Is she fat?

[rossi46]

Have you owned snakes other than ball pythons?

No. But, then, I thought this discussion was about BPs.

In my experience, an opportunistic feeder will eat anything in sight.

That's kind of my point. It's hard-wired into many animals' brains that food is scarce and, when made available, they must take the opportunity to feed.

Ball pythons don't tend to have obesity problems because they lay off food once they get to be a bit fat. Keep in mind that when they get a bit fat, and go off of food, they can easily go 6+ months without eating and be fine.

I'm just not sold on the idea that BPs have the brain function to "know" they are fat, and respond accordingly. I would venture a guess that their going off feed is due to either hormonal changes (due to sexual maturation) or seasonal factors. And yes, BP's metabolisms are incredibly slow, allowing them to not eat for months at a time. I believe this is part of their genetic makeup, not any conscious decision on their part to "save energy" or to stop eating in order to "slim down."

Some people here might have snakes they refer to as a "garbage disposal", because they eat anything in sight, at any time. Ball pythons generally don't do this.

Not sure if I would agree with this. It must be said that the majority of feeding issues out there with BPs is probably related to husbandry. Just look at this forum: nearly every day there's new posts about a BP who won't eat. Poor husbandry is almost always the diagnosis. You throw an animal that is supposed to spend most of its life burrowed and out of sight into a clear-on-all-sides aquarium tank, with temperatures to cool/too hot... no wonder it won't eat! I find it hard to believe that, in the wild, BPs are "picky eaters." If you have your husbandry dialed in, your BP will eat.

People leave food out 100% of the time for house cats, and they can stay relatively skinny like that.

It's purely anecdotal evidence, but I've seen way too many fat cats in my life to not believe they'll overeat themselves.

Some animals regulate their own body weight even when given the chance to eat as much as they want, others don't.

On that, we agree. I just don't think BPs make that list.

Very interesting discussion, cheers!