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power feeding

H

hightower

New member
marty my corn is 3 months old, and i was wondering if any one else has tried power feeding their corn at this age and how did you go about it?

at the minute i'm feeding him a pinkie every 5 days and he is taking the food straight away. do i go for two pinkies every week or upgrade to a larger pinkie?
 
Power feeding isn`t ideal for creating a healthy snake. They would never powerfeed in the wild.
One pinkie every 5 days for a 3 month snake isn`t much tho. my hatchlings have just shed for 2nd time and i`m moving them up to 2 pinkies every week.
Steady growth and a steady increase in food size has always worked best for me.
 
is it necessary to have a feeding tank? i have heard this a few times, is it bad for them to get used to feeding in their own enclosure???
 
is it necessary to have a feeding tank? i have heard this a few times, is it bad for them to get used to feeding in their own enclosure???
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The concern is that the snake could accidentally ingest a piece of substrate will feeding. Feeding in a container without bedding materials eliminates this problem.

IMO, two pinkies or a fuzzy a week for a 3mo corn isn't power feeding.
 
WAS1 said:
Power feeding isn`t ideal for creating a healthy snake.
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I disagree.
I power fed a sunglow motley I got in August 2002 that reached adult size in 8 months and it's just as healthy as any of my other snakes. She actually bred in 2003 and had 10 good eggs, all of which hatched and ate very well. This last year she bred again and had 14 eggs. Every one of the hatchlings turned out to be great eaters.
:crazy02:
 
Apples and Oranges, Tim

Breeding capacity and fertility has nothing to do with the long-term health impacts of this practice.
 
Newbie here. I have been on this site for a little while now, and I have heard mention to power feeding a couple of times, and I was just wondering what is considered power feeding. would feeding a 3 year old an adult mouse every 5 to 7 days be considered power feeding?
 
Power Feeding (The Facts)

Here's the deal kiddies, Power Feeding is putting your snake on a feeding schedual that is two to three times more meals than it would consume in the wild. The purpose for this is to beef him up to adult size much faster than a regular feeding regimen. This is perfectly fine for hatchlings but as soon as they become yearlings Power Fedding should stop. Otherwise you will put at risk the health of your snake, your snakes growth slowes down considerably after a year and if you continue to Speed Feed/Power Feed your pet can develop ugly fat pockets along it's body, these nasty looking pouches DO NOT go away.
It's just like people when we are young we can eat whatever we want because our metabolisim is fast, and we are growing, but once we are adults we can gain weight easier and our metabalisim slows, so that can lead to obesity, clogged arteries, possible reproduction problems and oh yeah... a fat ass. Were animals just like snakes same goes for both of us.
I have a snow corn who is just over a year, I Power Fed him since he was a hatchling Mon.Thurs.Fri. I fed him an apropriate sized meal and he is 2ft. 5in. I'v never heard of a corn reaching its full adult size in one year but I suppose it may be possible...maybe.
 
I have also heard from more than one source (most of them quite experienced) that power feeding is just not healthy. I really don't know why anyone is in that much of a hurry that they can't wait and be patient. Besides, I don't know that power feeding guarantees anything more than a fat, unhealthy adult. I have two snakes that are only a couple of months apart in age. One is 3 ft at a year old, and has only been fed once a week since I got her. I've had her for about 8 months. The other is only a couple of feet long and very slender. My 3 footer is eating med. sized f/t mice, the other is just starting on hoppers. I think some snakes are destined to be large, and others won't. Risking their health for faster growth that may not meet your standards is silly. If you want to breed now....buy an adult that's ready to breed. Let your babies grow at their normal rate.
 
I power fed my snake for it's first 8 months, then it when it reached about 36 inches I stopped. Now she eats 1 f/t adult mouse twice a week. She seems to be in great shape as of now and showing no "ugly fat pockets" along her body. How I see it, there seems to be nothing wrong with power feeding hatchlings so they reach adulthood quicker.

Just a thought...
 
Feeding an adult mouse 2 times a week is still fairly often. Adults should be fed every 7-14 days, not every 3. I still have the same question. Why hurry them into adulthood? Is it that you want a big snake to show off to friends or what?
 
From all the information that I have recieved, feeding a snake of this young an age the power feeding method described is not healthy!

An adult on the other hand can handle it!!
 
rolph1414 said:
From all the information that I have recieved, feeding a snake of this young an age the power feeding method described is not healthy!

An adult on the other hand can handle it!!
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That's backwards. It is OK to feed a young snake more often because it is still growing. When a snake reaches adult size, it doens't grow as fast. As hurricane said before, they will develop into being obese adults with ugly fat pads.

I learned this from experience. I have a couple of older snakes. I was only feeding them 1 large adult mouse or small rat once a week. Because they were older (around 7-8 years), even that was too much for them. They both developed fat pockets. The male was worse than the female. I was told that the males need even less food than females. It was recommend that I feed them either one weanling sized mouse every 1-2 weeks or a regular sized adult mouse every two weeks. They have both lost weight, but the ugly fat pads are still there.

I thought there feeding schedule was OK. I mean 1 large mouse or small rat a week doesn't sound like much, right? Please learn from my experience and don't overfeed your snake.
 
Physical responses to feeding can also depend on the individual. My first three Corns reacted completely differently to exactly the same feeding regime once full-grown (1 large mouse every 7-10 days):

Female 1: Developed fat lumps at 4 years old, which had no apparent impact on her health. Died aged 16.
Female 2: Ballooned to twice the size of the other two, aged about three and a half. No lumps, just a uniform weight gain. Died from complications of egg-binding aged approx 5. PM showed abnormal fatty deposits throughout her body and organs.
Male: Normal size and weight, no evidence of fat lumps, still going strong at age 16.

You don't necessarily have to be overfeeding for fat lumps to appear. Having said that, Corns do seem to respond better to under rather than over-feeding, so if in doubt, cut back.
 
I totally agree with KEL. Nearly all pets, snakes or otherwise, are generally fed too much in captivity. Animals seem healthier and live longer when underfed rather than overfed.
And although powerfeeding may not appear to cause health problems in some snakes, why take the risk. It`s best to imitate their wild habits as close as possible.
 
One thing that was not mentioned here is that feeding a breeding female is different from feeding a pet snake. After a female has come out of brumation or has just laid a clutch of eggs, she will naturally eat more agressively than a male or a female that is not used for breeding. So what would be normal feeding for a female breeder would be excessive feeding for a pet snake. That said, it is perfectly normal to feed breeder females two small meals per week. But you shouldn't take the feeding routine for breeders as general advice.

IMO
Mark
 
How do you really know.....

Ok, forgive me if I'm a bit confused, but I'd REALLY like to know how to tell if you are power feeding. I feed my corn (age unknown) 2 reg. size feeders every 7-10 days. Does this constitute power feeding? Snake is in perfect health and there is no visible "lumpiness" after consumption. Does how much you feed to a particular snake also depend on genetics...don't some tend to be bigger than others naturally?

My Ren shed monthly...which someone told me means s/he's 18 months or under...that shedding slows down as they get older. But based on size s/he could be about 3 years old. S/he was about three feet when I got him/her and put on almost a half foot since then.

I don't want to power feed, and the snake is in no ways obese (none of my pets are...2 shepherds who weigh in perfect for size and structure). Also, I was under the impression that a snake would regurg if offered too much food. Can anyone give me some insight? I feel that I'm feeding appropriately for the size of the snake, but I dare not over do it. Thanks!
 
When I power fed my snake, I usually gave it 1-2 mice twice a week. I NEVER gave it more than 4 mice in one week. Now, I usually feed it 1 f/t weanling mouse twice a week. I have only been in the snake buisness for 3 years now, so personally I don't know the long-term effects of feeding a snake this much now. I had just heard that the more you feed a snake (within reason), then more eggs you can get out of it. Is this true?
 
I had just heard that the more you feed a snake (within reason), then more eggs you can get out of it. Is this true?
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Yes and no. There are many factors that influence egg production besides diet: genetics, age, size, ect. One of the potential side effect of overfeeding in captive reptiles that is currently being researched is reduced lifespan. No matter how your choose to believe about feeding, four mice a week is excessive. Either they are much too small of a prey item the given snake, or you are introducing excessive calories that the snake can't possible be utilizing efficiently. If that is the case, the snake will likely become obese as it reaches maturity. This is a practice that you really need to reconsider IMO.
 
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