For those who feed their snakes two times a week....

[dionythicus]

Ours are on a weekly schedule. I will let my large adults go two weeks on occasion, mostly because they've refused a meal for whatever reason and then will wait another week. I had one baby (a hoggie) who went 3-4 weeks without eating because apparently he knew that the pinks were too large. I took him down to 2 teeny pinkies twice a week and he's grown enough that now he eats normal sized pinks, one a week. I'm also happy to say that we now have more '04 babies that are hammering fuzzies with no problems, rather than two pinks a week. Hooray!

 

[oldhand]

How can one tell if they are overfeeding their snake... I have had my corn for about 4 months and am feeding him small fuzzies every 7 days... and he looks like he is getting fat

sounds about right to me, (s)he should look likes larryg's, which is about 1-1.5 times the thickest part of the snakes body.

A good example is this pic which is my little snow at 3 weeks old on pinkies, this is the absolute maximum the snake should be streched.

 

[Joejr14]

A snake can be stretched more than that without a problem.

 

[MegF.]

I agree with Joe. Although that looks pretty stretched, it's at the slenderest part of the body. Once it gets farther down the body, you won't see that much of a bulge.

 

[larryg]

About 20 hours later, you can see the resulting bulge.

 

[reptile_addict]

'Weeks' is a human concept (snakes don't think in terms of weeks.) I'd suggest thinking in terms of feeding every 4 or 5 days or every 7 days or whatever. I agree Sherry's snake should probably be eating more often than once every 14 days. My hatchling (16 inch approx.) eats a small fuzzy about every 5 days now, and he's hungry by then.

If anybody cares to comment on whether this is the right size prey for him, I'll include a couple of photos.

He could probably take a larger pink or small fuzzy. I get to pick out my sizes of mice and rats so I don't need to feed 2, I just feed 1 meal thats the right size. My '04 male is eating a small hopper or large fuzzy mouse. He just ate a large fuzzy last night with out much of a lump. I will finish off the last 44 in my bag and then go clear out the pet store once more. Can't wait till the blood python will eat f/t instead of live. Come to think of it, Its time to feed that big monster again.

 

[larryg]

I agree he probably could eat two of those small fuzzies, if I really wanted to feed him a lot. He'd probably eat three of them, based on the way he eats, but I don't know whether he'd be able to keep three down. Considering I feed him about every 5 days, one is probably sufficient. If I fed him less frequently, I might feed more. Two fuzzies would cost twice as much, and I doubt the actual benefit in terms of growth would be anywhere near that much higher. He does seem to have a fast metabolism, and although I wouldn't do it, I think he's one of those hatchlings that could literally eat a pinky every day as someone had posted about (he's an eating machine). He was brumated (don't ask) before I got him, so I do try to feed him plenty now so that he will hopefully grow to his full potential size, which might not even be that big considering he's a Miami.

 

[mcp41483]

Here I am feeding my snake Brock... jsut wondering if he looks big or what not, i know someone said he wouldnt eat if he werent hungry but he downed two fuzzies easliy.

Not great pictures but i will try to get one better

 

[mcp41483]

Here is a better pic