hoppers?

our snake just moved to hoppers, do we still feed every 5 days or move to every 7days? thanks in advance.

I would switch to feeding every 7 days that way your snake is allotted enough time to digest the bigger meal. That is how I feed my boy who is eating hoppers. You might want to also wait and see what others do though.

Congrats on the move up!!

I've been moving hoppers to a 6 day schedule, then when you switch again, move to 7.

Personally, I'd probably still be feeding every 5 days, but the best thing to do is probably to observe your snake and see whether it's actively looking for food after 5 days (4 days even, especially at this time of year). I see no point in making the snake wait, if it appears hungry. You can learn a lot more by watching your snake than you can from people who don't know anything about your snake (size, activity level, past experience, the exact size of your hoppers, etc.) In general, if you have a vigorous snake that is growing and eating well, I would think you could feed twice a week or almost twice (every 4 or 5 days.) Even though I am in Florida I do provide UTH for most of the year. Lack of available heat may be one reason why some people's young Corns don't digest food as fast as other people's. My 42 inch male Okeetee eats about once a week now (medium adult mouse.)

larryg said:

Personally, I'd probably still be feeding every 5 days, but the best thing to do is probably to observe your snake and see whether it's actively looking for food after 5 days (4 days even, especially at this time of year). I see no point in making the snake wait, if it appears hungry. You can learn a lot more by watching your snake than you can from people who don't know anything about your snake (size, activity level, past experience, the exact size of your hoppers, etc.) In general, if you have a vigorous snake that is growing and eating well, I would think you could feed twice a week or almost twice (every 4 or 5 days.) Even though I am in Florida I do provide UTH for most of the year. Lack of available heat may be one reason why some people's young Corns don't digest food as fast as other people's. My 42 inch male Okeetee eats about once a week now (medium adult mouse.)

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thanks, she is the best grower we have. although she is quite round. i will take some pics now. she was always very active until i made her hiding hanging tubes. now she always hides in them i made them for her when she became too big to play on the lip of the tank...her is a pic of the tubes i am referring to





ill go get her for pics now

ok here are shots of her belly and how round it is... today is feeding day so it isnt that way from just eating...

larryg said:

Personally, I'd probably still be feeding every 5 days, but the best thing to do is probably to observe your snake and see whether it's actively looking for food after 5 days (4 days even, especially at this time of year). I see no point in making the snake wait, if it appears hungry. You can learn a lot more by watching your snake than you can from people who don't know anything about your snake (size, activity level, past experience, the exact size of your hoppers, etc.) In general, if you have a vigorous snake that is growing and eating well, I would think you could feed twice a week or almost twice (every 4 or 5 days.) Even though I am in Florida I do provide UTH for most of the year. Lack of available heat may be one reason why some people's young Corns don't digest food as fast as other people's. My 42 inch male Okeetee eats about once a week now (medium adult mouse.)

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Personally I think that a hopper twice a week, or 4-5 days even, is a bit much and beginning to bear resemblance to power feeding. There were just recently a couple threads about how often to feed. I would do a search. But here is THIS ONE for one reference. This is just my opinion but I would give it 6 or 7 days.

Once they get off pinkies, I switch to every 7 days unless I have one that is a really slow grower. Even then, I rarely go to more often.

CHARMER said:

Personally I think that a hopper twice a week, or 4-5 days even, is a bit much and beginning to bear resemblance to power feeding. There were just recently a couple threads about how often to feed. I would do a search. But here is THIS ONE for one reference. This is just my opinion but I would give it 6 or 7 days.

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I suggest you find one of the threads that deals with the misuse of the term 'power feeding.' For the original poster, again, you will learn a lot more just by observing your snake. They are not all the same, and frankly many people on the internet just parrot 'advice' they heard or read somewhere without any real understanding. Before you know it, the advice gets changed or exaggerated, and people are completely misusing buzzwords designed to elicit an emotional reaction (i.e. power feeding.)

larryg said:

Personally, I'd probably still be feeding every 5 days, but the best thing to do is probably to observe your snake and see whether it's actively looking for food after 5 days (4 days even, especially at this time of year). I see no point in making the snake wait, if it appears hungry. You can learn a lot more by watching your snake than you can from people who don't know anything about your snake (size, activity level, past experience, the exact size of your hoppers, etc.) In general, if you have a vigorous snake that is growing and eating well, I would think you could feed twice a week or almost twice (every 4 or 5 days.) Even though I am in Florida I do provide UTH for most of the year. Lack of available heat may be one reason why some people's young Corns don't digest food as fast as other people's. My 42 inch male Okeetee eats about once a week now (medium adult mouse.)

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This is sound advice.

Lennycorn said:

This is sound advice.

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i agree. thank you. i will switch her to every 6 days and see how it goes from there

larryg said:

I suggest you find one of the threads that deals with the misuse of the term 'power feeding.' For the original poster, again, you will learn a lot more just by observing your snake. They are not all the same, and frankly many people on the internet just parrot 'advice' they heard or read somewhere without any real understanding. Before you know it, the advice gets changed or exaggerated, and people are completely misusing buzzwords designed to elicit an emotional reaction (i.e. power feeding.)

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Oh come now, lets not get persnickety . I did not say anyone was power feeding, I merely stated that IMO feeding a hopper twice a week is "beginning to bear resemblance" to it. Overfeeding a snake can be more detrimental to its health then allowing an extra day or two for the proper digestion of food.
Yes, I would agree that you can learn a great deal from observation of your snake, especially due to the fact that every snake behaves uniquely. And as for your statement about some internet people "parroting advice" without a real understanding of the information, yes that can be true as well. However, if you were including me in that statement, even though it was made generally, I would like to assure you that I do not merely parrot advice. Just because I have only been a member of this site since Jan, doesn't mean I have only cared for snakes that long as well. Not only that but, how does one learn to begin with? Yes through observation, but also though reading and the advice of others. There are very experienced people on this site, whose advice I have begun to trust. I do not think that relaying their advice for the benefit of others should be shunned.
Once again these are just my opinions.

I agree with Meg here. With pinkies, I feed every 5 days, with fuzzies, every 6, with hoppers, every 7 is fine without over taxing their digestive systems. Once they get to lg mice I go every 10 days. Maybe I'm underfeeding, but I'd rather do that, than risk a regurge, or a fat snake. :shrugs:

Not even observation will help you completely for feeding. Frankly, if I fed everytime my snakes were out and looking for food, they'd be fed every few days. My Green tree python would probably eat everyday. It's better to feed a little less often than too much. If you have a female preparing for eggs, feed a little more to give her something to use for egg formation. If you have a snake that is getting back it's health and needs some weight put on, by all means, feed a little more often until it's recovered. But just feeding because your snake is out and appears hungry is not a good indicator. My amel would probably feed every day if I let him (that is when it's not breeding time) but I certainly would not. He's on every 2 weeks to try to keep his weight down.