Would you purchase from a breeder who advocates power feeding?

[iCandiBallPythons]

I power feed many of my animals, especially the babies so they get up to a comfortable weight faster. Although, my power feeding is one appropriate sized animal every four days.

I wouldnt define that as power feeding.

[MarkS]

I wouldnt define that as power feeding.

Some people DO define that as power feeding, which is where a lot of the problem lies. There is no actual definition of 'power feeding'

[greghall]

really how many BPs have people riased for more than 5 years & bred every year that are commenting on this?

[greghall]

Ive been doing it for 5 years & im still learning,it takes that long or more to establish a nice collection.

[Beardedragon]

really how many BPs have people riased for more than 5 years & bred every year that are commenting on this?

I think a better question would be who has actually had a controlled experiment with this. Who can say power feeding has no negative affects on their life span, if they have not had MANY snakes from baby to time of death with some on a controlled once a week feeding, vs always feeding as much as they can eat and when ever they will take the food, even if that means offering every day.

[WingedWolfPsion]

Well, there is no question that overfeeding adult ball pythons results in obesity, which is harmful to their health.

The assertion here is that feeding hatchling ball pythons that way also will result in health issues. But hatchlings don't become obese, so what health issues would it cause?

[Beardedragon]

The assertion here is that feeding hatchling ball pythons that way also will result in health issues. But hatchlings don't become obese, so what health issues would it cause?

Eh, I still cant find that in the OPs first post.

Actually they are asking if we would buy from this breeder or not But of course everyone went off subject an endless debate on "Power" feeding to which people who do "it"..what ever their deffinition of it is, will chime in and say yes it is safe, while those who do not like it will say no it is not. It's an endless circle and lately this type of circle is starting to happen in most threads, which slightly annoys me, because the poll does not ask at all that opinion. Though it does have to do with the subject of what the OP asked, but its late and I probably shouldnt be posting in my sleepy state of mind LOL

What I see is a breeder who cares more about breeding than the lifespan of the snake. Would I buy babys from them? IDK, I would take the fact that he clearly states that ( Even if it has no ill effects) he cares more about the money than the snakes, because that is what I get from what he said. I would not buy from them at all if they were doing my Deffiniton of power feeding.

[Beardedragon]

Some people DO define that as power feeding, which is where a lot of the problem lies. There is no actual definition of 'power feeding'

I do not think that there is a set rule that gos for all snakes, but for each type I would say yes.

With ball pythons, feeding every three or four days is not. I could and did feed my younger ball pythons that way and they did great, but if I fed my boas as often I could see them gain weight, especially width, alot faster to a point where I slowed down to once a week.

[iCandiBallPythons]

Some people DO define that as power feeding, which is where a lot of the problem lies. There is no actual definition of 'power feeding'

By "some people do" are you referring to the ones that own one or two snakes for a few months, read a few articles written by a lout, that read or heard that from another lout, and became enlightened experts overnight? J/K Logically anyone that can add 1+1 and make it equal 2, should be able to logically differ between what exactly is power feeding and what is not. I can however say from experience, every ball python in my collection that was purchased as a hatchling was on a 4 day feeding schedule and are still, sexy,gorgeous, thriving and humping animals, and in addition they are not overweight by any means. Would I advocate this schedule to a full grown adult BP? NO, those I feed once a week. Now another scenario, if I were feeding babies on a 4 day schedule and as they were swallowing the rat I take it upon myself to shove another rat in the snakes mouth then that would be considered probably by most "power feeding."

[MarkS]

By "some people do" are you referring to the ones that own one or two snakes for a few months, read a few articles written by a lout, that read or heard that from another lout, and became enlightened experts overnight? J/K Logically anyone that can add 1+1 and make it equal 2, should be able to logically differ between what exactly is power feeding and what is not. I can however say from experience, every ball python in my collection that was purchased as a hatchling was on a 4 day feeding schedule and are still, sexy,gorgeous, thriving and humping animals, and in addition they are not overweight by any means. Would I advocate this schedule to a full grown adult BP? NO, those I feed once a week. Now another scenario, if I were feeding babies on a 4 day schedule and as they were swallowing the rat I take it upon myself to shove another rat in the snakes mouth then that would be considered probably by most "power feeding."

Actually, when I started breeding snakes over 20 years ago, I saw the term and asked about it by snake breeders who had a lot more experience then I and was told that power feeding was when you feed more then you normally would for maintence in order to get the snake to grow faster. A pretty open ended definition if you ask me,.

I don't think I've ever actually met anybody who claimed to power feed by stuffing rodents in their mouths one after the other after the other so the snake ends up swallowing more then it would have. The only time I ever heard of something like that it was being recommended as a way to get weight back on a seriously skinny snake and I think it was called train feeding or something like that.