Underfeeding to maintain size

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Originally Posted by Ashleen Cook

I didn't know that people actually did this o-o That's like saying "Give that kitten food once a week, and it'll stay tiny and cute."

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Not trying to single you out, but it's really nothing like that. Snakes are incredibly efficient animals. They do NOT need to be fed every week. If you were to look at ball pythons from the wild, I'd be willing to bet that most members on here would say it's skinny and underfed. I personally have multiple ball pythons who really do only eat a few times a year, by their choice.

I agree with that. Snakes have much more efficient and slow metabolisms. Most reptiles that are at a healthy weight look thin to others. On the other hand healthy to some is obese to others. What I dont agree with is purposely feeding a bp in a store mouse pinkys or even rat pinkys to keep them small and on top of the sparsely feeding them on undersized prey. I also look at maintainance feeding as different from that. Like say what breeders do. That a much different thing than what the chainstores do to keep the animals small.

I also agree with the last two posts. I also have a snake that only eats a few times a year. But that is his choice, not mine. I always offer every 10 days, reguardless of whether they eat it or not, it's still offered.

There's a difference between a snake choosing to not eat, and purposely not feeding them based on the intent of keeping them small.

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Originally Posted by Ashleen Cook

There's a difference between a snake choosing to not eat, and purposely not feeding them based on the intent of keeping them small.

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I agree with her. I've seen underfed vs picky eaters. There is a big difference. I don't know how many times someone tells me there snake is mean, and tries to strike them everytime they pick it up. Come to find out, they only feed it a mouse once a month.

I was at a local pet shop, and noticed a guy buying a ball python for his kid. The kid was jumping and running around with this poor baby ball python in one hand getting jerked around, it was aggravating to watch so I stepped over to the father and kindly started giving him some advice about the snake and that they stress very easily when handled as such. Plus he was buying all this nonsense for the snake, so as I gave him some tips he began to tell me they had another ball python but it died. So I asked him where he kept it, how the cage was setup, temps etc. He began to tell me he kept it outside on the back porch, at that time we were having record cold snaps so I can't imagine why the last one died on top of the little kid stressing it out. I wrote down this site on a piece of paper and told him to go here and he would find everything he wants to know to properly care for the animal and not have another die.

I'm sorry, outside on the back porch? Its things like that that I think must be some sort of sick joke.

I really hope they take your advice....but I won't be holding my breath.

Sent from my HTC Vision using Tapatalk

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Originally Posted by Courtney281

My big boy J.R. is 19 years old and I remember when my mom bought him she was told he only needs to eat a couple times a year :O I was only 11ish when we got him, so I didn't know better. But she had him all these years only feeding him "when he looked hungry" (every 6 months or so). When she died 2 years ago and I brough him home, I started doing tons of research and reading and asking tons of questions to figure out how to care for him right. I was shocked to learn that she was basically sarving him all these years. He now eats whenever I think he looks hungry (I offer every 10 days) hahaha It's amazing that even though he is 19 years old, he still is packing on the weight and length. Im honostly shocked he lived all these years only being fed that rarely. He also puts off very pretty babies :D

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Im really trying to see a pic of this old boy!!! :gj:

-.-; last night I was talking to someone on the net about snakes. Once he heard that I kept them he was very interested in talking to me about them. He told me he wanted an articulated python. I HAD to correct him. ugh. Then we went through the conversation about how they can get 20+ feet long... then.... IT came up "But cant you just keep them in a small cage and they'll stay small?" Holy Moley Batman. I kind of lost my temper a bit. I explained to him that keeping reptiles , fish and amphibs in small enclosures only harms them. If you want an animal that stays a certain size you RESEARCH and then get that animal and care for it properly. UGH UGH UGH *HEAD DESK*....I have had a bad 24 hours :/

I have heard and seen the same thing. There are soooo many people that think all reptiles will stay small if kept in a small cage. I look at them dumbfounded and do a face palm and try not to smack them over the head.