Ball Python Feeding Guidelines

[Warren_Booth]

Hi Eric,
That is an older article. The one that I am referring to was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, U.S.A. 2013. Castoe et al. The Burmese Python genome reveals the molecular basis for extreme adaptation in snakes. 110:20645-20650, however I have seen follow up talks with more data presented at several meetings.

Here are several figures to show what changes are occurring, and the duration for which organ remodeling is taken place. This is for a meal that is 25% of the body weight, which is large for captivity, in general, but not for the wild (given that they are opportunists).

Regarding metabolic rate and blood tryglyceride levels -


and now organ remodelling -


Even if we scale this back to the ~8% to 18% prey size to body size that you recommend, it is clear that organ remodeling is not going to reduce dramatically to 3 to 5 days.

My concern is not growth rate. Look at obesity in America for example. Offer a kid food, 9 times out of 10 if it is their favorite meal they will eat it, and... they will grow. Therefore how do you measure growth rate, and how do you determine a healthy growth rate from an excessive and unhealthy growth rate? You have 3 years experience keeping ball pythons, therefore how can you determine the impact of this feeding regime on the long term health of the animals in your care, or those that you are recommending this to?

I am not trying to be argumentative. That may come across due to the nature of non-tonal text, however I am playing devils advocate here and would ask for scientific data to support such a dramatic and prolonged feeding strategy. Speaking to a very successful boa and python breeder recently, he mentioned that his feeding strategy for ball pythons is very simple. Between September and December he feeds them any time they will eat. The rest of the year, they are not fed. He has had incredible success over a very long time with this method. The other aspect to consider is breeder vs. pet. We know that breeders in general want their animals to be breeding size as quick as possible, but again, what is the long term effect of this on health? I personally have concerns over such a strategy, and simply want people to consider the physiological impacts on the animals. We are in a society that is sadly starting to ignore science. As reptile hobbyists, we should embrace it and learn from it. Therefore, before implementing a feeding strategy, lets see some data supporting it being healthy first. (note, colubrids are a totally different beast. Very high metabolic rates and do not do well with prolonged periods without food).


Regards,
Warren