Powerfeeding revisited

[hhw]

If you all recall, I started a thread about overfeeding/powerfeeding, and its potential negative effects. At the time, I assumed that feeding a snake such a large amount was completely unnatural, and that there could be no possible reason to do it other than to be able to breed your ball pythons sooner.

However, I have recently heard an interesting theory. It was suggested that in the wild, ball pythons will fast during the breeding season. However, as soon as the breeding season is over they will gorge themselves as much as possible, to regain or add weight. After all, gerbils, their natural prey, tend to live in colonies and a large ball python could potentially feed on several gerbils at a single sitting. So, it's possible that powerfeeding is a better simulation of a ball python's feeding behaviour in the wild.

This theory sounded plausible to me; I can't imagine a breeding female ever becoming overly obece, since producing eggs drastically diminishes weight. However, obecity could be a problem for males. I'm now wondering, if obecity occurs with males only fed prey items the size of gerbils or smaller, or only with males fed larger rats.

It would also be interesting to note whether longevity of over/powerfed ball pythons in captivity were any shorter than the longevity of ball pythons dying of natural causes in the wild.

It would be interesting if someone actually performed a study on the effects of over/powerfeeding. Since it would take 30+ years and probably a LOT of BP's to be of sufficient sample sizes, I highly doubt any solid data exists to argue one way or the other right now.

Anyway, although I will stick to my weekly feeding schedule, I will no longer assume that breeders who over/powerfeed are doing their animals a disservice. I would like to hear any thoughts, arguments, counter-arguments, or any other input on this topic, as I find it quite interesting.

[Smulkin]

I think with a lot of breeders it is more of a question of racing to get to the target weight for breeding. Sesha surprised the hell outta me last week by taking a leftover rat (thought it would have to go to the AfRock Dispose-All Neph), it was there she jumped at the opportunity.

I see hear and read of folks with large snakes (Rocks, BUrms, Retics etc) feeding aggressivelyy in pursuit of getting the snake to gargantuan proportions as well, and we'll let Freud tackle that one.

A lot of studies lately seem to be relating caloric intake as a factor relating to lifespan/longevity as well - and i thas been established in a couple of species that not eating and long fasts (been a couple AfRocks who'v supposedly gone off feed for 2 years) equate to a longer lifespan.

About every snake in the house has refused a meal at some point - and I don't let it get to me figuring "Hey if you're hungry you'll eat"

You're right it would be a hugely ambitious study crossing YEARS of tracked target data - in the meantime I'm going with our regular weekly appropriately-sized rodental munchies.

[elevatethis]

It would be hard to compare the lifespan of a captive snake with a "wild feeding schedule" to that of a wild snake because many snakes in the wild do not die of natural causes (illness, habitat destrcution, predation, etc).

Its also important to note, what wild snake would encounter a perfect temperature gradient in their habitat 24/7, among other conditions that we keep the same all the time? Basically, we can't make comparisions between wild and captive snakes. Theres just so many factors that are different.

I think that if we aren't going to provide them with a direct simulation of their environment in the wild (weather, season, temperature changes, etc), then it would not be appropriate to attempt to simulate their wild cousins' feeding habits as well. If we provide consistant temperature, conditions, and other environmental factors; then regular, consistant feeding should be practiced as well.

[Smulkin]

No, but it would be easy enough (though take decades) to compare 2 captive specimens on diets that varied their caloric intake enough to test the hypothesis.

I agree elevate - keep it regular and steady - no need to try and simulate feast and famine lol.