Underfeeding to maintain size

Before getting Java, I had never heard of this, and I'm shocked at how common it appears to be.

Seriously....shouldn't that ring about a hundred alarm bells in a person's head? I can't believe pet stores would tell people that its perfectly fine to starve an animal just so it stays cute and "manageable". Ugh.

I am absolutely disgusted.

Sent from my HTC Vision using Tapatalk

Once a Petco employee explained to me how they sparsely feed the BP's in order to keep them small. It is truly disgusting.

I once met a guy at Pet Smart buying his 3rd bp. He said the others kept dieing. After a few questions, I learned the pet store told them the snakes had to be force fed. Are you kidding me? That should be the last resort, and not done by a novice that hasn't even been shown what to do. Grrr!

It doesn't make any sense at all. You're starving an animal to keep it small so that you can sell it...and then what? You've started it out with a horrible life and then sold it to someone who clearly isn't going to take care of it is whole life if they'll only buy them small...there's so much wrong with this.

Sent from my HTC Vision using Tapatalk

My big boy J.R. is 19 years old and I remember when my mom bought him she was told he only needs to eat a couple times a year :O I was only 11ish when we got him, so I didn't know better. But she had him all these years only feeding him "when he looked hungry" (every 6 months or so). When she died 2 years ago and I brough him home, I started doing tons of research and reading and asking tons of questions to figure out how to care for him right. I was shocked to learn that she was basically sarving him all these years. He now eats whenever I think he looks hungry (I offer every 10 days) hahaha It's amazing that even though he is 19 years old, he still is packing on the weight and length. Im honostly shocked he lived all these years only being fed that rarely. He also puts off very pretty babies :D

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Courtney281

My big boy J.R. is 19 years old and I remember when my mom bought him she was told he only needs to eat a couple times a year :O I was only 11ish when we got him, so I didn't know better. But she had him all these years only feeding him "when he looked hungry" (every 6 months or so). When she died 2 years ago and I brough him home, I started doing tons of research and reading and asking tons of questions to figure out how to care for him right. I was shocked to learn that she was basically sarving him all these years. He now eats whenever I think he looks hungry (I offer every 10 days) hahaha It's amazing that even though he is 19 years old, he still is packing on the weight and length. Im honostly shocked he lived all these years only being fed that rarely. He also puts off very pretty babies :D

---

Wow...all I can say to this is wow. Speaks to the hardiness of these animals as well to the need for proper education!

I didn't know that people actually did this o-o That's like saying "Give that kitten food once a week, and it'll stay tiny and cute."

I want to go to all the chain pet stores and buy them out just so their snakes are fed well.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Ashleen Cook

I didn't know that people actually did this o-o That's like saying "Give that kitten food once a week, and it'll stay tiny and cute."

I want to go to all the chain pet stores and buy them out just so their snakes are fed well.

---

Unfortunately, they'll just restock their BPs and do the same with the new ones. The only thing you can do is hope they AREN'T purchased, that way new ones aren't subjected to that life.

This is a disgusting practice, though. :tears: If I came across someone who gave me this "advice", I'd ask them if they would also recommend someone rarely feed their child, so it stays small and "manageable". :mad:

It's a bad practice and solely for the conveinence of the store. They don't want the snake to out grow the cage they have them in. Very very sad.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Ashleen Cook

I want to go to all the chain pet stores and buy them out just so their snakes are fed well.

---

The problem is, if you did that it would just encourage the place to expand their Ball Python operation and end up causing more BP's to experience this.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Ashleen Cook

I didn't know that people actually did this o-o That's like saying "Give that kitten food once a week, and it'll stay tiny and cute."

---

Not trying to single you out, but it's really nothing like that. Snakes are incredibly efficient animals. They do NOT need to be fed every week. If you were to look at ball pythons from the wild, I'd be willing to bet that most members on here would say it's skinny and underfed. I personally have multiple ball pythons who really do only eat a few times a year, by their choice.

I agree with that. Snakes have much more efficient and slow metabolisms. Most reptiles that are at a healthy weight look thin to others. On the other hand healthy to some is obese to others. What I dont agree with is purposely feeding a bp in a store mouse pinkys or even rat pinkys to keep them small and on top of the sparsely feeding them on undersized prey. I also look at maintainance feeding as different from that. Like say what breeders do. That a much different thing than what the chainstores do to keep the animals small.

I also agree with the last two posts. I also have a snake that only eats a few times a year. But that is his choice, not mine. I always offer every 10 days, reguardless of whether they eat it or not, it's still offered.

There's a difference between a snake choosing to not eat, and purposely not feeding them based on the intent of keeping them small.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Ashleen Cook

There's a difference between a snake choosing to not eat, and purposely not feeding them based on the intent of keeping them small.

---

I agree with her. I've seen underfed vs picky eaters. There is a big difference. I don't know how many times someone tells me there snake is mean, and tries to strike them everytime they pick it up. Come to find out, they only feed it a mouse once a month.

I was at a local pet shop, and noticed a guy buying a ball python for his kid. The kid was jumping and running around with this poor baby ball python in one hand getting jerked around, it was aggravating to watch so I stepped over to the father and kindly started giving him some advice about the snake and that they stress very easily when handled as such. Plus he was buying all this nonsense for the snake, so as I gave him some tips he began to tell me they had another ball python but it died. So I asked him where he kept it, how the cage was setup, temps etc. He began to tell me he kept it outside on the back porch, at that time we were having record cold snaps so I can't imagine why the last one died on top of the little kid stressing it out. I wrote down this site on a piece of paper and told him to go here and he would find everything he wants to know to properly care for the animal and not have another die.

I'm sorry, outside on the back porch? Its things like that that I think must be some sort of sick joke.

I really hope they take your advice....but I won't be holding my breath.

Sent from my HTC Vision using Tapatalk

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Courtney281

My big boy J.R. is 19 years old and I remember when my mom bought him she was told he only needs to eat a couple times a year :O I was only 11ish when we got him, so I didn't know better. But she had him all these years only feeding him "when he looked hungry" (every 6 months or so). When she died 2 years ago and I brough him home, I started doing tons of research and reading and asking tons of questions to figure out how to care for him right. I was shocked to learn that she was basically sarving him all these years. He now eats whenever I think he looks hungry (I offer every 10 days) hahaha It's amazing that even though he is 19 years old, he still is packing on the weight and length. Im honostly shocked he lived all these years only being fed that rarely. He also puts off very pretty babies :D

---

Im really trying to see a pic of this old boy!!! :gj:

-.-; last night I was talking to someone on the net about snakes. Once he heard that I kept them he was very interested in talking to me about them. He told me he wanted an articulated python. I HAD to correct him. ugh. Then we went through the conversation about how they can get 20+ feet long... then.... IT came up "But cant you just keep them in a small cage and they'll stay small?" Holy Moley Batman. I kind of lost my temper a bit. I explained to him that keeping reptiles , fish and amphibs in small enclosures only harms them. If you want an animal that stays a certain size you RESEARCH and then get that animal and care for it properly. UGH UGH UGH *HEAD DESK*....I have had a bad 24 hours :/

I have heard and seen the same thing. There are soooo many people that think all reptiles will stay small if kept in a small cage. I look at them dumbfounded and do a face palm and try not to smack them over the head.

The stupid things pet stores call advice will never cease to amaze me.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by cinderbird

-.-; last night I was talking to someone on the net about snakes. Once he heard that I kept them he was very interested in talking to me about them. He told me he wanted an articulated python. I HAD to correct him. ugh. Then we went through the conversation about how they can get 20+ feet long... then.... IT came up "But cant you just keep them in a small cage and they'll stay small?" Holy Moley Batman. I kind of lost my temper a bit. I explained to him that keeping reptiles , fish and amphibs in small enclosures only harms them. If you want an animal that stays a certain size you RESEARCH and then get that animal and care for it properly. UGH UGH UGH *HEAD DESK*....I have had a bad 24 hours :/

---

This "belief" drives me CRAZY. My first BP's previous owners believed this and still insist this is true, though I've tried to explain to them the only reason "Sam" the class pet stayed small when they had it was because it refused to eat due to not having any heat sources and humidity 20%. They were shocked to see how big it has gotten under my care. They still think cage size is directly linked to growth. :rolleyes:

You know, you might have hit on something there. If someone is ignorant enough to believe tank size determines animal size, they're likely not taking good care of it and are confusing the cause of the low growth rate.

Sent from my HTC Vision using Tapatalk

I just got an 11 year old female ball that is 900 grams.

The guy fed her 1 mouse a month...

Needless to say, that changed when I got her.

If someone said that they kept any animal in a small cage to keep it small ... I'd ask them why their parents didn't keep them in their newborn clothes to keep them small.

Right or make them stay in a crib, stroller and highchair their whole lives too.

:mad: Wow! That is horrible!

I actually wanted to work for a pet store but if they told me to starve the animals, I would go off.:rage: or "agree" and feed them when no one was paying attention. :colbert: