Massive Overfeeding??! consequences??

Hi everyone, I have a huge concern about a little snake I know of that doesn't belong to me. Its my boyfriend's cousin's snake. I think he is massively overfeeding it and I wanted to know the consequences so I could let him know what he is risking. I got the snake this past Saturday (4/21) and has already fed it 3 times! And he plans to feed it again tomorrow (4/27)!! My bf tried to explain that he is going overboard and that it is going to harm the snake, but he refuses to listen so I wanted everyone else's input on this scenario. Please and thank you!

Hey, kat not to be spiteful, but what good would it do? It sounds like your boy friends cousin is to young for a snake, and has not been taught husbandry at all. If you purchased the snake for him, you cant take it away, so maybe go talk to his parents. Or buy the snake back from him.

We didn't buy it for him. He bought it himself at a reptile show.. As crazy as it sounds, he is older than me by nearly a year and I'm 23! We don't have a right to take it from him since he spent his own money on and it he definitely wouldn't sell it because he had been looking for a mexican black king for a long time and unfortunately he finally found one at a good price.. It hurts my feelings to know the snake isn't being taken care of properly because I hold my corns close to my heart, but I can't do anything. ): can you or anyone tell me what will happen to the little king if he keeps this up with him??

BTW in my first post, it wasn't supposed to say "I got the snake..", I meant to put "he got the snake.." Sorry for the confusion on that part.

The same thing that happens to anything that is over fed, he will get morbidly obese and will have many health issues that follow with it. Snakes are not designed to eat every day, some even argue that the once a week feedings we do in captivity is too much.

I heard that one of the things that happens with overfeeding in snakes is bone problems due to the snakes body growing faster than the bones. Is this true? I also heard that it will cause bad heart problems. I'm just trying to get fully informed on this subject.

Main issues:

Regurgitations due to the food not having enough time to digest and thus rotting in the stomach. Potentially fatal.

Obesity.

Obestiy, which can cause similar health problems to obesity in humans. A severely shortened lifespan is in that's snakes future unless he feeds it normally.

Snakes are designed to go a long time without eating, this allows them to spend less energy hunting. They can make one meal last a week or much longer depending on the species. Their bodies are not designed by any stretch of the imagination to eat every day or even multiple times a week, unless it is a small hatchling. This goes for all snakes. Just because it WILL eat does not mean it SHOULD eat. Their instincts say "I don't know when I will be fed again, I should eat whenever I can just in case." This is fine for a wild snake, but for a snake on captivity whose feeding schedule is set and guaranteed it's pointless. It becomes the owners job to dictate feeding.

Just as you would not feed a dog 7 big meals a day, you would not feed your snake three times a week.

This is what we basically tried to explain to him but he won't listen! Grr! Its massively frustrating because I can't do anything about it.): I wish I knew how to help because that poor snakes future seems very grim at this point..

As hard as it is it might be best to be blunt. Let him know he is going to kill his new pet. That might help. If you can find a couple caresheets and print them off for him and maybe get him one of the cornsnake books out there. I hope he can be reasoned with before the poor snake has any lasting effects from his massived over feeding.
Keep us posted

I wonder if you could accompany him to the next reptile show, go to the booth where he got the snake, and ask the breeder how often he feeds. Maybe hearing it from the person who breeds that type of snake, and has healthy, well fed adults, will convince him. It seems like he does not trust your judgement or your boyfriends for some reason. It's like a teenager who wont listen to their parents, but when someone else says the same thing, they suddenly get it

Yeah, you're very right. My boyfriend has talked to him numerous times about the consequences of overfeeding, but his cousin is the type of person that thinks he knows everything about everything when he actually knows nothing.. We are going to try to reason with him further. I'll try to keep the condition of the little king posted. thanks everyone!