Well...I did it.

toddnbecka · 11-06-16, 07:10 PM

That's something I've been wondering about but haven't ever seen any research on. How much of a larger meal is actually digested and utilized by the snake, and how much passes through as waste, compared to a smaller meal? Obviously feeding more often am\nd/or larger meals will increase growth rate, but will it produce a larger animal in the long run?

**Andy_G** · 11-07-16, 08:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by toddnbecka

Obviously feeding more often am\nd/or larger meals will increase growth rate, but will it produce a larger animal in the long run?

Most definitely it will. Snakes fed heavily without a doubt get larger and do so much faster, but is that always a good thing? Not so much. Genetics would be the main influence of adult size, followed by food intake and respective temperatures second. Many smaller localities of species remain as such because of the lack of available food (tarahuma mountain boas would be one example) coupled with temperatures in their geographical range, both of which said populations have adapted over generations to overcome.