Power feeding?

[syearout]

I have a few young males that I give a rat pup to as often as they want one. I keep a close eye on them, and if they were to get to the point that I thought they were "obese", I would back off, but as long as they are processing it and growing, I'm gonna feed them as much as they want to eat.

[blackcrystal22]

I have a few young males that I give a rat pup to as often as they want one. I keep a close eye on them, and if they were to get to the point that I thought they were "obese", I would back off, but as long as they are processing it and growing, I'm gonna feed them as much as they want to eat.

If you offered them a rat pup every day, some may take it every day as a natural feeding response.
Does that mean it's healthy or responsible of the keeper? No.
A snake doesn't 'want' to eat. They eat to live, and have that natural instinct.

It has been studied that it's stressful on the heart of a snake to feed it more than twice a week. Honestly, that alone, is enough for me to not do it just because of selfishness on a humans part to want to breed it earlier.

It's not fair to the animal.
Same reason why some dogs can eat themselves to death and not realize it.

[Lunawf]

Ok, i know that this is probably a myth, but if you power feed a BP can it get as large as say a boa? or if you just feed them more then once a week for young and more then say 10 to 15 days for an adult can they get bigger then the normal 4 to 6 feet?

[Spaniard]

The genetics of the snake would determine how large and the rate at which it will grow. Once you reach the snake's limit on the amount of food that it can metabolize, that is when you start to see obese snakes.

[JenH]

Ok, i know that this is probably a myth, but if you power feed a BP can it get as large as say a boa? or if you just feed them more then once a week for young and more then say 10 to 15 days for an adult can they get bigger then the normal 4 to 6 feet?

I would say that is a myth. I offer food to my babies every 4-5 days, adult girls every 5-7 and adult males every 7-10. Some eat every meal, some don't. They are all pretty normal sized....

[Aeries]

Anyone have any photo examples of pinheads?

[Drew87]

Great post learing alot of stuff here

[whitesnake12]

In terms of power feeding the way I see it for babies that are always hungry,for example my cinnies are about 74 grams and eat on rat fuzzies and by the 3rd day their ready to strike at nething that comes near the rack smelling like food.So in case like that I feed them every 4 to 7days,once they reach over 500grams I feed them sm rats every 7 to 10days and the next day if they still look hungry I give them one more smaller sized rat.I have never had any over fed ball python nor have I had a BP throw up.

[Wh00h0069]

I don't pay attention to when my snakes poop. I feed most hatchlings every five days. I feed hatchling males that I want to breed the same year that they hatched every 3 or 4 days. I feed all sub-adults and adults every seven days. If I want a sub-adult female to gain a little weight before breeding season, I will toss a second rat in after she has eaten the first one.