Feeding advice?

[EL Ziggy]

I think feeding an adult BP a large rat weekly is a bit much. My 8’ olive, 8’ bullsnake, and 7’ scrub don’t eat that often. I feed my pythons and colubrids weekly for the first year. My boas eat every 10-14 days the first year. After that they all eat every 2-3 weeks on average in the warmer months and every 4-6 weeks during the winter months. My colubrids eat more frequently than the boas and pythons. They eat every 10-14 days as adults.

[Aaron_S]

Originally Posted by EL Ziggy

I think feeding an adult BP a large rat weekly is a bit much. My 8’ olive, 8’ bullsnake, and 7’ scrub don’t eat that often. I feed my pythons and colubrids weekly for the first year. My boas eat every 10-14 days the first year. After that they all eat every 2-3 weeks on average in the warmer months and every 4-6 weeks during the winter months. My colubrids eat more frequently than the boas and pythons. They eat every 10-14 days as adults.

Originally Posted by chairman

Many people feed their snakes appropriately sized meals (like a medium rat for an adult ball python) on a weekly basis and the snakes live long, healthy lives. Other people feed the same meals with the same frequency and end up with obese snakes with related health issues.

Beginning snake keepers should probably stick with a feeding schedule of an appropriately sized rodent once every 5-7 days for the first year of a snake's life, every 7-10 days until the snake hits adult size, and every 10-14 days once the snake is an adult.

More advanced keepers, or a keeper whose snake is having issues, can adjust their feeding amounts and schedules based on the needs of individual snakes. Everyone's husbandry is just a little different and the snakes are all just a little different, so feeding routines may need to be a little different too.

That all said, I used to feed my snakes weekly. I switched to feeding every two weeks and everyone seems just as healthy. The only real difference is that I clean up slightly less fecal matter. If I ever observe a problem with one or more of my snakes then one or more of them will get an updated feeding schedule.

Both great advice.

Speaking of less fecal matter. Has anyone noticed there's less fecal matter when feeding appropriate sized meals versus larger ones?