Morph Related Feeding response

Hi Guys

I could not find anything on the forum about this and I was wondering if you guys could share your experience with regards to feeding and specific morphs.

If you have more then 1 of each morphs, have you experienced certain morphs feeding much better then others?

I have heard spiders have a great response and I have witnessed that with mine but I have just 1 spider so it isn't a great comparison.

The only morph I have really had problems with are pastels. They just suck. Poor feeders and breeders....even most of the combos. Pastels just suck at life.

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Originally Posted by Brandon Osborne

The only morph I have really had problems with are pastels. They just suck. Poor feeders and breeders....even most of the combos. Pastels just suck at life.

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Really? My pastel is the only one of my snakes that has never refused a meal. He even eats in shed..

My Spider male is the only male I have that will continue to eat while actively breeding.

I dont think there is a general response from a certain morhph. I first thought my spiders have horrible feeding responses until I purchased one that is a hog.

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Originally Posted by Wes

Really? My pastel is the only one of my snakes that has never refused a meal. He even eats in shed..

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x2

my pastels are absolute pigs

This subject has come up from time to time and the consensus always seem to be the same...every individual snake has their own personality and habits. The morph has little to do with how well they eat or don't eat.

Same answer for aggressiveness, number of eggs laid, and breeding ability for males. The morph doesn't affect the outcome. (Desert females may be the exception, for obvious reasons)

My little male pastel is the best feeder of all my snakes. He eats live or f/t, he doesn't care as long as it is food.

My enchi is a pig and I know some breeders say the same.

i am gonna go out on a limb here and say i think it is more blood line related on how the offspring's feeding habits are, if the parents were poor feeders then possibly the lil ones will be as well. i know crazy talk right, LOL:rolleye2:

My pastel het clown only eats LIVE. My killerbee eats f/t, but she refuses in shed.

The calico I got from Chris Berrios is a complete pig! So is my enchi from Hardy Reptiles! They'll both eat f/t rats, they both eat in shed, and they're both not hissy at all! The enchi is a bit shy still, but it doesn't affect her feeding response :gj:.

Still weird how all that works.

What I still want to know is what the big "SECRET" with enchis are.... :rolleyes:

In my opinion, the more ball pythons you get the more you will realize that poor feeding/great feeding is an individual snake thing not a morph thing.

Thanks for the replies guys. Still interesting regardless

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Originally Posted by Brandon Osborne

The only morph I have really had problems with are pastels. They just suck. Poor feeders and breeders....even most of the combos. Pastels just suck at life.

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Don't you have a bunch of pewter stuff that's grown, like, crazy well? :confused:

I only have a handful of different morphs, but the ones I have more than one of, are pastels, black pastels, and normals (two boys) . . . It's one of the normals that is a spotty feeder. Always has been. He's not picky, he just has a very low feeding response and had to be assist-fed. The way he strikes a prey item still isn't quite right.

This particular group of snakes is also all related -- I wound up keeping my entire first clutch.

Behavioral traits certainly can be genetic, so I can see feeding response varying by family line and have no real problem with the idea that it can vary by morph. It's just, I've seen more instances that contradict the "morph=feeding response" hypothesis than in support of it.

Most of my snakes are pigs. They get so excited during feeding time. The one's who are my super feeders are my pinstripe, albino, and mojave. My lesser is a great eater when he's not on a strike. But he goes on and off frequently, so that annoys me at times.

My pastel female was trouble when I first got her. She was super picky and was on a hunger strike to the point poor body condition. I assist fed a few meals then a week after that, she ate on her own. She's been eating consistently ever since.

And in contrast, I had a male pastel who never gave me any sort of problems.

I have a visual g-stripe male and hets from 3 different sources-all are without exception the best feeders in my collection. I have other great feeders but the connection with feeding and anything containing g-stripe is notable.

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Originally Posted by Wes

Really? My pastel is the only one of my snakes that has never refused a meal. He even eats in shed..

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How old is it? How much does it weigh? They seem to shut off at 600-1000 grams.

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Originally Posted by Alicia

Don't you have a bunch of pewter stuff that's grown, like, crazy well? :confused:


This particular group of snakes is also all related -- I wound up keeping my entire first clutch.

Behavioral traits certainly can be genetic, so I can see feeding response varying by family line and have no real problem with the idea that it can vary by morph. It's just, I've seen more instances that contradict the "morph=feeding response" hypothesis than in support of it.

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Yes, but I have often wondered the same about the genetics playing a role. My Pieds are absolute pigs as well as my cinny stuff. My original pewter female has taken 4 rats in the last two days. It seems to be my pastels and pastel het pieds.....although my pastel VPI stuff is picky sometimes.

All of my really poor feeders have been normals or pastels. I do have one VPI Axanthic that eats 3 on 1 off since he was a hatchling.

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Originally Posted by Dave Green

In my opinion, the more ball pythons you get the more you will realize that poor feeding/great feeding is an individual snake thing not a morph thing.

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this

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Originally Posted by Brandon Osborne

The only morph I have really had problems with are pastels. They just suck. Poor feeders and breeders....even most of the combos. Pastels just suck at life.

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As much as I hate to because I love our pastels, I have to agree with you. We've had some pastels that were bottomless pits, but in general they do seem to be pickier eaters in my experience. They also seem to take a little longer to get the hang of breeding.

Spiders are the exact opposite in our experience. They are almost always great eaters and are usually great breeders. We've had similar luck with pinstripes. Our mojave female is an insane eater as well.

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Originally Posted by AK907

As much as I hate to because I love our pastels, I have to agree with you. We've had some pastels that were bottomless pits, but in general they do seem to be pickier eaters in my experience. They also seem to take a little longer to get the hang of breeding.

Spiders are the exact opposite in our experience. They are almost always great eaters and are usually great breeders. We've had similar luck with pinstripes. Our mojave female is an insane eater as well.

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I agree on all points. I don't understand the stigma of spiders and why people are against keeping them. They are GREAT feeders and breeders.

Pastels, in my experience, also seem to be inconsistent breeders. Picky eaters, slow growing, and very shy.

I agree with the consensus that, apart from individual variation, it's more bloodline than individual morph that will determine a snake's personality traits (feeding included). I think that could certainly lead to certain morphs having a given trait, especially early on in their establishment, if they're all descended from a single founder animal. I also don't think it's impossible that some personality traits could be somehow linked to a single-gene mutation, but I think it's much less likely.

That said, in my experience my best feeders, hands-down, are my wild-type ball pythons. :rolleyes:

I'd say that beyond that, the rest seems to be just individual variation. Really bad, really picky feeders generally don't stay in my collection, so I couldn't say that I have one morph group that's worse than others. My spiders and crosses have tended to eat well, as have my mojaves. My pastels have also been some of my most consistent feeders (my pastel ph clown girl is one of the few BP females I've managed to raise up all the way through without hitting that "1000 gram wall" :rolleyes: )

Although up to the individual snake , interesting that so many have mentioned spiders and mojave's being good feeders. My spider just wont stop. If i continue feeding he will continue eating.

Thanks for all the reponses guys!!

I raised a male spider from a hatchling to 1900 grams in 10 months. It was sold to me as a female but the combat behavior was a good indicator to me. I'm not really a fan of them but Spiders are unstoppable.

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Originally Posted by Slim

Same answer for aggressiveness, number of eggs laid, and breeding ability for males. The morph doesn't affect the outcome. (Desert females may be the exception, for obvious reasons)

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Which reasons you mean?