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"Cap" on weight based feeding?

Thaneem

New member
Hello all.
I've had my snake since he was 3 weeks old, and he'll soon be at the one year mark. I discovered the Munson Plan on this site almost immediately after acquiring him, and have been feeding a pretty conservative version of it ever since.
Recently, though, I've switched to a more basic weight based plan: 10% of snakes weight = weight of food item. Currently the snake is 150 grams, so he just got a 15 gram mouse.
My question is - I'm sure this can't go on indefinitely. An 800 gram colubrid isn't likely to eat an 80 gram prey item. So....where is the "cap"? In other words, is this statement true: "Once the snake weighs x grams, the weight of the food item should not increase. It should from that point until the snake dies, weigh between y and z". And, if true, what are x, y, and z.
I'm sure there's different opinions and no "one answer fits every animal"...I'm just looking for ideas.
 
Well, the munson plan does end with snakes over 300 grams only getting one adult mouse.
And I think that's what I've read most of the recommendations on here being. One adult mouse per feed. So that's my feeding plan.
 
300g is the generally accepted cap. A 25-30g mouse every 10-14 days is sufficient for an adult of any size greater than that. The exception tends to be breeding females, who ideally will be a fair bit larger for peak performance.
 
Well, the munson plan does end with snakes over 300 grams only getting one adult mouse.
And I think that's what I've read most of the recommendations on here being. One adult mouse per feed. So that's my feeding plan.

Well THANK YOU (and Dragonling) for engaging in this discussion as well as Thaneem for asking the initial question! As my 800+ gram snow corn appropriately named Bozo due to the reddish, wig-shaped splotch-mark that covered his entire dome as a hatchling, gradually aged and grew in size (both length & girth), I increased the size of his food commensurate with his body weight. Since typical adult mice weigh 25-30 grams, I would normally feed him 3 mice every 2-3 weeks, ensuring that the 10% mark was usually met, though I rarely weigh him and each mouse at every meal. Since he never became obese, I never thought I was over-feeding him either! However, I appreciate this information as I did read that rats had more protein per gram and he does seem to prefer them to mice (as does all of my adult snakes) which is evidenced by the apparent voraciousness with which they attack and constrict almost all rats offered to them as opposed to mice which they sometimes nudge as if trying to wake them up first!!! Of course, I always ensure that each rat is an appropriately-sized meal and that they aren't too large for any of my snakes!

But if one small rat is OK since my adults are all 8 years old, then I will be able to cut down the size of each meal! However, I will also monitor the size of my snakes as I would rather have them a little over-weight than a little under-weight!

Thanx again!!!!
 
BTW

Does anyone know where the Munson Plan is located or a link to it? I'm just curious as to how bad or good my snake-husbandry or parenting skills are.

I am definitely open to learning any and everything I need to in order to achieve and maintain a state of optimum health as far as my little sneaky ones are concerned!!!

Thanx in advance to anyone who has the time to respond!!!
 
Far Out, Heavy, & Right-On!!!

Wow!

Thanx a bunch there Albertagirl!!

You are AWESOME! :bowdown:

(As you've probably heard me admit before, since I am NOT the SHARPEST tool in the SHED, I constantly have to overcompensate due to my past life and my numerous attempts at better living through chemistry, via the Psychadelic Psychopharmaceutical Superhighway, which was unfortunately Slippery When Wet when I used it and, not heeding the warnings which were given to me at the time, I wound up having to take an hour and a half to watch 60 Minutes and believing that Taco Bell was a Mexican phone company!!!):dunce:

Thanx Again!! :crazy02:
 
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