Vote for BP.Net for the 2013 Forum of the Year! Click here for more info.

» Site Navigation

» Home
 > FAQ

» Online Users: 2,956

0 members and 2,956 guests
No Members online
Most users ever online was 6,337, 01-24-2020 at 04:30 AM.

» Today's Birthdays

None

» Stats

Members: 75,031
Threads: 248,489
Posts: 2,568,446
Top Poster: JLC (31,651)
Welcome to our newest member, isismomma
Results 1 to 9 of 9
  1. #1
    Registered User
    Join Date
    11-29-2011
    Posts
    25
    Thanks
    5
    Thanked 10 Times in 7 Posts

    Large adult coastal feeding schedule

    Hello all, I have a 2011 male coastal from Nick Mutton that is my largest snake. All of my other carpets are small locality animals that have settled into a consistent feeding pattern and have maintained nicely over the years. This guy is 8' plus and slightly thicker than a beer can. He would also eat said beer can if I glued some hair to it. He is in great shape and active but seems CONSTANTLY hungry. He gets a large rat every 2 weeks now with the occasional mouse that the balls don't eat. I have been keeping for many years but my other large snake is a male boa and carpet's metabolism is much faster. If he was YOUR snake, just a pet and not a breeder, what would your feeding regimen be? As stated, I don't have any other snakes of his size and was just curious of other carpet keepers opinions. Thanks!

  2. #2
    BPnet Lifer EL-Ziggy's Avatar
    Join Date
    11-05-2014
    Location
    GA
    Posts
    4,194
    Thanks
    5,016
    Thanked 5,487 Times in 2,686 Posts

    Re: Large adult coastal feeding schedule

    I think a large rat every 10-14 days is pretty good. Especially if he's getting a snack occasionally. There are other keepers that feed less frequently but that's my schedule for adult carpets.
    3.0 Carpet Pythons, 1.1 Bullsnakes
    1.0 Olive Python 1.0 Scrub Python,
    1.0 BI, 0.1 BCO

  3. The Following User Says Thank You to EL-Ziggy For This Useful Post:

    themastiffman (07-16-2017)

  4. #3
    Registered User
    Join Date
    11-29-2011
    Posts
    25
    Thanks
    5
    Thanked 10 Times in 7 Posts
    Thanks ziggy, that is what I thought, but he goes full retic after 7-8 days and even though he looks good I just wanted to see what others thought as I don't have any other big guys to go by. Thanks for the response

  5. #4
    Telling it like it is! Stewart_Reptiles's Avatar
    Join Date
    09-28-2006
    Posts
    24,845
    Thanks
    6,116
    Thanked 20,811 Times in 9,584 Posts
    Blog Entries
    1
    Images: 6

    Re: Large adult coastal feeding schedule

    If it was mine I would do medium every 7 or 10 days or large every 10 to 14 days.

    Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk
    Deborah Stewart


  6. The Following User Says Thank You to Stewart_Reptiles For This Useful Post:

    EL-Ziggy (07-16-2017)

  7. #5
    BPnet Lifer Reinz's Avatar
    Join Date
    08-05-2013
    Location
    East TX
    Posts
    8,019
    Thanks
    5,613
    Thanked 4,602 Times in 3,139 Posts
    Images: 9

    Large adult coastal feeding schedule

    I have a male and female Coastal the same size as yours. I feed them both an XL rat every 21-25 days.

    I found that they were cage/hunger aggressive on smaller prey with a shorter schedule.

    Of course they will eat more if offered, but they are reasonably content with this regimen.
    Last edited by Reinz; 07-16-2017 at 03:21 PM.
    The one thing I found that you can count on about Balls is that they are consistent about their inconsistentcy.

    1.2 Coastal Carpet Pythons
    Mack The Knife, 2013
    Lizzy, 2010
    Etta, 2013
    1.1 Jungle Carpet Pythons
    Esmarelda , 2014
    Sundance, 2012
    2.0 Common BI Boas, Punch, 2005; Butch, age?
    0.1 Normal Ball Python, Elvira, 2001
    0.1 Olive (Aussie) Python, Olivia, 2017

    Please excuse the spelling in my posts. Auto-Correct is my worst enema.

  8. The Following 2 Users Say Thank You to Reinz For This Useful Post:

    Alicia (07-18-2017),Gio (07-17-2017)

  9. #6
    BPnet Veteran DennisM's Avatar
    Join Date
    07-19-2014
    Posts
    907
    Thanks
    104
    Thanked 571 Times in 379 Posts
    Images: 24
    The schedule is fine. With a girth of a beer can he's clearly well fed, frankly if he got any wider, I'd say he was overweight.

  10. The Following User Says Thank You to DennisM For This Useful Post:

    Gio (07-17-2017)

  11. #7
    Registered User
    Join Date
    11-29-2011
    Posts
    25
    Thanks
    5
    Thanked 10 Times in 7 Posts

    Re: Large adult coastal feeding schedule

    Thanks for the replies. I will stick to the current regimen as my boa also eats large rats so it is easier to just deal with the one size for the two big boys. The coastal isn't only my largest snake, he has by far the most "personality". So much so that I really don't have anything to compare him to and wanted to make sure I was on point. Thanks again.

  12. #8
    BPnet Royalty Gio's Avatar
    Join Date
    05-28-2012
    Location
    Minneapolis
    Posts
    4,724
    Thanks
    6,879
    Thanked 6,571 Times in 2,984 Posts
    Coastal carpets are wonderful. My female is picky. Usually she eats once a month or once every two. That's just her gig. She is 7+ feet now and 4 years old.

    You could offer rabbits (smaller sized) to your snake and stretch the interval out. Then come back with a smaller sized rat or quail for the next feed and shorten the interval.

    I've come to realize the best schedule is really no schedule. That obviously leans toward less frequent feeding and variations in prey size and type.

    No wild carpet eats every 14 days consistently year round but they may go 1-2-3 weeks getting lucky with feeding and several months with nothing.

    If you are simply looking for a long lived, healthy pet try mixing things up and see how he responds.

    If he is always in a constant state of hunger look into dropping your temps during the evening and even lowering them a touch with the change of season.

    Look at the shape of your animal as well and remember, internally things happen before any external signs are displayed.

    Once a captive snake hits adulthood and is healthy, feedings should stretch out.

    This is just my opinion and there are certainly many ways to do things.

    I will wager our royal that eats maybe 5 times a year will live well into her 20's if not longer.

  13. The Following 3 Users Say Thank You to Gio For This Useful Post:

    Alicia (07-18-2017),Reinz (07-17-2017),themastiffman (07-17-2017)

  14. #9
    Registered User
    Join Date
    11-29-2011
    Posts
    25
    Thanks
    5
    Thanked 10 Times in 7 Posts
    Great post Gio. Makes you think that sometimes we make this harder than it needs to be. He is my least expensive snake but has become my favorite. Maybe I will offer him some variety. Thanks for the insight.

  15. The Following User Says Thank You to themastiffman For This Useful Post:

    Gio (07-17-2017)

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •  
Powered by vBadvanced CMPS v4.2.1