Opinions on this feeding

[SPJ]

I saw a debate on another forum about feeding BP's and was wondering what the concensus would be on how some of mine eat.
I have a 3 particular BP's that will eat like pigs weekly.
They will readily take 3 prey items a week.
Offer one, they eat. After they finish offer another, they eat, and so on. With one of them all I need to do is drop 3 feeders in the tub and they are eaten one right after another. The other two have it offered to them with tongs.
Now I have dealt with BP's fasting for long periods and have a few now that go off feed for about 4 months each year.
Is it wrong to offer as much as the snake will voluntarily eat each feeding day or should I limit the food?
I figured since they voluntarily take it, then it would be OK. Now that I have seen some opinions on power feeding and overfeeding, I am confused.
Should I feed as usual or limit these 3?

[recycling goddess]

first: are they male or female and how old/big are they?

[TheAudOne]

I also have 1 snake that did this once, of coarse its because he is 4 foot long and only eating 1 mouse at a time! I usually offer him another once he is finished because the other's who are his size eat a small rat.

[SPJ]

female 2006 at 300 +/- grams
male 2006 at 400 +/- grams
male 2003 at 1800 +/- grams

[wildlifewarrior]

I know people who only feed some of their snakes (not bp) once a month and that is as much as they can eat during their sitting. But that is only once a month.


~mike

[JLC]

My gopher snake only eats every 3-4 weeks. He's a booger that way.


As for SPJ's question...I think it kind of depends on the results you want to see. If you want the highest chance of consistent feeding without long periods of fasting....then switch to small meals offered every 7 days. If it doesn't bother you that your snakes may choose to fast for months at a time, then you can feed them as much as they'll eat until they decide they don't need to eat anymore.

My personal opinion, I think it is a healthier approach to offer small, weekly meals, rather than stuffing them until they fast. I'm going purely on personal logic about the matter, though, and not from decades of experience trying different methods. I would think that small consistent meals over the life of the snake would put less stress and strain on their system overall....rather than a pattern of gorging and fasting. But all in all, I believe this is a case of "whatever works for you."

[Adam_Wysocki]

Ball pythons are binge feeders and have adapted over time to be able to deal with the seasonal availability of food in west africa by eating as much as they can when food is available and "storing it" for a long dry "winter" when food is harder to find ... by feeding these animals as much as they'll take in a sitting in captivity, they will mimic this natural behavior and eventually end up fasting to "catch up" with all of the food they've stored up.

What's right and what's wrong? Not my call ... but personally, I like a regular consistant feeder and I only offer my snakes a limited amount of small meals on a weekly basis .. with few exceptions, I have no regular fasters.

If you don't have a problem with fasting ... ROCK ON!

-adam

[SPJ]

Even with small consistent meals, some of my others still go off feed. They also will not eat multiple prey items at a feeding.


These 3 just seem to ALWAYS be hungry. As a matter of fact, the 2003 male is a proven breeder this year. He bred, ate, and went back to breeding.

[Adam_Wysocki]

Even with small consistent meals, some of my others still go off feed.

Probably not small enough.

IMO, most ball pythons in captivity are extremely overfed compared to their wild counterparts.

-adam

[SPJ]

OK. So maybe small rats weekly versus mediums. Hmm. Might have to try that with winter coming up.
Thanks.