The general rule of thumb is that you should not "power feed" your snake. Big Gunns is not so sure they don't "power feed" themselves in the wild. Everyone knows when babies come into the country every year..... a month or so after they come in the "bush babies"(wild caught babies from that year) start coming in. These babies are MONSTERS(2 to 300 grams) compared to the babies that came in before their first shed and have been raised in captivity for a month. Just to be clear.....They are obviously that years babies that have hatched in the wild and fed....and fed HEAVILY.
This also holds true for the Savannah Monitors. The ones that hatched in the wild and were caught after a couple months are HUGE compared to the ones that came in a newborns and have been raised in captivity.
Big Gunns point is this. "Power feeding" really needs to be defined. These animals seem to eat a lot more than even Big Gunns feeds them when he's feeding them very well....most people might consider it "power feeding". If they're doing it in the wild, Big Gunns is pretty sure that nature knows what it's doing, and they can handle a heavy feed schedule.
Now this doesn't mean you should slam every single thing your snake will eat down it's throat 24/7. All BG is pointing out is that they seem to eat a whole lot more than you would think they do in the wild. Big Gunns is sure that females are up to breeding size within 18 months in the wild.
ps. BG will say this though. He knows a certain breeder that thinks he may have killed his expensive Savannah Monitors by over feeding them, but with them, BG thinks they need more exercise than a snake would.
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