Drizzt80
Dakota Corns
A lot of questions concerning powerfeeding, overfeeding, overweight snakes, underfeeding, etc. Just wanted to share my feeding regiment and welcome thoughts, responses, etc. I will preface this with the fact that I have a collection intended for breeding purposes, and wouldn't necessarily use this with a snake I was just keeping as a pet (which I have several of: cal king, gray banded, and ball python, all of which get one meal every two weeks.)
I feed my hatchlings, keepers/new snakes, twice a week, on Tuesdays and Fridays. They don't get anything larger than the widest portion of their body. I feed them this way until they are large enough to take fuzzies or large pinky rats and then they get fed once a week on Fridays.
Adult females get fed once a week on Fridays, and adult males get fed once every two weeks on Fridays.
This of course is all based on having a relatively small collection (38 snakes currently), and probably wouldn't be the best in larger collections.
My experience with this has been that the hatchlings do grow up fast, and they are 'thick'. I don't believe they are overweight, and I'm not really concerned that I am powerfeeding (though others may have a different opinion of that!). I do have a couple adult males that I sometimes go every 3 weeks because they are showing a tendency to get bigger in girth (though males are supposed to be larger). The females get fed on a regular basis due to pre/post brumation and breeding stress.
I also supplement meals by injecting either vitamins or NutriBac into the meal on occasion.
Anyone else have a regimen they believe works best for them?
D80
I feed my hatchlings, keepers/new snakes, twice a week, on Tuesdays and Fridays. They don't get anything larger than the widest portion of their body. I feed them this way until they are large enough to take fuzzies or large pinky rats and then they get fed once a week on Fridays.
Adult females get fed once a week on Fridays, and adult males get fed once every two weeks on Fridays.
This of course is all based on having a relatively small collection (38 snakes currently), and probably wouldn't be the best in larger collections.
My experience with this has been that the hatchlings do grow up fast, and they are 'thick'. I don't believe they are overweight, and I'm not really concerned that I am powerfeeding (though others may have a different opinion of that!). I do have a couple adult males that I sometimes go every 3 weeks because they are showing a tendency to get bigger in girth (though males are supposed to be larger). The females get fed on a regular basis due to pre/post brumation and breeding stress.
I also supplement meals by injecting either vitamins or NutriBac into the meal on occasion.
Anyone else have a regimen they believe works best for them?
D80