Thought for Food-

[Bogertophis]

Yes, I intentionally reversed the phrase "food for thought" Discussion invited.

From reading many posts for many years, I'd say "most" BP owners feed their snakes on a schedule, yet sooner or later most BP owners experience finicky eaters that refuse food. One wonders how can these snakes survive in the wild if this behavior is typical? But maybe it's not- maybe we're creating this by over-feeding &/or being too predictable. But after all, our lives are busy & keeping track of feeding a snake makes sense, so we don't forget to feed our pets often enough, especially if we're unaccustomed to keeping snakes.

We can be sure that in the wild, snakes do not find food on any sort of a schedule. Does this make them more likely to maintain a vigorous appetite? Are conditions in the wild (including more activity & more stimulating conditions) also the reason they eat every chance they get?

From watching wildlife videos (not to mention our own "common sense") we know that snakes do not succeed in catching prey every time they try- sometimes the prey literally gets away. When experiments are done with other animals, or even humans, it's generally found that if the subject is NOT rewarded consistently (not fed each time they perform a specific behavior), they actually work harder than if they'd been rewarded every time. So, would our captive snakes be more likely to eat IF their meals were a bit less predictable? Most of us would agree that teasing animals seems "mean", but what would happen if every now & then, when a snake is due to feed, we give them a good whiff of their prey that is never actually offered, as if it got away? Would they be more inclined to grab for it next time, instead of being "fussy"? I've never tried this, but I have to wonder?

In the first post of a recent thread (https://ball-pythons.net/forums/show...=1#post2775569), a member mentions:

...I intentionally feed him erratically (not on a fixed schedule and different sized feeders)...

and his snake (BP) has "been a ravenous eater since day one".

Now we all realize that young BPs usually eat more consistently than mature ones, and also that ONE example is certainly not enough to base any conclusions on. Still, maybe this is something we should keep in mind? We all hate it when our pet snake won't eat, even though most of us understand on some level that this is fairly "normal" (with BPs especially).

We humans thrive on predictability- do we (consciously or otherwise) expect the same of our snakes? And we all want to see healthy growth in our snakes. Is it possible that by making food so readily available to our snakes that we're making food refusal more likely? Just something to think about, & please share your thoughts.