Quote Originally Posted by kenatk
This is terrible for the following reasons:

a. the snake's immune system suffers because it is a tremendous shock to the snake's internals to have to constantly digest larger than acceptable prey items, and it is also a shock to their system to have to begin digesting a new prey item right after digesting the previous one. All the efforts of the snake's system get dedicated to digestion, and this weakens the snake's system over-all, thus, weakening the immune system as well

b. the animal can, in certain cases develop "fatty liver" which is a health problem shown to develop in snakes that are continually fed large rabbits and adult guinea pigs

c. it dehydrates the snake, because the snake needs fluids to help digest its prey, if it eats too much, or the meals it eats are too large it robs the snake of necessary fluids that help sustain the over-all health of the animal

... Repeatedly shocking a snakes system like that reduces their life-span by numerous years. ...
Kenatk,

Do you have any empirical evidence to support your claims?

Not trying to break your shoes, but as most people on the board are already painfully aware, I'm a real stickler for separating internet lore from fact. I've been around reptiles for a long time and have heard some of these things before, but have never seen an actual scientific study done proving anyone of them to be true. They seem to be more based on breeders "gut feelings" than anything actually concrete.

The best I've been able to find is a study conducted at USC that showed a correlation between power feeding and a shortened lifespan in fruit flys, but I honestly don't understand how anyone can make the leap from fruit flys to reptiles?

I appreciate you taking the time to review my response and look forward to any studies or other evidence that you might have to share.

-adam