it pretty bad.
But with the feeding that you said, much better!
Thanks for filling in the gaps and details!

Snake Lady · 04-15-03, 10:40 PM

Hey Omen and others,

Its no problem...sometimes chondro doesnt spell his words right and it makes the whole post a little hard to understand cause he writes too fast. Sometimes you gotta bare with him also and ask him what he means.

Snake Lady

Herpkingdom · 04-19-03, 10:27 PM

Ah, but the question is what was it fed?

I bet they fed it an adult pig or small deer. If that is the case then it will only need to be fed that many times. Adults snakes grow slower, their metabolism slows down and it takes longer for food to digest. I am sure they didn't feed the snake twice a year all its life. Young giant snakes, even young adults, need to be fed more frequently than 2 times a year. or even once every 6 to 8 weeks. Adults, that are say, over 15 to 20 years can go without food for longer periods of time due to their slower metabolism. But not young snakes that are in their first 10 years.

But this is a subject that everyone who ahs ever owned a giant snake will have an opinion on. And not everyone will agree.

**Aaron_S** · 04-19-03, 10:40 PM

Vic,did you mean the oldest ginat python that lied in captivity? Cause a ball python lived for 48.

Herpkingdom · 04-19-03, 10:47 PM

ok, now that's a little hard to believe.

First off most boa constrictors (BCC & BCI) get over 6 feet as adults. Seconds, snakes, being reptiles, grow until they die. So a 33 year old boa is going to get more than 6 feet. That means this snake was under fed just to keep it small which amounts to animal cruelity.

And I have books that state some snakes have lived longer than 33 years in captivty. And the one book was published in 1975 so that means you info in inaccurate.

Ed_r · 04-19-03, 10:55 PM

I guess that would make All my BCIs Powerfed then. Heck i just fed my BCIs more in one night than that snake supposedly had all year. That is flat out cruelty. Seeing how little a snake can exist on.

The_Omen · 04-19-03, 10:58 PM

Quote:

Sorry but i have to dissagree with what you say about under feeding a snake and the symptoms you listed, the oldest snake ever recorded in captivity lived to be over 33 years old, it was fed twice a year

I agree with what herpkingdom says.
The older a snake, the less it needs, which even better emphasizes my point about a balance.

If a 33 year old snake was eating twice a year, then that is what it needed, thus, its' balance was met.

Overfeeding and under feeding apply to EVERY living creature on this planet.

Human examples are:

Calista Flockhart - Underfed.
Arnold Swartzenegger - balance met for him.
Rosy O'Donnel - overfed.
Karen Carpenter - underfed, which led to a heart failure at an early age.

Trust me, everything has a balance that needs to be met to prevent an increase or a decrease towards bad or good.
If the balance is to eat a lot due to youth and growth spurts, so be it.
If the balance is less intake due to age and maturity, so be it, it's still a balance.