feeding schedule question

[diamondlil]

I don't intend to brumate the snakes, I haven't anywhere that will be cool enough. The 2 year olds have grown enormously on 7-day feedings, but I don't want them to put on too much weight and get 'hips' or poor muscle tone, so the boys have already been switched to 10 day feeding.
(As an example, Nellie has grown from 44 grams in January to 258 now! The bump to small/medium adult mice has just accelerated the growth far more than I expected)
So, would spacing the girls out to 10 day feedings too be the best course? I know the boys will probably start refusing feeds in the spring again, so it's mainly the girls weight gain I'm concerned about.

 

[Nanci]

Well, I don't have an answer to your question, but your solution sounds logical! I have two groups of snakes- the ones that get fed once a week- the over two year olds, and the ones that get fed every five days. Choco is really just over a year old, but I just decided to move her to weekly feedings. Two feedings ago, she refused both mice, and then five days later ate one of two. Doesn't sound like she's that hungry! I'll see if she's more interested in food now that she's cut back to every seven days. She's like 250g or something.

NAnci

 

[mele2511]

I am currently feeding my 4 and a half year adult 1 adult mouse every 10 days. He started getting fat so i needed to put him on a diet.

 

[Susielea]

Hi Janine,
I changed two of my girls over to a 10 day feeding schedule in the middle of August, as they'd gone up to medium mice and were gaining weight quicker.
When I weighed them in the middle of October (approx 2 months later) they'd gained another 40 grams each, weighing in at 291 grams, so I think they are well on track for breeding next year.

What you could do is weigh your girls, then change them to 10 day feedings and weigh them after say 4 feeds which is just over a month, times the weight gain by how many months until you intend to breed and you should be able to work out if they are gaining enough weight on that schedule. If not then you can feed them more frequently after that first month and still have enough time for them to gain the necessary weight.

I hope that makes sense to you if not let me know and I'll try to explain it better....lol

Good luck and best wishes,

 

[MegF.]

Mine are on 14 day feeding schedules, but they are all over 3 now. I like the girls to be closer to 400 grams for breeding, but it needs to be a healthy, not fat 400 grams. They are actually closer to 600 grams now, but they are large snakes. I just measured the male at 56.5" and the females aren't far behind. Since you're not brumating them (which is something I do) I would feed them every 10-14 days as they won't be losing any feeding time. I have one female and male that I am going to feed thru the winter as she is still too light for me to feel comfortable breeding. She's about 330 grams, but slender. The male is young, so I want to continue feeding him thru also.

 

[diamondlil]

Hi Janine,
I changed two of my girls over to a 10 day feeding schedule in the middle of August, as they'd gone up to medium mice and were gaining weight quicker.
When I weighed them in the middle of October (approx 2 months later) they'd gained another 40 grams each, weighing in at 291 grams, so I think they are well on track for breeding next year.

What you could do is weigh your girls, then change them to 10 day feedings and weigh them after say 4 feeds which is just over a month, times the weight gain by how many months until you intend to breed and you should be able to work out if they are gaining enough weight on that schedule. If not then you can feed them more frequently after that first month and still have enough time for them to gain the necessary weight.

I hope that makes sense to you if not let me know and I'll try to explain it better....lol

Good luck and best wishes,

Thanks! My main worry is that at this rate they'll be 600grams of lard before I breed them! I don't want them to get hips or lose tone, but they have gained weight so fast that I felt it was time to ask advice now rather than after potential health problems develop

 

[diamondlil]

Mine are on 14 day feeding schedules, but they are all over 3 now. I like the girls to be closer to 400 grams for breeding, but it needs to be a healthy, not fat 400 grams. They are actually closer to 600 grams now, but they are large snakes. I just measured the male at 56.5" and the females aren't far behind. Since you're not brumating them (which is something I do) I would feed them every 10-14 days as they won't be losing any feeding time. I have one female and male that I am going to feed thru the winter as she is still too light for me to feel comfortable breeding. She's about 330 grams, but slender. The male is young, so I want to continue feeding him thru also.

Thanks Meg, that makes sense. I have only a totally unheated shed that I could put them in to brumate, but the temperatures in there would be too low. With the central heating indoors set to @22 I'd be worried they'd stay active and lose condition at that temperature

 

[MegF.]

I've brumated mine indoors every year. I find that as long as it's completely dark, and the temps stay around mid/upper 50's to low 60's, they don't move much at all. I've never had significant weight loss in my brumated animals. I do leave some water in there and I check on them every few weeks. My house temperatures usually stay around the low 60's at night and about 80 during the day. The bottom of the closet stays pretty much the same though. If you have a guest room that doesn't get used much, or a closet that you can put the boxes in and cover them up, they'll be fine.

 

[diamondlil]

No such luck here, the only closet I could use is the airing cupboard where all the towels and bedding plus sleeping bags, quilts etc are stored, if I switched off the radiator in there and had anywhere else to put the linen! Even then, the cats both open the door and sneak in to sleep in there, and I couldn't risk them 'playing' with the snakes