Well the yearlings are finally on to the largest size of rats!!

[Jeff_Favelle]

They are really packing on the pounds now. Here's a couple of dark ones that should go next year, but I'll probably save for 2004.

Female:

[Jeff_Favelle]

Don't mind the poop. I cleaned her cage AFTER the picture was taken! Don't ask why!

Here's the male by the way. Very dark these two. It'll be interesting to see what their babies are like!

Male:

[Shane Tesser]

Those are cool, really nice colouring:thumbsup:

[Jotun]

cool man those comics must of been really crappy to wind up as snake litter

[Jeff_Favelle]

I've noticed the comics going downhill since the 80's...ha ha!

[Linds]

Why the rush to grow all your rainbows up so fast? An adult BRB MAY take jumbo rats, but certainly not a yearling. Powerfeeding is so wrong, take your time, your snakes will live longer and be healthier in the long run.

[morph]

well you've been told haven't ya

[Jeff_Favelle]

I think I have.

But I'm not power feeding. Not at all. Power feeding, in my mind, is putting another rodent (or any food item) into a snake's mouth just as they are finishing a different one. This tricks the snake into taking a meal it might otherwise not want. I don't give them anything they don't want. I don't have a large enough ego to think that I know how much my snake should eat. I let it decide. If it eats, I feed it. If it doesn't, I try again some other time. I think millions of years of evolution knows better than the old "7-10 days between feedings". What's that? Who made that up? Sure it works. But just because it works, doesn't mean its the be all end all. I have a 12 year old Rainbow that's 5 feet, but a 3 year old that close to 7 feet!! I have 10 month old Rainbows that are 47 inches long. I also have 18 month old Rainbows that are 24 inches long and pencil-thin. They are just as healthy, but they don't like to eat as much. They'll take an extra year and they will breed at that "magical" age of 42 months (for a female). The others will go at 30 months. Who's to say which is better? Certainly not me.

No offence intended whatsoever. I'd rather someone disagree with me than not reply at all.

[sSNAKESs.com]

Jeffy, i dont wanna sound like im attacking you or anything but your enclosures are ALWAYS so dirty!!! lol i hope its a co incidence!! *tickles*

[Linds]

Jeff,
http://ssnakess.com/forums/showthrea...&threadid=1437
Also, powerfeeding is a practice of feeding with intention to grow a snake quickly, get to up to breeding size, or whatever the ultimate goal is, the snake is growing faster than it should. Snakes dont even eat as well in the wild than in captivity either. It isn't because they cant find the food, its not that hard when ya live in jungle
A snake will almsot always take food for even 20 minutes after its eaten, and usually even when its not hungry to start. How do you think obesity occurs, pinheaded conditions, and snakes that have died within the first 5 or so years of their life? I'm not trying to start anything, but this is something that has been proven over years and years. Dating back to before some of us were even alive. This isn't my humble opinion, this is many years of proof, observation, researtch, and all that candy done by eastablished breeders and herpetoligists.

Take care

[Jezabel]

For the feeding, I think it's just like human. Different individual, diffrent appetite. But still, the snakes that we keep are in closed space, they're not hunting their food anymore and not getting as much exercise. Or if they're more like ambush (wrong spelling sorry, say it loud to understand!!! predator, I'm not sure they eat as much as they want. So I think that if a snake eat as much as he want, he could be eating too much only because he as the opotunity too. My blood would eat 3 rat per week if I would let him. But I dont thinck he would be as healty as now if I feed him as much as he want. But he grow quickly with one feeding every 12-14 days. I usualy weight all my snake twice every month and set their feeding schedule after that. Also, I'm one of those that thing every meal should be eqal size or less then their body. And I never notice any bulge 15 min after the feeding or distended scale (seing skin between the scale) or mid-body swelling.

Just my opinion here, and I don't know any facts or studys about that. Just wanted to share what I think.

[Jeff_Favelle]

And that's why this site rules!! Because everyone can have their own opinions and we can all still be friends!

Dirty, dirty cages. Ha ha. My only excuse is that I only take pictures when I'm about to clean because I don't bother the snakes any other time. If its clean and doesn't need to eat, then I don't pull it out to take pictures.

Ok, so I'm over feeding my snakes. Call me in 10 years when my collection dies of obesity and you can all tell me...."I told yo.....".

Ha ha, just kidding. I am a firm believer that a reproductively-active female snake CANNOT be overfed. Agree or disagree (but please HAVE an opinion!!).

As for my males, well, they need their strength for all that...ahem....

Oh yeah, and that pic from the posted thread is of a Rainbow eating a mouse that she CONSTRICTED and showed extreme interest in after she ate the first one. Not one that was placed in her mouth as she was finishing the first one.

Ok, gotta go feed snakes so they can die.

Totally just kidding. I love you all :-)

[Linds]

Yes I agree with you that actively breeding snakes cannot be overfed BUT most of what you show and say you need to pack the pounds on, finally got em to the largest rat, need to feed em more, etc, is not an actively breeding snake, just a baby still.......

And I wouldnt doubt that little girl contricted on that mouse and was extremely interested, it usually takes 20 minutes or so AFTER the first meal for the snake to calm down out of feeding mode, she wouldve probably taken more than 2 had you offered.......

And my final words, yes I agree with you, this is why this site rocks, we can all have terribly different opinions and still get along just fine

[Jeff_Favelle]

The part I like best Linds, is that most of us also try to provide facts and other insights as to WHY we have such opinions. Its nice to have a healthy debate, even if we don't agree or change each other's minds.

With the posted pic of the Juvi Rainbow, it was about 2 hours after the first mouse that she took the 2nd. I had a few mice left over and I quickly tried all the small snakes I had to get rid of them. Several showed no interest so I didn't push it. Some went right at the mice, mouth agape, so they got fed again! No harm, no foul.

Its not like I'm in my room at night sitting and waiting for my Brazilians to be onto the largest size of rat. Its nice when they reach a certain size, because I remember when they were born and were tiny! So they got bigger a little faster. No biggie.

[morph]

well now I'm not quite sure who got told