Power Feeding

[eyespy]

No, MouseKilla, it's not completely safe to say that. The kidneys have to be in active failure before it gets to that point. Sometimes it's an acute failure that is reversible with excellent hydration and a reduction in the amount of protein being fed, but most times unfortunately it's chronic and will eventually prove fatal. But when an animal is in its fast growth state it's very unusual for kidney failure to set in and you are probably not doing much damage by feeding heavily.

Once sexual maturity has been reached and the metabolism begins to slow down, it's much more of a risk.

[MouseKilla]

Eyespy,

It seems then that there is nearly no way to tell by looking if you are dealing with an overfed or obese animal. But the good news, you're saying, is that you're not likely to feed to excess while the snake is still growing quickly (without going to rat-stitching extremes). Is that an accurate (though oversimplified) summary of what you're saying?

[eyespy]

Mostly accurate. Annual bloodwork can detect obesity-related disease but most folks don't bother with that. A CBC, Chem 20 and liver function tests will pick up changes that signal the onset of decreased organ function in about 65-75% of the cases. Where the problem lies is that so few folks ever get bloodwork done on healthy snakes that there is no known "normal range" for most species, including ball pythons. People are funny. They are more likely to bring a $5 pet rat to the vet for annual checkups than a snake.

We know what grossly abnormal results look like but not what values an animal in peak condition should have. So it's hard to tell just when to slow down the menu, but developing disease can be picked up before it becomes a major issue.

[Reticman]

Now it also depends on the animal and the prey.

For Example, I own a 3 month old Reticulated Python. He is eating 3 large mice every 5 days. Is this powerfeeding? NO and for 2 reasons. Reason # 1 is he should be eating rats but per my stock of frozen mice im waiting til they are finished before I purchase rats, and in order to equal a rats size, multiple prey will do just fine.
Reason # 2..the metabolism rate on retics, especially babies is through the roof. Unlike a ball or corn etc their bulge will last for a few days where as a Retic...and Im not kidding will deigest these 3 large mice within a day or 2..EASILY.

When I owned my ball as well as redtail, they got a nice meal every 5 days til they hit a year and then every 7-9 at that point. Where as even with rats my retic can hanlde 2 a week and this is not cosidered powerfeeding for this type of animal.

Hopes this helps ya

[Solid Snake]

when i had a BP i made sure i power fed her, when those BP goes off food, you're gonna wish u did.