Powerfeeding Juvie House Snakes?

[bobberly1]

I'm getting some house snakes in a few weeks, and I want to know whether I can feed them heavily, maybe twice a week, to get them to grow faster. I want to get them to breed ASAP, and I'm buying them at 4 months old. Thanks in advance.

[bobberly1]

Come on people, nobody?

[bobberly1]

For real?

[anatess]

I'm no expert, but I read somewhere that to be ready for breeding, it is not just weight to consider but also maturity especially in a female. So, normally, a female breeds in their 3rd winter, males in their 2nd.

Hang on... lemme find that link...

Hah! Here it is!
http://www.ballpython.ca/gallery/breeding.html

[Beardedragon]

No, you dont want to power feed.

[Michelle.C]

House Snakes are quite a bit different than Ball Pythons when it comes to breeding.

Generally a house snake CAN be bred at 6 months, but it is often lethal to the female. She will generally have a few clutches her first year and then die.

To be safe, I would wait to breed a female until she is 18 months old. She should be at least 250-ish grams, 30 inches long. Breeding any earlier will result in her death.

In my opinion, power feeding is stressful on any snake, especially a small colubrid. It would serve no purpose, seeing as you need to wait until it is safe to breed her.

Feeding once every five days is perfectly fine, as long as the size of the meal isn't too large and she has completely digested the first meal.

Trust me when I say it's worth the wait on these guys. The female CAN lay a clutch every sixty days. You won't want her to because it is unhealthy. These guys are really fast producers, if the female is healthy.

[bobberly1]

But the idea is that I could get her in safe breeding stage faster, right? Could I push that down to four days?

[Michelle.C]

Honestly, it doesn't seem worth it.

Smaller meal size, every four days would be acceptable. As long as she has completely digested her prey.

The point I was making is; it's not just about size. It's also about age. She has to be at a certain life stage to breed safely.

Honestly, if you are that eager, pick up an adult pair, they aren't that expensive. I wouldn't risk and animals life just to breed at a earlier time.

Do you have any pictures of them? What morph?

[Patrick Long]

May I ask why you want them to breed so fast?

[missi182]

May I ask why you want them to breed so fast?

Ditto...