Feeding to much=shorter life span??

I read recently online(can't remember where) that feeding snakes to much or "power feeding" will shorten their life span...so I was just wondering what is to much and what people know about this? I feed both my BP's every 5 days my nornal is 1 year old 500g and my lemon is a little over 2 months old and lower 100's g( not exactly sure off the top of my head) so should I put them on a 7 day? Thoughts?

Christian

Power feeding is shoving multiple rats one after another down the snake's throat.(by force or tying rats together)
And I believe that is ridiculously cruel, harmful, and its probably not the healthiest thing ever.

However, feeding snakes under 500 grams of the appropriate size prey every 5 days is perfectly fine and safe. Babies need extra nourishment since they're still growing. Their growth rate starts slowing down when they are larger so it's recommended you switch snakes above 500 grams to a 7-10 day schedule.

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Why would you feed them multiple like that? And I've never heard of people tying rats together.. that is cruel :thumbdown:

Christian

I feed my babies every 5 days, adults every 7, and females that need some at reserves for breeding every 4 before the season. Not harmful at all! Every 2 days having a large meal.... A bit too much

Not sure about shortening life span. I do know that power feeding corn snakes will cause them to grow faster in total length but they will develop a condition that I know of as having "pin-heads." Their bodies will grow but their heads will never reach fill size. Either way, power feeding is not healthy for your animal as it will increase fat reserves, and from what I know, fat females are more likely to become egg bound, which is a life threatening issue.

I agree that that's a bit cruel to force them to eat like that. Penny was on a two-mouse diet with a ten to fourteen day break in between for a bit before I started to get her on a one-mouse-a-week diet. She killed and ate her first mouse, then after about 10 minutes I'd offer her another if she still looked hungry. I pretty much played it by eyesight with her feedings and if she was hunting her cage, she got a mouse, which made the switch from two to one a lot easier. I don't understand why anyone would force a snake to eat unless they were losing far too much weight, and even then I seriously frown on that because that's a lot of stress to put them under. I mean, I wouldn't like it if someone held me down and forced me to eat if I wasn't hungry. So, yeah, I think it might shorten their lifespan from the stress. And make them fat, which is just as bad.

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Originally Posted by gsarchie

Not sure about shortening life span. I do know that power feeding corn snakes will cause them to grow faster in total length but they will develop a condition that I know of as having "pin-heads." Their bodies will grow but their heads will never reach fill size. Either way, power feeding is not healthy for your animal as it will increase fat reserves, and from what I know, fat females are more likely to become egg bound, which is a life threatening issue.

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If females are too fat they will slug out too. They need extra fat, but not obesity:P

This is a debate that is impossible to answer without actual statistics from a number of sample groups...short answer is, very few people, if any, really know. Not many people around with 25-35 year old balls that have been fed on such varying schedules throughout their lives, and premature deaths of the animals can always be written off as something else completely.