Force Feeding

[Stewart_Reptiles]

her health isnt declining, no major loss of weight so I am gonna give her a couple more months and see how it goes if she gets to the point where I feel her well being is in jeopardy I will happily give her up to a member with the ability to save her life and care for her, but must have references.

My remark was that this animal that you already thinking about force-feeding, could go well over a year without eating and do just fine (not a couple of months), most people do not think about force feeding a year in advance they think about it when it is time to do so.

Over the years I have seen many people jumping to force feeding even though it was not necessary which is why I was asking questions (which I believe I am allowed to, am I not) asking question is in no way jumping to conclusion is it attacking someone this however is

All I asked was members opinions on force feeding. Jumping to conclusions, makes people look like idiots. So thanks for your concern buddy

Hopefully this is not a time when you will over react and force-feed an animal that does not need to (just like when you over reacted and decided to sell your entire collection because your spider was missing for a few hours and you all of the sudden lost interest in breeding)

Now back to your regular programming

[Melicious]

I have to agree with Deb and Robin. I think that this entire thread was handled poorly by you MBD. You asked for an opinion, and people were more-than-willing to offer it. You also threw yourself out there on the alter of "possible" sacrifice. That happens. Just understand, that for every question asked, while we all appreciate the questions, we are all VERY passionate about these animals. I think it's very important to re-read all of these posts and see that even the "meanest" responses are more snake-oriented in their concern. Remember that.

[Mike Cavanaugh]

I thought this would be an interesting topic to post to get everybodys feedback and knowledge of force feeding. I am no pro myself but I have successfully force feed 4-5 bps in the past as a last resort, the largest of them about 450grams. I was wondering though how everybdy goes about force feeding when they absolutely have to, obviously as a last resort. I had a heck of a time forcing my 450bp in the past I cannot imagine having to force feed a 1500gram animal. Anyways whats everybodys take on force feeding? How do you go about it? What do you use? What measures do you take to make sure there is no harm done to the animal?

THe highlighted sections are the reason people are answering the way they are. IMHO The only time a ball python should be assisted with feeding is when it is a hatchling, and you have followed all of these steps to a T... http://www.8ballpythons.com/journal/...ingseating.htm

That is the ONLY time. And even at that time, you assist feed, not force feed.

Otherwise, if it stops eating, it is not because it has forgotten how to. The only rasons it would stop eating are:
1.) Something is wrong with the husbandry
2.) you are feeding the wrong size / type of feeder
3.) It just isn't hungry, or seasonal reasons / many go off feed because the want to and because they can.
4.) the animal is sick and needs to go to the vet
5.) WC animal that is pissed, and you should not be dealing with these in the first place.

Hope this helps.

[FatBoy]

I will admit I have force fed one animal. It was a hatchling that I tried every trick in the book, called bigger breeders and tried new tricks, unsuccesfully assist fed for several months. After the animal had lost from 68g down to 42g and was extremely weak we decided to force feed. First attempt was very stressful for all of us but we got it down. 2 weeks later I left a pink in with her overnight with no sucess. We force fed one week later. 2 weeks later I left a pink in with her overnight and it was gone the next morning. She hasn't missed a meal since then. I feel without force feeding she would have died, she now weighs 158g, about half the size as her siblings but she is alive and doing well.

[Smith285]

You've force fed ball pythons and you don't even know what kind of substrates work besides newspaper? ....How are your 75 ASFs doing?

perhaps it was a little late when I posted this and sarcasm wasn't the best way to go about my point....

But I think the first thing I ever learned about balls was the type of substrate they should be on, the temperatures, and the humidity levels. Force feeding a snake is the last thing I ever wanted to learn to do (and still don't know how to do and probably never will), and seems as if you just thought one day "hey, he hasn't eaten in a while, I should force this mouse down."

And to be honest, it just doesn't look good to your credibility when you make a thread with a newbie substrate question (and you've been here long enough to realize they get asked 2-3 times a day, just look) and then an hour later you make a thread about force feeding.

[Blue Apple Herps]

I personally don't believe in force feeding. Not every snake is meant to survive and I don't want to pollute my gene pool with weak feeders. As has already been pointed out, most healthy snakes will eat, so there is often more going on.

I should clarify that if a snake is sick and that's why its being force fed and that once it gets better it will eat, I'm ok with that. I won't force feed a snake that is other wise 100% healthy and refuses to eat.

[FatBoy]

I personally don't believe in force feeding. Not every snake is meant to survive and I don't want to pollute my gene pool with weak feeders. As has already been pointed out, most healthy snakes will eat, so there is often more going on.

I should clarify that if a snake is sick and that's why its being force fed and that once it gets better it will eat, I'm ok with that. I won't force feed a snake that is other wise 100% healthy and refuses to eat.

I totally understand your point. I believe in giving every animal an equal opportunity. This animal was QT while the force feeding was going on. She is doing fine now and I think is ready to rejoin the collection. She may never get big enough to breed and may end up just being a "pet", but she will be treated the same as the most expensive snake in my collection. BTW she is just a normal.

[JD Constriction]

Just to put my 2 cents in....

My experience has been that a poor starter doesn't always mean a poor feeder. Just as some human beings have trouble grasping the concept of walking or talking as early as others doesn't mean that they won't be marathon runners or president as adults. (I hope that analogy makes sense)

Assist feeding is sometimes necessary for hatchling ball pythons to grasp the concept of feeding. After they get that concept down my experience has been they usually become very good feeders.

As for adult ball pythons I have never had to assist feed. Usually all it takes is patience and understanding of that animals feeding responses that get it to eat. If it came down to a life or death scenario and I had tried everything to get that animal to feed on it's own I would attempt assist feeding...but only after the other options had been exhausted.

Hope that was helpful

[zail]

I personally don't believe in force feeding. Not every snake is meant to survive and I don't want to pollute my gene pool with weak feeders. As has already been pointed out, most healthy snakes will eat, so there is often more going on.

This is an interesting point and I tend to agree with it... If an animal won't eat and none of the reasons pointed out above (husbandry, ill health etc) are to blame then what is the point in force feeding it? That snake may go on to be a good feeder but may pass bad feeder genes to it's progeny.. in the wild I guess all bad feeders would be taken out of the gene pool simply by their none feeding - just my 2p worth....

[starmom]

... That snake may go on to be a good feeder but may pass bad feeder genes to it's progeny..

Is this genetic???