Can you overfeed?

My snake alura (the mistreated one from the pet store) Will eat ANY amount of food ANYTIME i wanna feed her....is it possible to feed her to much? she usually gets mice if my other snakes refuse them. And i was just thinking and shes had 5 adult mice and 1 jumbo mouse the last 5 days (from what i normally feed her everyweek and the turn downs), is that bad for her?

Yes. Many breeders "power-feed" their snakes to make them gain a lot of weight in a short time, making them of breeding weight at a younger age. This is obesity, and, as with other animals and humans, it leads to all sorts of ailments and early death.

Obesity is actually common in bloods and other short-tailed pythons. Not so much in ball pythons, just because of their fasts, but it happens. Your snake will no doubt become obese if you feed her all she cat eat. Keep it to an appropriately-sized feeder every 7-10 days.

You are very lucky she's a good eater! I wish my girl would eat half of the things I offer her.

Not only that but in certain species that are powerfed to make them breeding size, it will lead to problems down the road.

There have been some limited studies showing that serious powerfeeding young BPs(some people as often as every 2-3 days for the first few months) is a very good predictor of the snake dying before 7 years old..

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Originally Posted by mainbutter

There have been some limited studies showing that serious powerfeeding young BPs(some people as often as every 2-3 days for the first few months) is a very good predictor of the snake dying before 7 years old..

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Can you point me to these studies? I never heard that, and I fed my male YB and bee every 3 days for the first few months. Neither are fat or bloated looking. They just look like they are older than some of my other snakes of the same age. And since my '08 bee was fed this way and currently weighs 430g, I'm wondering what people were feeding who say that their '08 animals are in the 600g-800g range.

my 08's are 600 + grams ,who said over feeding will kill them Ive noticed that when I feed every 3 days thye will eat then go off a week ,I do not believe a BP can be overfed they get picky when they eat alot.

Thanks for the responses. I figured since she wanted to eat them it wouldn't be bad, but I'll keep it to every 5 days. She is 3 and 1000 grams btw

In husbandry-related debates such as this, it is useful to consider the animal's habits in the wild. And I assure you, no snake would find food every 2 days in the wild; they are equipped to go over 12mo without food, in case they are forced to.

Overfeeding is unnatural. Their bodies are not meant to handle such great food intakes. Personally, I believe adults should be fed no more than every 7-10 days.

You should switch her to weaned/small rats and she'll probly take 2 and be done.

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Originally Posted by Crazy4Herps

In husbandry-related debates such as this, it is useful to consider the animal's habits in the wild. And I assure you, no snake would find food every 2 days in the wild; they are equipped to go over 12mo without food, in case they are forced to.

Overfeeding is unnatural. Their bodies are not meant to handle such great food intakes. Personally, I believe adults should be fed no more than every 7-10 days.

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Can you point me toward your research as well? I've heard reports of young balls in the wild being at and beyond the heavy end of what we consider to be healthy weights for juvies.

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Originally Posted by Crazy4Herps

In husbandry-related debates such as this, it is useful to consider the animal's habits in the wild. And I assure you, no snake would find food every 2 days in the wild; they are equipped to go over 12mo without food, in case they are forced to.

Overfeeding is unnatural. Their bodies are not meant to handle such great food intakes. Personally, I believe adults should be fed no more than every 7-10 days.

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I agree with this statement 110%. It's not natural for them to eat so much. And you know, most of my BP's are 08s that I bought & started right out of the egg myself. I fed, and still feed them one good sized rodent every 5 days. I took two to a show a few months ago to resell, and I kept getting questioned as to how old they really are, and why were they so huge?! I tell them i swear, I do not beleive in power feeding and will not do it! But apparently, my babies looked borderline powerfed. The ones that consistently feed for me grew FAST. I'm not really sure why they grew so quick, I did not overfeed....Two of them are as large, possibly larger than my 07 YB (not raised by me). You don't have to overfeed them in order for them to grow at a very decent rate. you just need good husbandry techniques, and you have to be good at feeding techniques, especially when switching them over to F/t. I would say 7 out of 10 of my BP's will now eat a f/t rodent that is completely room temperature, not warm, or moving for that matter, at all. Just stick it on the tip of their nose and it's done! My female pastel and one of my males do not even constrict any more! They just open their mouths and start chowing!

I agree with pythonwallace... please do not quote "studies" without providing references!

Contrary to popular belief, pythons are a wild animal. They actually do quite well for themselves in their home town. They eat, grow, reproduce, and yes in some instances get fatter then normal.

That said, many of the larger breeders believe that an overweight female does not breed as good as one that is not overweight... And overweight males are lazy and less interested in breeding (I have seen this one with my own eyes).

I feed one or two properly sized rats a week, even with hatchlings. I have found that over feeding makes them produce poop a lot more often. In other words, if you double their food, it seems to tripple or quadruple the amount of poop they produce.. and when you have 40+ snakes, that just stinks!

Thanks for the useful thread. It saved me from posting a repetitive question.

The missing question in this thread is how large and old the snake being given 5 adult mice actually is. It's the first question I am asking, before answering whether that is too much food for the snake.

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Originally Posted by WingedWolfPsion

The missing question in this thread is how large and old the snake being given 5 adult mice actually is. It's the first question I am asking, before answering whether that is too much food for the snake.

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I believe it was said that she is 3 and 1000 grams..

Depending on the size of those mice I reckon that would be far size meal. At 1000g you can feed a meal of about 100g-150g, which is 10-15% of body weight.

I'd however only feed a meal that size every 10 days or so....:gj:

Over feeding a snake that's already at a perfect weight can cause the snake to be over weight and get stretch marks. This isn't good for the snake, only unless you are trying to make it gain weight if it was under weight. 6 meals within 5 days is definitely not good. You should give the snake time to digest all of the meals before feeding it another. I think you should at least wait a week or two before feeding it again. Feed the snake only once a week, which is highly recommended for snakes since they have slow digestive systems.