Over/Power-Feeding

Since i joined the online reptile community for about a year ago, i've heard about people over/power-feeding their animals to get them breeding earlier.. Now i want to know what is considered power-feeding over normal feeding.. What i know of, normal feeding is about once a week for corns up to 2 years, then every 10th day or so.. and then every 14th day.. Then what do the power-feeders do?

There's no exact science (that I know of, at least) to what exactly is power feeding, but basically, feeding more than would be considered normal/healthy to speed up the growth process would be power feeding, in my book. Say for example feeding every 3 or 4 days for a hatchling/yearling, instead of the more accepted 5 to 7 day interval.

That would be my quess as well, but still want to hear more oppinions

Is power feeding ever acceptable, like if the snake is very thin from double clutching or after an illness?

I such a situation i would seperate male from female, and slowly get her weight up again.

Feeding every 3 or 4 days for a hatchling is perfectly fine, assuming the snake is thriving well. For a yearling, every 5 to 7 days is advisable.

Unfortunately, my own take on the term 'Power Feeding' is that it is a red flag, to alert me that I am dealing with someone with limited information and experience. Powerfeeding originally meant putting another feeder item in the snake's mouth, before it has finished swallowing the first prey item, forcing it to eat multiple prey items. Now the word has been adopted by others who have redefined it to mean anybody who feeds their snake more than once a week. When you understand that it is normal for hatchlings to eat more frequently, you can't rationally apply such a rule. In Kathy Love's book, she says 2 TO 3 TIMES PER WEEK is normal for a young hatchling. If someone feeds excessive amounts and/or too often, why not just say that?? I for one will reseve the use of Powerfeeding for its original, intended meaning. I guess 'Overfeeding' just doesn't sound dramatic enough for some people.

Adults can be fed every 7 to 10 days or even less frequently, so it's obviously not a 'one size fits all' type of situation, as far as how often to feed. Snakes also eat more in the spring and summer, which is often when people are feeding young hatchlings. Snakes may not want to eat at all in the winter. All of this needs to be kept in mind. Forget you ever heard the term 'power feeding' and you'll be better off.

larryg said:

Unfortunately, my own take on the term 'Power Feeding' is that it is a red flag, to alert me that I am dealing with someone with limited information and experience.

Forget you ever heard the term 'power feeding' and you'll be better off.

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Yes sir, capitan. My apologies for breathing the same air as you :bowdown:

You know, I'll never understand the point of responding to a thread just to try and make yourself look so much better than everyone else. Sorry, I may be fairly new, but I've done tons of reading and research and have come across the term "power feeding" many many times and used by people with plenty of experience. I may be low on the experience end, but I consider myself fairly well-versed on the information end.

larryg said:

it's obviously not a 'one size fits all' type of situation, as far as how often to feed.

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I think this sums it up. From what I've seen in my own collection, you could be feeding two snakes at the same rate and simultaneously be underfeeding one and overfeeding the other. I've also seen some snakes that love HUGE food items, and others that easily gurge if the item is even a little bigger than normal.

There is simply no rule you can apply to all cornsnakes. They are all individuals, and IMO the best policy is to get to know each individual's preferred feeding pace and food size (which will change as they grow and mature) and do your best to match those parameters for them. In larger collections that can be difficult, so a lot of people try to find a happy medium.

But just because you've found what works for you doesn't mean that everyone who feeds more than you is powerfeeding and/or harming their snakes, nor that anyone who is feeding less than you is starving and/or harming their snakes.

There seems to be an air of this type of "I have THE ONLY answer" (to questions that do not have clear or absolute answers) attitude growing on the forums lately... uke01:

As i wrote..

Mowgli said:

Since i joined the online reptile community for about a year ago

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Thanks for the useful information you gave, but i didnt ask for the origin of the title.. And i did write Power/Over-Feeding..

Im not asking for an precise answer, just what people do when they make their snakes grow faster than if fed in the "normal"(the way all the caresheets tells) way.

Do they feed more often, less bigger items, more small items, mice/rats etc..

Is power feeding ever acceptable, like if the snake is very thin from double clutching or after an illness?

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Power feeding no, but little and often works wonders. 1 small mouse every 5 days for a female who has just laid for 3 feedings is ok imho, then up a mouse size for 3 feedings every 7 days then back to normal feeding. Please note this is just for females who have laid.

My feeding stratagy is simple.

1 pinkie every 3 days till they have fed 5 times, then a bigger pinkie every 4 days.
2 pinkies every 5 days, or 1 fuzzie.
2 fuzzies or 1 small adult mouse every 6 days
2 small or 1 medium adult mouse every 7 days.

Anything bigger should be fed every 10 days apart from chicks which i feed every 14 days as an alternative sometimes.

Thats the way i feed anyway, and i don't class it as power feeding as i prefer to have my corns wait till their 3 years old to breed, which 1 will be next year, but as yet he is only 41" in shed size and is just over 2 and on 2 small or a medium mouse every 7 days.

Sorry thats just my way of doing it, and should have included that it's just my opinion.

<---- (missing the edit button)

Duff said:

Yes sir, capitan. My apologies for breathing the same air as you :bowdown:

You know, I'll never understand the point of responding to a thread just to try and make yourself look so much better than everyone else. Sorry, I may be fairly new, but I've done tons of reading and research and have come across the term "power feeding" many many times and used by people with plenty of experience. I may be low on the experience end, but I consider myself fairly well-versed on the information end.

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If you believed feeding a hatchling every 3 to 4 days constitutes Powerfeeding, as you stated, then someone needed to correct you, for the sake of anyone else who is reading. Like Bill Cosby used to say, "Be careful, or you might learn something." No need to thank me for taking time to explain the original meaning of the term. It was not my intention to make anyone else appear foolish or an ass or whatever.

larryg said:

If you believed feeding a hatchling every 3 to 4 days constitutes Powerfeeding, as you stated, then someone needed to correct you, for the sake of anyone else who is reading. Like Bill Cosby used to say, "Be careful, or you might learn something." No need to thank me for taking time to explain the original meaning of the term. It was not my intention to make anyone else appear foolish or an ass or whatever.

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Um, no, noone needed to correct me. The whole power feeding debate is one based on opinions. You can't SAY that I am incorrect. You can BELIEVE that I'm incorrect, just as I can BELIEVE that 3 days is too soon. If you should allow 48 hours for a snake to digest, I personally don't feel it's right to throw their bodies right back into it all so quick. Now, I never said it would hurt them, but I don't see any benefit to being so quick. There's nothing wrong or harmful in giving their little bodies time to rest in between feedings. Being a baby is tough enough.

And just to clarify, my response to you was about your assertion that anyone using the term "power feeding" is unlearned and inexperienced in caring for corns. It had nothing to do with your view of what constitutes power feeding or over feeding, as your entitled to your opinion on the matter.

I probably should have said it's a red flag that I *may* be dealing with someone who has limited information, as there are at least a couple of posters here who use the term to mean feeding way too often, like every day or every other day (consistently.) I like to give those poor little hungry baby snakes the chance the eat at least every 3 or 4 days, should they decide they want to. Check out these two snakes.... The one on the left was the smaller of the two, when I got them a few months ago. She eats an average of about every 4 to 5 days. The one on the right will only eat live, and he eats about every 7 days. They both eat fuzzies, and have been for most of the time I've had them. Feeding fuzzies instead of pinkies is one answer, as far as how to get them to grow a little faster. The two snakes in the photo are related and the same age, within a couple of weeks. My point in posting the photo is to show that you don't have to 'go crazy' to get fairly rapid growth, and there sure is a difference in the growth feeding every 7 days vs. every 4.

I'm not going to get into the discussion on powerfeeding...but just want to say that those are very beautiful snakes!!!

terrysangel79

Yes, nice snakes!

Allright.. I think i might have got the point now Thanks for the discussion, and ive learned something new today

Mowgli said:

Yes, nice snakes!

Allright.. I think i might have got the point now Thanks for the discussion, and ive learned something new today

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People who like snakes don't want to tell you exactly how other people abuse them, if that makes sense. It would be like going on a dog forum and asking for instructions to raise puppies in a chicken coop. If you want your hatchlings to grow at close to their potential, follow the advice in Kathy Love's book, or my more watered-down version (about every 3 or 4 days for youngest hatchlings, then every 4 or 5 days as they get a little larger, etc.)

Thanks for the compliments on the snakes. They are locality Miamis.

Without ragging on anyone elses opinions or methosd, I'll tell you how I do it.

My new hatchlings get offered food every 5-7 days whener whichever day falls into a convenient time in my schedule. Sometimes on day 5 and 6 I'm busy, so I feed on day 7 and visa versa. The one 7 month old sized snake I have gets a hopper about every 7 days. She ate only 4 meals in July and 5 meals in June, so I think that's pretty modest.
My bigger yearlings get a smallish adult mouse every 6 or 7 days, my adult females get an adult mouse a week (but 2 of them only got 3 feeds last month) and my adult males get a feed every 2 weeks or so. I just fed the boys today and it was their first feed in 17 days. They gain about 10-15g a month on this adult maintenence diet whereas the girls get fed more often due to the effort it takes to produce eggs. On a yearly basis, they gain about the same as the boys but they obviously gain it faster and lose a lot of weight with laying time.