quick question

[Sheldon & Tori]

is it bad to feed a snake until it is full or should i only give it a couple food items?

[hip]

What kind of "snake" is it? I would suspect it is a Boa of one type or another If you could provide a bit more info It would aid in replying to your question.



Tkx

Hip

[BoidKeeper]

You should feed it 1 item equal to or slightly larger then the snakes girth at it bigest part once a week then once every 10-14 days when it is an adult. That would work fine for both boas and ball pythons.
Cheers,
Trevor

[Linds]

I agree with Trevor, try to keep feedings limited to one appropriately sized item instead of a bunch of smaller ones. Snakes WILL eat way past the point of being a healthy amount, they act like machines and remain in "feeding mode" for some time after they eat. Too large of meals can lead to a variety of problems, such as regurgitation, prey not being digested fast enough, etc. Until you learn to read your snakes behaviour (he will tell you when he's hungry when he's in hunt mode), a guide of every 5-7 days works fine in the first year, 7-10 for older snakes.

[Invictus]

I've never personally experienced a ball python gorging itself beyond a healthy amount - they usually turn down prey items if they are full. Boas will eat until they explode though. It's a combination good thing/bad thing in that regard. It's nice to not have them turn down a meal, but that means the responsibility is on you to not overfeed them.

However, as I said in another thread, I don't recommend you buy into the "equal to the snake's girth" method. All of my boas and balls get prey 1.5 times their own girth, or larger in some cases, and they are in great health.

[SerpentLust]

I agree with Invictus. Right now, full grown Mice are equal to my Kingsnake's girth, so he gets two a week until I can find some Medium or Small rats. I don't like doing the whole two mice thing, but the pet store refused to special order some rats for me. So I'll be going to PCPC when I get the chance.

Both my snakes will keep eating if I let them. It's just the way they are. Snakes are opportunistic eaters. They'll eat alot now because instinct tells them that they have no idea when their next meal will be, I find it's specially true with new snakes in the home.

Jenn

[nolagurl]

It's better to feed it something a bit too small than too large. I've also heard that it's better to underfeed than overfeed. I'm not insinuating that you severely underfeed your snakes though. :-P