Question on feeding/powerfeeding an ex fasting baby

Ladies and gentlemen, hi!


I am new to this forum, and just got my first baby ball last November.

To be straight to the point this time (I wrote my previous very-long-post about half an hour ago, only to press 'submit' and being told I am not connected anymore... all the writing was lost, grrr!)... so : my baby ball is 8 months old and only at 350g or so.

When I got her I was told she was on rat pups, although now I highly doubt it since she 'fasted' so many times (the longest = 29 days :() - seems like rats are just not yummy to her!

I gave up and, against the advice of a specialized reptile store, I switched to mice 10 days ago, which seems to make her extremely happy - and so am I !!!!!

I would like to know how bad of a feeding schedule it is if I go for 1 adult mouse every 4 days for a couple of weeks/months.

I would like her to get back to a more normal weight for her age, hoping that she would have completely catch up by her birthday middle of August.

Of course, I would never ever ever force a meal on her - if all she wants to do is stare at her food, so be it!

Anyone has a thought on this?
Is 4 days horrible powerfeeding, or could it be helpful right now?


Thank you very, very much :)

And thanks for keeping such an helpful forum alive (I've read and learned so much although never posted before)

TB


PS I got fecals done, all clean! She was just being picky... and driving me :rolleye2:

I know it might sounds like a dumb question above... but I really do not want to affect her lifespan with too much food too often!

She is absolutely gorgeous (Queen Bee) and I hope for her to get really big, although I am not a breeder and have no intention of making her a mom.

Thank you!


TB

I would do an every 5 day feeding. You want to pack on muscle weight, not fat weight, so if you are feeding too much, they aren't digesting the food all the way.

You will probably have to do about 2 mice right now, and a lot more when she is older and of weight.

I don't see anything wrong with a 4 day feed schedule. I'm keeping mine fed that way until they quit eating or consistently start eating F/T rats. Mine have been eating every 4 days on the button. If they were eating rats I might stretch that a little further but with mice and growing snakes I don't see a problem with every 4 days. I can't even tell my 450 gram Lesser has eaten after she finished two large mice. Just my $.02...

Regards,

B

A couple of my young fasters have been switched to ASFs and are getting 7-10% on a 3 day schedule. They will continue to get that until they catch up with their siblings or when they start refusing.

I agree that if you feed her mice you will need to shorten the span of your feeding schedule. I have to feed mine mice because my wife is deathly allergic to rats. She even gets reactions from FT and the snakes fecal matter after eating rats. At 350g she should have no problems eating 2 for you every time. But, be careful on "power feeding". It will do a couple of things from what I've heard. 1) it will shorten her life span; 2) it will not get her to mature faster for breeding.

It sounds alright. Personally I might want to do every 5 days, as was mentioned, because you don't want her to get too much weight too fast (because it will just be fat), and because I'd want to make sure she didn't refuse because of having too much food offered to her. If she's a little hungrier each meal, it's better insurance that she'll eat.

Thanks so much for the advices!

I will for sure give her 2 mice per meal as of now, and will try to alternate every 4/5 days... then see how it goes.

She has been picky enough that I have no doubts if she doesn't want a meal, she will leave it there. Good thing though, I have a baby JCP that, when it comes to food, nothing can stop him - he is my recycle bin :D

TB

I use a Monday, Friday, Wednesday rotation which gives you 4, 5 and 5 days between feedings and allows you to keep a routine schedule. Maybe this will be beneficial for you too :)

Just as an FYI - what you describe is not power feeding. I feed younger snakes more frequently than every 7 days.

I've actually been told I'm not power feeding when I feed on a 4 day schedule. Some people don't consider it power feeding unless you are feeding every 3 days. Power feeding is not going to kill your animal, stunt their breeding, and I highly doubt shorten their life span. I can't be sure about shortening their lifespan because that takes 20-30 years to figure out. The only true thing I've heard/read is that fat females tend to have a few more slugs and fat males tend to be lazy breeders. You should know if your animal is obese, white will be showing between their scales-that is their skin. If your snake ever gets to that point, cut back on the feeding schedule, problem solved.

Also, I don't think 350 is a terrible weight for an animal that age. I have a het pied trio that are about that age and size because they only eat when the feel like it. It's really frustrating! I also have females the same age that are 600 grams. If you aren't breeding and she doesn't look skinny there's no reason you should stress about her gaining a bunch of weight.

TRUE power feeding is starting the head of a second prey item in the mouth of the snake before it finishes the first, essentially eating two rodents back to back in an attempt to artificially bulk up the snake.

Feeding frequently does not equal power feeding. Ball pythons are very good at regulating their intake. When they don't want a second prey item, they simply won't take it.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by rabernet

TRUE power feeding is starting the head of a second prey item in the mouth of the snake before it finishes the first, essentially eating two rodents back to back in an attempt to artificially bulk up the snake.

Feeding frequently does not equal power feeding. Ball pythons are very good at regulating their intake. When they don't want a second prey item, they simply won't take it.

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Ah thanks for clearing that up Robbin. I've heard about 10 different definitions of power feeding, and I've yet to hear the definition you just wrote. That makes sense. I wondered how people could get their BPs to look like they were about to explode from fatness. Whenever I have "power fed" (now I don't know what to call feeding every 3-4 days...) they have always taken breaks every now and again.