Grow Faster, Breed Sooner? (NOT POWER FEEDING)

[nikkubus]

2. requires less energy to digest their meals
I don't think being in a constant state of digestion uses less energy. Reptiles by design and over millions of years of evolution are wired for feast and famine. Even during the "feasting" period, which is more often than not brought on by seasonal changes, a weekly/daily meal isn't typical.

The way I interpreted that part of the article was not that feeding them more often requires less energy, but that feeding a smaller prey item uses less energy, and the feeding more often increased metabolism and growth potential. I may have misunderstood though. I think a young BP's life naturally lines up with "feast" based on the time of year, and that 6 month mark lines up with the famine. Obviously there are going to be smaller time frames in between with variation.

My impression (& I might be wrong?) was that this "experiment" is fairly recent- ie. there is no data yet to be had as far as any possible influence on longevity for the snakes, so that's an obvious reason why he didn't answer this...because he couldn't yet determine long term effects, if any? BPs can live a very long time- into their 40's, but they mostly don't. And unless you did a really big study (with many more animals), it would be hard to tell what other factors were also involved, wouldn't it? Snakes longevity might well be related to their fancy morphs too, or something in the air or water where they're raised, or any number of other things besides how often they ate when they were hatchlings. And I don't foresee anyone funding such a study, any time soon, do you? Sometimes people just want to share their observations so that the experience of others may add to them in years to come.

I'm also not convinced that it's all about the "dollar factor" & the # of eggs. Female snakes in the wild may well breed earlier, but they sure don't live as long either. For nature, it's about replacing oneself so that some percentage of offspring carries on. When a female snake is pushed into early breeding (whether by human intervention or a persistent male snake in the wild) before she has finished* physically growing, that can impact both her health & the size and # of eggs she can produce. (*I do understand that snakes grow their entire life, but when they reach their optimal adult size their growth slows down- that's what I meant by "finished" growing.) From the snake-breeding I've done, I can tell you there are always some eggs that are bigger, more robust than others, & the snakes that emerge from them tend to be healthier & stronger too. It's not easy trying to raise wimpy, undersized snakes, & in the long run, common sense tells me that the undersized snakes may not do as well- certainly that would be true in the wild. So rather than being about # of eggs (ie. profit), my take on it is that it's all about breeding for the healthiest off-spring AND caring about the health & well-being of the female breeders. That's why when I bred a few snakes in the past, I waited until they were good sized adults, not just barely big enough to get the job done. I wanted to minimize the chance of the females having any trouble, like egg-binding.

I feel like he has been doing this a while before reporting results but it doesn't really say exactly how long so who knows. I can't imagine someone with his reputation staking it all by reporting results after only trying this for a couple years.

You got a Ball python, the pickiest snake when it comes to eating (arguably) to eat reptilink, a rat sausage? Color me impressed

Me too!

They aren't rat sausages exactly, so it's even harder than you are imagining. The smell is quite different between a rat to a rabbit/quail sausage, though you can get pure rabbit ones, I just chose the quail blend for the nutrition profile.

[Bogertophis]

...I feel like he has been doing this a while before reporting results but it doesn't really say exactly how long so who knows. I can't imagine someone with his reputation staking it all by reporting results after only trying this for a couple years...

Oh yeah, I agree. By "fairly recent" I just meant that it wasn't some 40 year (BP lifespan) study. He sure wouldn't have popped this out quickly, but I'd guess maybe 5-7 years or something? It would be nice to actually find out from him though. If anyone's ambitious & contacts him, I hope they share the information here. Now that we're all curious...