effects of fasting on metabolism?

[Bogertophis]

...Captivity changes everything. Having constant, perfect conditions with an endless water supply and steady food supply will make a captive snake's life different than that of a wild one. It could be better or it could be worse....

That reminds me that years back I read some sort of article or study that concluded that snake's health was less resilient when they had totally steady environmental conditions, but at this point, please don't ask me where I read that. I just throw it out there as food for thought, because that's one of the big differences between our sheltered pets & those in the wild. And it makes sense to me that if all you (or any animal) ever knew was a narrow range of temperatures, that your health would more likely be thrown for a loop when exposed to something outside that steady "comfort range". The thought was that occasional climate adversity improves their resilience & overall health. That said, we'd be very lucky to see a good scientific study on this in our lifetimes. (And please, I'm NOT suggesting that anyone take their snake on a ski vacation. )

[Gio]

This is a good (and politely worded) point - I guess I shouldn't get too hung up on "natural". After all, one of my tarantulas is from an area with seasonal flooding, but that doesn't mean I'm pouring bucketfuls of water in her enclosure every year to be more "natural." If there was a demonstrated benefit to her from flooding, like say triggering her to know it's mating season or something, then it'd be something to consider. So I guess my question was really, is there evidence of any benefit to the animal from lengthy fasting, to the point where I should go out of my way to try and induce one? And the answer seems to be there isn't any evidence supporting it. My anecdotal observations of my male could be due to any number of things including just regular aging and have nothing to do with his going off food. So, I'll continue with my current feeding schedule Thanks for everyone's thoughts on the topic though!

The best answers are here.

Nick Mutton nails it!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rko44Ys8psU

[plateOfFlan]

I thought I would follow up on this - I left the female on her regular feeding schedule this winter and she still loves food and has eaten consistently every 2 weeks. Without fasting, her head shape and tail thickness have developed like the male's did at this age, which seems to mean her skeleton is growing and developing a lot. She has also swapped a lot of her baby fat for muscle, and gotten noticeably stronger - she can reach her head towards something and suspend about a foot of her neck in open air now with no wobbling (the male can go even farther and stand straight up like a cobra for extended periods if he wants, he's very strong). Just like the male, this new strength and size seems to have increased her confidence and she's started climbing up onto furniture more boldly, and even allowing herself to drop down from short distances instead of nervously climbing down like she used to (again, the male is even more extreme, he will get onto the arm of the couch and deliberately overbalance to plop down to the floor, it's very stressful to watch). So, the maturation and changes I saw the male go through I think just happened to coincide with his beginning a winter fast, and weren't actually triggered or caused by it. He's gone off food again this year, and again I'm leaving him to it and offering around once a month without pressuring him. The fasts seem to do him a lot of good!