Thought for Food-

[Bogertophis]

Yes, I intentionally reversed the phrase "food for thought" Discussion invited.

From reading many posts for many years, I'd say "most" BP owners feed their snakes on a schedule, yet sooner or later most BP owners experience finicky eaters that refuse food. One wonders how can these snakes survive in the wild if this behavior is typical? But maybe it's not- maybe we're creating this by over-feeding &/or being too predictable. But after all, our lives are busy & keeping track of feeding a snake makes sense, so we don't forget to feed our pets often enough, especially if we're unaccustomed to keeping snakes.

We can be sure that in the wild, snakes do not find food on any sort of a schedule. Does this make them more likely to maintain a vigorous appetite? Are conditions in the wild (including more activity & more stimulating conditions) also the reason they eat every chance they get?

From watching wildlife videos (not to mention our own "common sense") we know that snakes do not succeed in catching prey every time they try- sometimes the prey literally gets away. When experiments are done with other animals, or even humans, it's generally found that if the subject is NOT rewarded consistently (not fed each time they perform a specific behavior), they actually work harder than if they'd been rewarded every time. So, would our captive snakes be more likely to eat IF their meals were a bit less predictable? Most of us would agree that teasing animals seems "mean", but what would happen if every now & then, when a snake is due to feed, we give them a good whiff of their prey that is never actually offered, as if it got away? Would they be more inclined to grab for it next time, instead of being "fussy"? I've never tried this, but I have to wonder?

In the first post of a recent thread (https://ball-pythons.net/forums/show...=1#post2775569), a member mentions:

...I intentionally feed him erratically (not on a fixed schedule and different sized feeders)...

and his snake (BP) has "been a ravenous eater since day one".

Now we all realize that young BPs usually eat more consistently than mature ones, and also that ONE example is certainly not enough to base any conclusions on. Still, maybe this is something we should keep in mind? We all hate it when our pet snake won't eat, even though most of us understand on some level that this is fairly "normal" (with BPs especially).

We humans thrive on predictability- do we (consciously or otherwise) expect the same of our snakes? And we all want to see healthy growth in our snakes. Is it possible that by making food so readily available to our snakes that we're making food refusal more likely? Just something to think about, & please share your thoughts.

[Homebody]

Pythons are ambush predators. They sniff out a trail and hide themselves alongside it to wait for prey to come along. Then, they launch a surprise attack completely overwhelming their prey before they have a chance to fight or flee. A brilliant strategy, if something comes along. Because they often have to wait a long time for something to come along, pythons have developed the ability to go long periods of time without food. For example, I read that Children's pythons in the wild seek cooler temperatures during the dry season in order to lower their metabolic rate conserving their energy when their prey is more scarce.

[Snagrio]

I kind of have a system with my two colubrids where if even one of them is in shed, the feeding day is either postponed or outright skipped to next week or otherwise when the shed is finished, for both snakes. Keeps things more "erratic" and give natural breaks from feeding to help maintain healthy weights. Same applies for my BP, but he's fed much less often by default anyway since he's full grown.

[nikkubus]

I do a couple things that cause slightly erratic schedules. One of them is that I hate wasting food and it seems like when you have as many as I have, at least one or two is bound to refuse food for one reason or another, so I thaw less prey than I have animals, and take turns who gets skipped that feeding. It's not the case now because I don't have any young ones at the moment, but when I do, I tend to try and push out the adult feeding day when it lands on the same day as feeding young to make it less of a beast trying to feed them. Sometimes I am just late by a day or two for adults period. The only time I'm pretty strict is when they are young or when I'm offering food to males during pairing season. Usually males will refuse anyway, but I want them to at least get a chance.

It's entirely anecdotal, but I do feel like changing it up a bit does mean they refuse less often. When I've been especially regular for a while offering food, it seems like they just decide they are full and know they will be offered it again in a week or two, so it's no big deal to fast.

[mistergreen]

A lotta good thoughts/info here. Although I'll maybe by not making feeding predictable for us, it may make beneficial for our snakes as well. One consideration for captive born BP's is also their activity opportunities. It's also pretty obvious, given their digestion of food that once they reach adulthood they would naturally need less feeding in captivity. I'm also not sure if comparing feeding habits/opportunities between captive born/bread and BP's in the wild is really correct. In theory, they should have/get an excellent diet in captivity. By. that I mean rats or mice that are hopefully feed a good quality of food themselves. Rats and mice in the wild eat whatever they can get themselves. I would imagine that would include human garbage. So I would figure a nutritious and balanced diet in captivity would also curve the hunger issue.