opinion please about feeding moms to be

Ok, the three girls I am breeding this year are fat and happy. 2300 grams, 1800 grams, and 1600 grams.

I started pairing 2 weeks ago. Males are 3 days in, 4 days out. My question is, all three of the females are still eating regularly. In your opinion, should I keep feeding them as normal once a week? Should I reduce the food? Increase food?

thank you for in advance of any light you can shed on this subject!

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Originally Posted by mcavana

Ok, the three girls I am breeding this year are fat and happy. 2300 grams, 1800 grams, and 1600 grams.

I started pairing 2 weeks ago. Males are 3 days in, 4 days out. My question is, all three of the females are still eating regularly. In your opinion, should I keep feeding them as normal once a week? Should I reduce the food? Increase food?

thank you for in advance of any light you can shed on this subject!

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In my opinion, I would keep feeding them for as long as they accepted food. They will stop eating when it's time: usually when they are gravid.

Do you make them "fat" before they stop feeding?

what i do with my breeding females is i feed them large meals before breeding season to get them back up to size after laying eggs. the females that i didn't breed or didnt go that year continue to get regular size meals. usually medium rats. once i start breeding/cooling my females i reduce the prey size so if i usually feed a medium i go to a small and if i feed a large i go to a medium. i feel that its good to continue feeding all your females in the winter but reduce the prey size since the temps are cooler. all my males usually shut down for about 4 to 6 months.

Yes continue to feed them, but smaller meals. They will stop when they are ready.

I've been pairing up for a few weeks and all of my girls are eating with gusto... I even went from a 7 day to a 5 day schedule because they were so receptive to feeding. I havent noticed any getting "fat".. I've actually noticed them just bulking up nicely. You should see the shoulders on my het pied girl... man, she's going to be a rock star....

Mike what we did last year and what we're going to be doing this year (we just started pairing up day before yesterday) is 3 days in, 4 days out. During the 4 days of non-breeding activity we offer meals to both the males and females. A bit smaller than usual, just something like a large wean or small small live rat. If they want to eat, they eat - if they don't, they don't. We figure that as long as they are healthy, not overly stressed and so forth - well their instincts will drive them to eat if they need to and not eat if they don't. :)

Since I'm not cooling my females, I have been giving them their normal sized meal and they have been eating with gusto!! I believe that the snakes will accept or refuse as time goes on.

I offer food as long as they will take it. The main thing is that you aloow the fact that they aren't eating be thier choice and not yours. My females tend yo really start slamming the food at the first month or so of breeding season and they taper off right be fore they OVY! Then they lay I offer them food a couple of days after and feed them evry 5 days till they put the weight back on.

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Originally Posted by broadude

In my opinion, I would keep feeding them for as long as they accepted food. They will stop eating when it's time: usually when they are gravid.

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i'm not so good with some english phrases so what does gravid means ?
my female and male stopped eating after their 1st copulation.
last sunday it was the 2nd time they where in eachoters love arms :d

they still wont eat :x

Feed'm. :chew:

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Originally Posted by Seadevil

i'm not so good with some english phrases so what does gravid means ?
my female and male stopped eating after their 1st copulation.
last sunday it was the 2nd time they where in eachoters love arms :d

they still wont eat :x

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Gravid means the female is holding eggs and incubating them internally until she is ready to lay.

Usually females will go off feed when gravid but there is always an exception to the rule. I say feed them until they refuse.

she refuses and he refuses :d good sign or not ?

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Originally Posted by Seadevil

she refuses and he refuses :d good sign or not ?

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Depends, i have been fooled before by a tricky female.:D I would keep putting them together till I was positive she was gravid (preggers) and I would keep offering them both small meals ..like it was stressed thoughout the advice..it's their choice..not ours.

I feed them weekly as normal until they refuse. My males eat year round, in fact, my males ate better while breeding last year. I also do 3 days together, 4 days of rest. This year, for the boys only getting one girl, I'll likely only put them together for three days, every two weeks, rather than continuously cycling on the 3/4 schedule. For Winston, who gets two gals, he'll do 3 days in, 4 days rest, 3 days in with the next girl and four days rest.

Of course, I'll also be attentive to Winston, if he seems "off" he'll get to rest longer.

feed them just smaller meals b/c of cooling at night. my females are still eating and i will keep feeding til they refuse.

Last year my girls just stopped eating and thats when I gave them a chance with a male, this year I havent started cooling and had several locks already and everyone is still eating like normal. So guess it all depends on your snakes and being able to read them and know if they are ready.