Feeding questions

[SuddenEclipse]

So this might sounds like a stupid question, and I realize my KSB is probably hungry from skipping a week and a half of eating because he was trying to shed. But can you over-feed your snake or if they're hungry they'll eat, if they're not hungry they won't??

My guy decided to eat on Sunday. Then I was holding him this morning and he was kinda rubbing his nose on me, something I've noticed he does when he is trying to "tell" me he's hungry. So I offered him another f/t fuzzy and he ate it again, no problem. I guess he's just an eating machine. If he is eating that much is it "TOO" much??

Also, I know KSBs are desert snakes and some people only put water in their tank a couple times a week. My guy being in a large tank I just leave a little water bowl in there all the time on the cool side. But every time I pick him up in the morning, I hold him up to his water dish to see if he's thirsty and he drinks and drinks and drinks, sometimes for a good full minute. In fact, he did that this morning before he rubbed his nose on me and ate his mouse! LOL, why does he do that? Is he too lazy to get his own water and just waits for me? Kind of neat to do it and I guess he's comfortable with me if he drinks for me. Just wondering if anyone else has experienced this. Sorry if these questions are silly.

[blushingball419]

They're not silly questions at all! It's good that you care enough about your little guy to ask.

You can overfeed your snake, and because KSBs are desert snakes they are built to go for longer periods of time without food and water. However, like you pointed out, since he's growing and just came through a shed cycle, I'm sure he feels pretty hungry! I would still try to stick to the once a week routine, but if he seems really hungry, I don't think it would hurt him to be fed a little extra every once and awhile.

That's so cute that he's gotten used to you holding him to drink and I have heard of others that do this, but I would just keep an eye on it. I'm not 100% sure about KSBs, but I know with other desert-dwelling snakes like rosy boas that if they drink too much after eating it can cause them to regurgitate. If you haven't had any problems with him yet then I wouldn't worry about it, and of course you don't want him to get dehydrated, but maybe only let him drink every other day instead of every day, something like that. If he's been with you awhile then he should know where the water dish is.