Re: how fast do they grow..
There is proof, joe. I'll pull up the thread with the articles.
Re: how fast do they grow..
Ok, I won't post up the articles, because I can't find them or the thread...LOL.
Re: how fast do they grow..
Re: how fast do they grow..
Yep thats it! I poted in the ball forums about it, but couldn't find the post.
Connie(Hurley) happens to be a vet too.....
Re: how fast do they grow..
I have also seen that in the Kathy Love book. I have used the slitting method and seems to work for me.
Re: how fast do they grow..
That would be a hard thing to prove. I'm not saying this person is a hack or anything, but she gave no proof to whether these animals were related, or their physical conditions, or husbandry set up going into this experiment.
There are a lot of variables at work, and when she gave some very minimal data, it's hard to say that the slitting is "releasing" nutrients any faster.
I'm a skeptical person, and when I see things like this, not all the factors are being taken into effect.
It's at best, a 5th grade science experiment. The data she provided us with is hard to substantially correlate to growth rate.
Other things that have to be considered are her testing methods. Again, we have no history on the snakes or their setup. She very well could have made the evidence agree with her views. We just don't know this.
Just because we increased the number of slits or (A), the growth rate increased as well (B). It doesnt not mean that the number of slits directly correlates and influences with the growth rate. (C) A+B does not always equal C in the case of experiments.
My first thought was, the stomach acids digest most if not all of the rat regardless on how many slits are used, the amount of nutrients is not growing or being depleted by the slitting, and to prove that the skin is harder to digest should have an experiment all to itself.
So, the primary experiment that should have been used as solid evidence for slitting, is the amount of time taken to digest a slit pinkie versus a non slit pinkie.
After this has been done, it would be easier to make a direct correlation between slitting for faster digestion and the growth rate of a snake.
Re: how fast do they grow..
Coming from someone who uses the cutting/slitting way of feeding I can say that I noticed a marked increase in their growth and how much of the food is 'used'. I have some snakes that refuse anything that's not live and some that will eat anything. The ones that have had their mice cut have grown more in the same time period than the live only snakes. I do understand that there's a difference in every snakes growth rate, but my evidence is coming from clutch mates that I hatched. Neither of which was much smaller or larger than the other when they hatched. I'm not saying it's perfect proof, but it encourages me to keep cutting. :)
hana
Re: how fast do they grow..
ok i have decided to feed every 4 to 5 days using a sort of slitting method (i use a pin instead and just poke some holes lol) its not as messy but it would probably* make him grow a tiny bit faster i guess. hes perfectly healthy as far as i can tell, active, he defecates regularly and i have seen him drinking from his water bowl.. haha i even took a video of him drinking because it looked kinda funny.