Is feeding twice a week to much ?

Sorry to hijack your thread but I didn't want to start a new one.

Am I feeding too often?
~3 months old
~95g

9/13 - Rat fuzzy
9/17 - Rat fuzzy
9/21 - Rat fuzzy + rat pinky
9/25 - Rat pup

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Originally Posted by Rusky

Sorry to hijack your thread but I didn't want to start a new one.

Am I feeding too often?
~3 months old
~95g

9/13 - Rat fuzzy
9/17 - Rat fuzzy
9/21 - Rat fuzzy + rat pinky
9/25 - Rat pup

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No.

wow this is very helpful! I was about to post the same question...

i have 3 females that i feed every Sunday and Wednesday.

2 females - 1000 Grams
1 female - 750 Grams

do you think i can make 1500G by November or December?

this would be the ideal time for breeding right?:)

yes a lot of people start dropping temps around the first of october and then start introducing males to the females around the first of november good luck but i introduced my male to my female the other day and within a couple hours they locked and didnt stopped til yesturday :D

to answer your other ? it all depends on the females and the feeding if you can get them to weight mine got to 1000 grams and quit eating for a few months and then started pounding rats like they didnt miss a beat so it all depends on what they want to do

ahh ok, thanks mdfreak2! btw, they need to be at least 1500g to breed right?

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Originally Posted by frost0214

ahh ok, thanks mdfreak2! btw, they need to be at least 1500g to breed right?

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yes that would be correct

I feed my hatchlings more frequently than I do my yearlings and adults. I have concerns that many of us are over feeding our animals and while you might get quicker results to get to breeding weight - to what end?

Fat is not good for any creature. I have chosen to slow grow my animals, I like them muscular and lean. I do feed up my females a few months heading into breeding season, but when not breeding, I don't feed aggressively.

I was speaking with someone recently who is now adopting a similar philosophy to me after having an animal just die and necropsied - it died of fatty liver disease from being over fed.

One thing I want to point out.

It's NOT just the size with females, age matters too. An 18 month old female who makes 1500 grams is not likely to take, despite being the ideal size. Most females need to be at least two years old and 1500 grams to breed with good success. Many breeders say 1500 grams OR in her third winter. Younger females are just not ready to have eggs. They may breed, may even build follicles, but then 9 times out of 10 they re-absorb. Even if they do lay, they almost always have smaller clutches of two or three eggs, instead of the 6 to 10 eggs a more mature female will lay.

For me, the extra time spent waiting for the female to grow and mature is well worth it. I'd much rather give her an extra year to grow and get 10 big healthy hatchlings out of her, than push her too young and end up with only 3 little hatchlings or none at all. And I've heard it said by some of the bigger breeders that breeding a female young can cause her to have small clutches all her life.

You of course must ultimately decide what is best for you and your animals, but for me and my stock, we'll be patient. :)

Gale

After watching the SnakeBytesTV episode recently where they revealed their feeding results, I've gone from a twice a week feeding schedule to once a week. I believe this will do two things for me:

1. I will save money on rats.
2. I will have faster growing snakes.

Basically, feeding a large meal once a week should get you a huge increase in growth compared to two smaller feedings a week. Even one regular sized meal a week is better than two smaller meals.

It's looking like to me, that the commonly held idea that more smaller meals makes for a faster growing snake is a fallacy. It looks like smaller meals increase the snake metabolism with no downtime. So most of the nutrients they get from those small meals go back into digesting the next small meal.