Daily feeding

now with bps under 500g, what is better to feed them... live, prekilled, or f/t? or does it matter?

There isnt a set weight that a royal has to be at any stage. Now people who read this are going to think theirs in underweight and start overfeeding. They have different growth rates. I have a male who was 2 and 34ish" long and around 7-800g, but was in perfect heath, that was just hes size. Overfeeding will lead to excesive fat deposits all over the snake (you see it alot with corns) and will shorten its life span to just a few years.

Also when it comes to the Live/prekilled/F/T, I have always used frozen as I couldnt take the risk of the mouse/rat biting back, I have seen some horrific pics that put me off, although I didnt live feed in the first place. I don't think it matters what

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Originally Posted by ElwoodG

now with bps under 500g, what is better to feed them... live, prekilled, or f/t? or does it matter?

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what ever works for you and the snake will eat. with live there is a risk it could bite the snake and never just leave a live rodent in an enclosure with a snake unattended

i bought baby bp early jun'09 weight 96 gr, after 4 months she become 490 gr
first eat small mice for three time, after that always eat rat baby until now
i give her live rodent, she kill it her self, that what i like from her
she is very smartly when striking the rodent, always strike mouth of the rodent :banana::banana:

If you are worried about getting bit, feed in the enclosure. If you don't really care and the snake will eat either way then feed outside the enclosure. You are more likely to get bit when feeding outside the enclosure.

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Originally Posted by Haydenphoto

Is there any proof that it would shorten there life span ? Has anybody really researched if over feeding really does any harm to them ? I would think if they eat every 3 to 5 days it would not hurt them. I would think if they where not hungry they would not eat.

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check out this poll, http://www.ball-pythons.net/forums/s...=power+feeding

majority of the people said its not a good idea. I think I shouldn't have used the term powerfeeding to describe what the original poster asked. its different than just putting a prey item in and seeing if the snake will eat it. My mistake.

post # 8 in the thread


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Originally Posted by Wh00h0069 View Post
I agree with Mark Bailey on this topic. I have "power-feed" important males. By that, I mean fed every three days as opposed to five days for hatchling. I did this to get them up to breeding size at 5 or 6 months old. If I thought that it would hurt them then I would not have done so. I have also offered a second meal to females that I am trying to gain some weight before breeding season. I also do not feel that this hurts them in any way. In my opinion, if they do not want to eat then they won't.

I do not understand where people get the idea that power-feeding will shorten their life span. Does anyone know of any accounts of ball pythons that have died due to power-feeding? I don't.

I understand how people that think that power-feeding is detrimental to ball python's health would think that someone that power feeds is just in it for the money, but I disagree. I do not think that power-feeding hurts the snakes. If a ball python does not want to eat, then it will not. If it does, then it will. If someone wants a female to gain a few hundred grams by breeding season by feeding her every five days, then I do not see the problem.
You have the wrong idea of what power feeding is, feeding a ball once every three days until it is breeding size can be unhealthy according to how you do it. If the snake becomes 100% fat with no muscle then yes, that would be extream power feeding. But if it keeps a steady weight because it can handle/ gains from it then no it is not what I would can power feeding. Power feeding isnt only feeding alot, people watch the snake eat and then once they start to get to the end they start to shove p/k or f/t in its mouth so it will eat that one as well, and sometimes they do it again after that! Its not about how much the ball will eat, its how many rats they can shove down it befor it pukes it up.

I do not think that any of us has been in this hobby long enough to come to that conclusion. Ball pythons can live to be 50+ years old.

well... We know because the snake that just died at the age of 5 that should be reaching 50. When you cut it open( Have you ever seen the inside of an powerfed snake? Its not pretty... The fat puts alot of stress on its organs) there are just layers of pure fat.