Am I "power feeding" my BP?

There's a lot of talk in the Boa constrictor community about power feeding boas. I first noticed it on the iKipedia. Basically, it said, the animal will power feed, at the cost of a shorter life.

My BP is 21 weeks old and has eaten six pinkies and a small mouse (under my care; he was at the pet store for four weeks where he got one pinkie a week which i haven't included). The mouse is digested, and he's due to be fed in about a week.

I feed him because he displays hunger behaviour not because I'm trying to build the anaconda morph.

He's very active for a ball python, with one side of the tank in the higher 90's and the other side in the lower 80's (it's been hard to keep it cooler because of the 100F heat here in DC). So he's always cruising around, crawling on his toys. He has a very large bowl of water that he goes swimming in, I think partly to cool off a little.

Anyone have feedback on his food intake?

edit: he's grown huge. he's 19" long and well thicker around now than a US quarter.

He probably is hungry, youre not feeding him enough. Hatchling ball pythons usually start out on hoppers or small adult mice, pinky mice are too small for them even when they are right out of the egg. Feeding him an small adult mouse once a week is a normal schedule, no where near powerfeeding.

On the other hand, powerfeeding would be closer to feeding an adult mouse every 3 days. Thats when you end up with a fat, possibly unhealthy animal.

Yep, you are going in the opposite direction. Your snake should be eating at least 1 adult mouse per week.

I agree...feed him appropriatly sized meals

Massively underfeeding.

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Originally Posted by pfan151

Yep, you are going in the opposite direction. Your snake should be eating at least 1 adult mouse per week.

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okay. gotta work up to the adult mouse. he's not big enough yet, but he's going to get another small mouse, and that ought to get him growing up right quick.

thanks to you both.

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Originally Posted by avriette

okay. gotta work up to the adult mouse. he's not big enough yet, but he's going to get another small mouse, and that ought to get him growing up right quick.

thanks to you both.

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All but the smallest hatchling balls can take adult mice for their first feedings. There's nothing to work up to...

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Originally Posted by avriette

okay. gotta work up to the adult mouse. he's not big enough yet, but he's going to get another small mouse, and that ought to get him growing up right quick.

thanks to you both.

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Thicker around than a US quarter and at his age - he can easily take an adult mouse.

"All but the smallest hathlings can take adult mice"?

How big do you think these adult mice are?
I've had my bp have some trouble with mice that were too big.

also the temps need to come down alittle on the hot side. you dont want it to be going over 95 degrees for very long. i keep my snakes hot spot at 93 degress(thats the hottest it will ever get), and the cool side is at 77-78 degress. please read the care sheet!

http://ball-pythons.net/modules/Sect...warticle&id=59

It's important to remember that boas and ball pythons are VERY different animals. Boas do apparently suffer problems if overfed when they are young. They're designed to grow up more slowly.

Ball pythons seem to be designed to grow up quickly, and put on bulk that will enable them to go long stretches without eating if they have to.

I feed my brand new ball python hatchlings every 3 to 4 days for their first month, and then every 4 to 5 days for their first year. They do not show any signs that would indicate this feeding schedule is too much food--they put on weight, length, and head growth appropriately. My babies can often take adult mice for their 6th to 8th feeding. (I've never had a hatchling come out so big that it could eat an adult mouse for its first meal! That would have to be a hatchling over 100 grams. That does happen occasionally, but most of mine are between 50 and 70 grams). By the time they are one year old, they weigh between 450 to 800 grams. (Oddly, snakes on the same food schedule do not all grow at anywhere near the same rate).

So, I recommend stepping up your feeding as well--get some bulk on the little guy, so if he goes off feed for a shed or other reason, he has the extra weight to carry him through and let him keep growing.

Obesity is dangerous for adult ball pythons, but babies don't appear to actually get fat.

Never heard of feeding hatchlings adult mice, but my 59 gram baby cinny ate a 22 gram mouse the day I brought him home. He's now 92 grams 4 days later (I think he was dehydrated). The biggest mice I've seen are about 30 grams. So, yeah, yours can probably take an adult mouse. Why don't you try feeding by weight? That's 10-15% of his body weight every week, up to 150g/week since, at about 1000 grams, their growth usually slows down.

And the temps. If your cool side is in the 80s then why the heck is your hot side in the high 90s? If you can keep one side down, why not the other? Please tell me you're using a thermostat. And measuring temps properly with proper (digital) equipment.

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Originally Posted by sho220

All but the smallest hatchling balls can take adult mice for their first feedings. There's nothing to work up to...

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They CAN, but sometimes they just WON'T. Especially if you feed f/t. Most of mine have to be slowly worked up or even tricked into eating incrementally larger meals.

If you're not feeding more often once a week and your snake is obviously hungry by the time you roll out the mice, then you're not power feeding.

I'm inclined to feed any ball python that's "begging" for mice. Especially hatchlings, and especially this time of year. You never know what their plans are for winter--your little guy might very well go on hunger strike for a few months.

I have 6 females that are great eaters and all eat F/T small rats (60-70g rats). They strike the rat as soon as I open the tub at feeding time. One of the five girls is 3500 grams and she still only gets one small rat. If I open the tub 2-3 days after feeding day, they all come to the front of the tub ready to eat again. Around day 5, they seem to mellow out. I know each of them would easily eat 2 small rats, maybe even more, but I don't give them anything else. I would rather have them eating consistently every week then getting a large meal and skipping feedings. I considered feeding every 5 days and I would if they were babies, but they are not.

I always feed hatchlings every 5 days until they are about 500 grams then I go to a weekly feeding. I don't think they can get fat because they are growing so rapid that they absorb most of the rat or mouse!

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Originally Posted by het.pied

also the temps need to come down alittle on the hot side. you dont want it to be going over 95 degrees for very long. i keep my snakes hot spot at 93 degress(thats the hottest it will ever get), and the cool side is at 77-78 degress. please read the care sheet!

http://ball-pythons.net/modules/Sect...warticle&id=59

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It's tough. We don't have A/C, so we can't cool the house and then heat the cage. We have hot pads and a hot lamp, the latter of which we turn off when it gets over 90°F. He has a pool that stays fairly cool, but not cold (maybe 70°F), and he spends time bathing in it most days. I think he just likes to swim.

The other thing is, the other side of the tank is usually fine. We're just having a hot summer.


But I have good news to share! He took another small mouse today, making that weekly, folks. Call me one happy BP owner!

I fed my hatchlings an adult mouse every four days for about 6 months then i switched to small rats.

Turn off the heat lamp permanently, it's a waste, it just dries things out and BPs dont really bask like other reptiles. Get an on/off thermostat to control the heat pad. Then you should be fine.

My BP is 6 months and he eats weaned rat pups every wed. he takes it just fine.

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Originally Posted by avriette

okay. gotta work up to the adult mouse. he's not big enough yet, but he's going to get another small mouse, and that ought to get him growing up right quick.

thanks to you both.

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I consider an adult mouse a mouse that can be separated from from the mother and live fine on it's own. I am not talking about big breeder mice. You don't have to work up to it. They can eat WAY bigger things than you would think.