Can you over feed a snake?

marionsclan · 07-16-11, 03:49 AM

As my BP continues to grow, my Corn is fully grown and feeding on adult mice once a week, I will have to adjust the amount of food I give her. I am trying to follow the rule of thumb by going based on the biggest part of her body but that doesn't seem like it is enough in my opinion because as soon as she poops she seems to be 'flabby', for a lack of a better word. She still has her muscle structure and strength but she feels like she used to be fat but lost a lot of weight all at once and is now flabby (not that she was, I'm just using it as an example as to how she feels to me). Maybe this is normal, but I'm wondering if I should feed her a larger rat, she's at weanling/pup once a week right now, or should I just double up on the same size? She is around 9 months old and 2.5' long. I haven't weighed her yet, because I don't have a scale, but will get around to it shortly.

stephanbakir · 07-16-11, 04:40 AM

Overfeeding a snake is possible, but you can trim them down easily if they are only mildly overweight.
Its normal for them to feel a little flabby skinwise, but the muscle should still be firm.

NennaMeerkat · 07-16-11, 04:44 AM

I had corns once and they ate 3 adult mice a week. I dunno if that is considered over feeding but they never seemed fat to me.

stephanbakir · 07-16-11, 04:53 AM

I believe the norm is 1 adult mouse?

NennaMeerkat · 07-16-11, 05:13 AM

I have heard of people feeding their corns small rats before...so I figure 3 mice = 1 small rat?

Gungirl · 07-16-11, 06:51 AM

From all the reading I have done and Talking to a few breeders I was told that as my corn snake becomes and adult he should eat 1 adult mouse every 10 days to maintain a healthy weight. I was informed that feeding rats was a no no seeing as the can make him put on weight. My snake is still a little guy so I am only telling you what I was taught... I believe that if your snake is active and climbs around a ton you can feed it a little more than if your snake was lazy and would rather sleep all the time.

Yes you can over feed a snake...

ilovemypets1988 · 07-16-11, 08:16 AM

i fed my corn on a large weaner rat every 14 days and he was a perfect weight so you can do that if you wish.
as for your bp, mine is just over 4 months old and shes on rat pups and has the same affect, but you could feed alittte bigger rat than her width, a little over a cm wider than the thickest part of the body, just give him an extra day to digest his food before handling, thas what i would do personally.

marionsclan · 07-16-11, 03:20 PM

Awesome responses. Thank you so much, everybody. I'm off to go get me some feeders but had to check here first.

Now I know what to get to make my babies happy. Thanks again!

shaunyboy · 07-16-11, 07:54 PM

big robs more informed on corns

re overfeeding
it is possible to over feed a snake,some people do it deliberately in order to get a snake up to breeding size at an early age (so they can earn cash from hatchling sales)

its reffered to as powerfeeding and is frowned upon,as it can damage a young (fat) snake going through the birth proccess at such an early age

im fairly sure corns are prone to getting fat quite easily if over fed,it manifests itself in the form of a large lump near the vent (the lumps made up of excess fat deposits)

i'm sure rob will correct me if i'm wrong and he will also be able to tell you much more,including what he thinks the reccomended prey size is for your corn

with carpet pythons you can give them prey items 2,3,4 times their girth with no problems

with larger prey items you tend to feed the carpet less often,say every 15 to 30 days.it depends on which season i'm trying replicate.in the winter they only get 3 or 4 meals.

imo over feeding seems to harm some species more than others.that said any fat snake is generally thought of as,unhealthy and more prone to illness than a lean muscular snake

at the more extreme end of the scale (pardon the pun)

my diamond pythons only get fed 6 months of the year.overfeeding a diamond can be fatal to the snake.the first thing i learned when researching keeping the diamond python was.....

" a fat diamond's a dead diamond "

cheers shaun

Lankyrob · 07-17-11, 02:50 AM

Lol thanks for the compliments shauny!

My young corns get fed a prey item 2x the size of their body every 14 days, this seems to be keeping their growth rate pretty constant and they are shedding almost exactly every 4 weeks at present.

My adult corn was a rescue when i got him and was fat - he had the fat deposits just forward of his cloaca and was pretty lethargic. For about 8 months i fed him every 14 days with a mouse slightly smaller than his body size and he lost the fat deposits (i also got him out two or three times a week and exercised him). Now htat he is back to a healthy weight he gets a mouse just slightly bigger than his size every 14 days and this seems to be maintaining his size and not getting him fat.

marionsclan · 07-17-11, 03:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lankyrob

My adult corn was a rescue when i got him and was fat - he had the fat deposits just forward of his cloaca and was pretty lethargic. For about 8 months i fed him every 14 days with a mouse slightly smaller than his body size and he lost the fat deposits (i also got him out two or three times a week and exercised him). Now htat he is back to a healthy weight he gets a mouse just slightly bigger than his size every 14 days and this seems to be maintaining his size and not getting him fat.

The previous owner of my adult corn, 3 yrs, said that she has an incredibly fast metabolism, which she proved to me by pooping two days after feeding and then again two days later. She looks like a good size to me. Nothing flabby about her and good muscle tone. But then again I don't know how thick Corns will or should get. She is a good 3 feet long and her diameter is about 1 1/2 - 2 inches. She is alert, active, feeds on one mouse weekly, drinks and poops, and does her nightly meandering around her tank.

NennaMeerkat · 07-17-11, 04:23 AM

I guess the adult mice I was feeding my corns weren't really big compared to the monsters ya'll are feeding your corns. The full grown mice I bought never really left bulges in them. Maybe the person selling them didn't really know what a full grown mouse meant...then again I wouldn't doubt that either. Old man seemed to always be 100 miles away in the mind.