Meals

Reticman · 11-10-03, 02:21 PM

Hey everyone,

I know retic's are pretty much bottomless pits because their metabolism is so amazingly high and with this said its pretty hard to " Powerfeed" them. My question is if im feeding him 3 large mice every 4 days..would this be considered powerfeeding him?

Im asking this because I have read as well as been told that feeding a baby tic once a week just isnt enough.

burmer · 11-10-03, 04:17 PM

I wouldn't consider that really power feeding. When I got mine and she was a baby I was giving two large mice twice a week. You can feed him rat hoppers or very small rats now.

ReptiZone · 11-11-03, 01:51 AM

To me when you are packing 2 small sized rats per feeding 2 times a week that is when you can move up to 1-2 med rats once a week but it is still your judgement call as long as you are not jaming rats down it's mouth as long as it takes it on it's own.

it is still regulare feeding.

ATR · 11-11-03, 09:13 AM

If you feed a snake several small meals- in your case all of those mice, it helps keep their metabolism high. If you feed one large meal, it will take longer to digest.

daver676 · 11-11-03, 10:04 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by ATR
If you feed a snake several small meals- in your case all of those mice, it helps keep their metabolism high. If you feed one large meal, it will take longer to digest.

I don't think feeding a snake several smaller meals will keep metabolism high. Being smaller meals, it just doesn't take the snake as long to digest them. I believe a snake's metabolism is dependent on temperature and activity. Please correct me if I'm wrong. My understanding is that the larger the meal, the longer it takes to digest.

eyespy · 11-11-03, 10:38 AM

Daver676, offering several small meals does indeed keep the metabolism at a higher rate. Sometimes too high. Peristalsis is the downward muscular motion that keeps food moving downstream. If you send more food down before the previous meal is fully digested, you are going to stimulate peristalsis and that previous meal might move further down the digestive tract where it is not fully processed. What should still be in the stomach being broken down by stomach acids can be prematurely pushed to the small intestines which will begin absorbing the food and sending it into the bloodstream.

A too high metabolic rate is no better than a too slow one. Proteins that are not fully digested because of reduced exposure to stomach acids have a way of ending up in unwanted places like the kidneys where they can cause organ failure. It's best to go by the food lump, if it's moving downwards towards the vent on its own it's probably okay to offer another meal.

If you're giving too small prey items where you can't gauge the progress of the food down the digestive tract, powerfeeding actually becomes a bigger risk sometimes. That's just one of the reasons why the general rule of thumb is to give 1 apppropriately sized prey item rather than several smaller ones.

daver676 · 11-11-03, 10:55 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by eyespy

A too high metabolic rate is no better than a too slow one. Proteins that are not fully digested because of reduced exposure to stomach acids have a way of ending up in unwanted places like the kidneys where they can cause organ failure. It's best to go by the food lump, if it's moving downwards towards the vent on its own it's probably okay to offer another meal.

Thanks for clearing that up for me Eyespy. One question though. If I feed my snake one appropriately sized food item that leaves a noticable lump, then once that lump disappears, is it safe to offer food again? Or should I wait until I see a small buldge near the vent?

Reticman · 11-12-03, 12:28 PM

Daver676,

Once that lump is gone you can go ahead and feed him agin if you like...it just depends if you want to powerfeed or not...Once the lump is gone its pretty much digested