Some people...

1500 grams is a guideline, not a rule for breeding females.

They can be safely bred at less weight if their body weight is solid. I've bred girls that are less than 1500 grams with no ill effect.

If she's healthy, she could get her weight back and be bred again this year.

-adam

It gets my back up, too, Jo. I've always held that if you can't afford to feed the animal, you shouldn't have the animal... and if you can't find food for all your animals, you have too many. Sure these guys can go without food for months... but this one isn't going off feed because it's winter or unable to eat because it's in the wild and food is scarce.

The way I see it, these guys are our pets and we have a responsibility to take care of them, whether we have one or one-hundred. Just my opinion (and, yes, I'm well aware of what they say about those).

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Originally Posted by ladywhipple02

It gets my back up, too, Jo. I've always held that if you can't afford to feed the animal, you shouldn't have the animal... and if you can't find food for all your animals, you have too many. Sure these guys can go without food for months... but this one isn't going off feed because it's winter or unable to eat because it's in the wild and food is scarce.

The way I see it, these guys are our pets and we have a responsibility to take care of them, whether we have one or one-hundred. Just my opinion (and, yes, I'm well aware of what they say about those).

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But you are aware that feeding them every single week is much much more food than they actually need right? Most captive boids are extremely over fed.

He said two months in the ad. That's 4 - 8 feedings. Some people even feed their animals every 3 weeks .... that would be 2 - 3 missed feedings. In the picture the snake looks healthy and definitely not suffering from any type of starvation.

-adam

Do you feed your animals every week?

And, yes, I'm aware that feeding them once a week is more than they would need to survive. In the wild. But ours aren't in the wild.

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Originally Posted by ladywhipple02

Do you feed your animals every week?

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What I do does not matter. Everyone does things a little different and the reality is that there are lots and lots of ways to keep these amazing animals happy and healthy. No "one way" is ever the "right way". If the animal in that picture appeared to be even slightly suffering from malnutrition, I'd be right there with you ... but it did not.

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Originally Posted by ladywhipple02

And, yes, I'm aware that feeding them once a week is more than they would need to survive. In the wild. But ours aren't in the wild.

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You're right, they aren't in the wild ... In the wild they eat 10 - 20 times per year (instead of 52), have to work for their food, and have a much wider range of space to explore and object to climb, and obesity is never ever a problem for them like it is in captivity.

-adam

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Originally Posted by Adam_Wysocki

You're right, they aren't in the wild ... In the wild they eat 10 - 20 times per year (instead of 52), have to work for their food, and have a much wider range of space to explore and object to climb, and obesity is never ever a problem for them like it is in captivity.

-adam

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If Americans lived like that, we wouldn't be obese, either. But that really isn't the point. My point is this: if there's a shortage of rats from a supplier, fine. I, personally, would be running hell bent all over Columbus, looking for a way to feed my guys after a couple weeks. But that's me and my way of doing things. But if someone can't afford to feed their snakes---and, I'm sorry, but there are enough suppliers out there that you could find mice or rats way before two months expired---I don't think they should keep them. I mean, how is this guy going to afford a vet bill if something comes up? Or will he even take his animals to a vet?

It's our responsibility to care for these animals (including keeping them from becoming obese). They count on us for everything. And if you can't feed them, it's time to start cutting back---again, my opinion, of course.

It's not so much that the snake was starved, because in the picture she looks good, as much as the fact that she could've been if she stayed with her current owner. I mean I make minimum wage, but I still have enough for my snake's weekly mouse, he can't honestly say that he couldn't afford them, or his breeder was out, because there are plenty of places to get mice/rats. What I'm trying to say is that she probably wasn't bred last year, and was never 1300-1400 grams, and it was all a sham to make her sound like a better buy. Just my :twocents:

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Originally Posted by ladywhipple02

If Americans lived like that, we wouldn't be obese, either. But that really isn't the point.

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I can't imagine how that statement is even remotely relevant to this dicsussion or what I posted? I was trying to explain that the physiology of p. regius allows them to eat a handful of times a year in the wild (far less than in most captive environments by an order of magnitude) and be far more active in the wild (also by an order of magnutide) and that based on that physiology missing 4 or 5 feedings over 2 months in a captive collection is not anything to be alarmed over. You see, cold blooded animals don't use their caloric intake to generate their own body heat like a cat or a dog or a person ... the notion of hunger for a snake and hunger for a mammal are two completely different things. I'm sorry if I confused anyone.

I just re-read the ad and don't see any mention of not being able to afford rats?? Where are you guys getting that from?

-adam

I agree and don't see where the guy said he starved the snake.

Just being stupid with the obesity comment... sad to say, accomplished my goal. :rolleyes:

So it's not anything to be worried about that they miss a few meals. But there's a difference between them choosing not to eat and us with-holding food from them. They have no way to hunt, we've taken that from them. The least we can do is give them a rat so they can make the choice. It's cruel to take an animal and place it in a cage---giving it no means to hunt---and then not feeding it.

---Tree-hugger :oops: