Again, if you read the studies you won't be finding that answer but that was not the focus of those studies so that's to be expected. The focus of them was to understand the processes at work, not follow those snakes through an entire lifetime. When and if that particular study is done (and if it has been done I'd love to read it), then you may get your definitive answer.

For me, when I read studies like this, I look for things that make sense to me. I use those grey cells to take what the scientists are telling me and translate that into a sensible captive feeding program. I was taught that weekly feeds work well for ball pythons because it gives them the downtime they require between the stresses of a feeding cycle. These studies seem to indicate that this wisdom shared by very experienced keepers with quite huge collections makes good sense considering the definitive findings on the major changes snakes go through during digestion.

I think every keeper has to make these decisions for themselves and their snakes. I like to take what people tell me, do my own research, try to make sense of what the reason behind the wisdom is and just go from there. That works for me. Seems to be working well so far for our snakes too.