way2corny
New member
A hot topic of debate is answering the question "Does power-feeding sacrifice longevity for quickly-reached adult size?" Now, there's another debate defining "power-feeding," but let's not get into that. I was thinking someone with a large collection could, not easily mind you, assemble data from years of raising corns. It would take FOREVER because you'd have to document the size of the snakes at the times of their deaths, but I don't think any sound scientific work has been published on this topic, so you could be the first. Got 20+ years to spare? 
I was thinking that to set it up, you'd more than likely want wild-caught corns to start with. Just because if they were "het this and that," you'd be testing longevities for genetics, not just feeding. I guess, then, you'd have to breed the pair of WC corns to ghosts or something to make sure they weren't carrying any other genes. Then, you could breed the pair of original corns together a few times, separate the offspring, feed them different amounts, keep them on the same regiment their entire lives (increasing prey size with age, of course...just at a gradient throughout the animals), and document what effects, if any, "power-feeding" had on the animal's lifespan, compared to those animals that were given a more conservative ration.
Of course, an ideal situation would be to have multiple pairs of WC corns to decrease the likelihood of a fluke. And you'd want multiple feeding regiments...not just "power-fed" versus "conservative." Like I mentioned before, it would be an extremely long experiment, but I guess if you had the resources and the time, you could try and put the debate to rest. I'm not real sure if any of this is feasible, mind you. I sure don't have the resources for it. I was just thinking about how that question could finally be answered with a strong experiment and sound scientific evidence. I know large breeders could "answer" the question with their own personal observations, but again morph genetics adds another variable there, and without documented research, I wouldn't put too much stock in personal observations. Any thoughts?
On an interesting sidenote, a recent 10-year study of Timber rattlesnake (Crotalus horridus) found that to have enough energy to produce viable eggs, female Timber rattlesnakes only had to comsume, on average, 1 tree squirrel (their primary prey in the area studied) in an entire year. Talk about low carb. :laugh:
I was thinking that to set it up, you'd more than likely want wild-caught corns to start with. Just because if they were "het this and that," you'd be testing longevities for genetics, not just feeding. I guess, then, you'd have to breed the pair of WC corns to ghosts or something to make sure they weren't carrying any other genes. Then, you could breed the pair of original corns together a few times, separate the offspring, feed them different amounts, keep them on the same regiment their entire lives (increasing prey size with age, of course...just at a gradient throughout the animals), and document what effects, if any, "power-feeding" had on the animal's lifespan, compared to those animals that were given a more conservative ration.
Of course, an ideal situation would be to have multiple pairs of WC corns to decrease the likelihood of a fluke. And you'd want multiple feeding regiments...not just "power-fed" versus "conservative." Like I mentioned before, it would be an extremely long experiment, but I guess if you had the resources and the time, you could try and put the debate to rest. I'm not real sure if any of this is feasible, mind you. I sure don't have the resources for it. I was just thinking about how that question could finally be answered with a strong experiment and sound scientific evidence. I know large breeders could "answer" the question with their own personal observations, but again morph genetics adds another variable there, and without documented research, I wouldn't put too much stock in personal observations. Any thoughts?
On an interesting sidenote, a recent 10-year study of Timber rattlesnake (Crotalus horridus) found that to have enough energy to produce viable eggs, female Timber rattlesnakes only had to comsume, on average, 1 tree squirrel (their primary prey in the area studied) in an entire year. Talk about low carb. :laugh:
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