Crazy feeding response!

**Andy_G** · 03-04-04, 06:50 PM

Up until today, my black milk was somewhat of a shy eater, I have seen him eat before but it was from a distance. Today...I could not put him down before he latched onto his rat! I have heard a few times that their feeding response intensifies with age and now I am starting to believe it!

**Andy_G** · 03-04-04, 06:55 PM

Here is another pic. They rat liked Shadow so much he decided to give him a hug! ^_^

SerpentLust · 03-04-04, 07:02 PM

LMAO That second pic is priceless lol

Ace · 03-04-04, 10:30 PM

LOL..he kinda over did it with the kiss though

. You mean he outgrew playing with his food already!!! Great pics Andy!

Classic · 03-05-04, 10:48 AM

That's a cool pic Andy. Do you have a weight on him? He's 2003 right?

Brian

Optimus Prime · 03-05-04, 11:21 AM

Wow he must have been hungary, did he get that thing down?

**Andy_G** · 03-05-04, 11:46 AM

Brian- Yeah he's an '03 and he weighs around 96 grams now at around 6 months in age.

Tim-I know, but I didn't want to stop him from kissing because I heard some bones being crushed in the rat and I didn't want my finger getting in the way of things ^_^, and yes, he has stopped playing with his food, he still doesn't constrict but he does latch on before I can put him down... LOL he acted as if he hadnt eaten in a month!

Optimus Prime-Yeah he got it down in less than 15 minutes. He always has trouble with the front shoulders but after that it takes him a very short amount of time to finish it off.

JD@reptiles · 03-05-04, 12:10 PM

sheesh, thats a pretty large meal for him. maybe a little too big.

**Andy_G** · 03-05-04, 02:24 PM

If it was too big for him I wouldn't feed it and secondly he would have taken more than 15 mins. Seemed just right for him. That is pretty much the biggest I would give him though.

JD@reptiles · 03-05-04, 02:46 PM

What i heard is, the general "rule" is not to feed the snake anything bigger than its thickest part. maybe thats why the carpet grew 4' in a year?

**Andy_G** · 03-05-04, 05:39 PM

What I have heard is 1.5x the girth of the snake, a guideline for people just coming into the hobby that try to feed their snakes too large of a prey item that they become impacted or too small that the food is insufficient. A lot of people follow this rule like it is their religion, a lot don't as well. I suppose next feeding time I will get a pic from a different angle because the prey in that pic is rather flat and it looks bigger than it was.

Turns out a lot of carpets get close to or are 4' in a year. I've been talking with a few people that have had similar experiences. Many people i've spoken to said that their carpets grew from around 3.5-4 feet in a year than the growth started to really slow. Mine seems to have done the same. Maybe the reason yours didn't is because you feed it a little bit less than most, meaning that you go by the rule of equally girthed prey items rather than a bit bigger, which, of course. isn't a bad thing. Every prson has their own opinion with feeding sizes.

snakehunter · 03-05-04, 05:53 PM

my 7 month hognoses are like that

JD@reptiles · 03-05-04, 09:25 PM

i dont really feed mine less... well. i dont power feed if thats what you are getting at.. i feed all my snakes once a week... some larger boas i will feed once every 2 weeks... is that wrong?

**Andy_G** · 03-06-04, 12:05 AM

What I am doing isn't even close to power feeding, I feed all of my snakes once a week to once every two weeks, please don't imply it and if you have a problem with the way I keep my reptiles (I certainly get that impression) you can PM me Jordan.
What I said was, judging from the "rule" you stated earlier, you probably feed items equal to the snake's girth and most people go bigger than that. That is all I meant.

Classic · 03-06-04, 12:16 AM

Andy: i took some weights of mine tonight and this is what i got.
Male 40g, Female 83g, Female 58g
Mine are also 03s.

Brian