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  1. #11
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    Re: Let's Discuss Dietary Requirements for Ball Pythons

    Quote Originally Posted by Alicia View Post
    While I do not know if anyone has done a study on the metabolisms of ball pythons (have they??) . . . Based on my own observations, having kept temperate snakes, honestly, the opposite appears to be true.

    Ball pythons appear, to me, to have a slower metabolism than the temperate snakes I've kept when using rate of pooping as a measure. I'm mostly out of temperate snakes now, but I still have my old rosy boa -- even eating sparingly, she poops more than the balls. They also poop less frequently than Angolan and carpet pythons. My BPs poop about once a month; Angolans and the rosy (other than in winter), once a week to just over a week; my carpet poops about 2-3 weeks, but is on a 4-week feeding shedule. Carpet python poop, is a lot more BP poop in relation to their body size than what the Angolans and the rosy leave. I don't have any now, but as an example of a really high metabolism, temperate snake, garters I swear go daily.

    I know that's not scientific, but digestion is something I can observe at home. Maybe someone else can chime in.
    I have beaked snakes and dispholidines that will process a prey item in less than 30 hours. Same with psammophylax and philodryas spp. But these area active, quick moving snakes - even in captivity.

    Drymarchon, if offered a thermoregulation zone will poop within a few days of feeding.

    Ball pythons poop slow...they move slow and once their husbandry needs are met, move very rarely. I'd argue that even without a study, we can say they have at least a slower metabolism than many other species.

    What I'd like to see if a study regarding the efficiency of the metabolism of ball pythons. In south american colubrids, that efficiency is about 50%. In some african colubrids, that number goes up a few points. Never seen one on ball pythons...
    Last edited by Skiploder; 01-03-2015 at 02:02 PM.

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