Hi guys i am in W.A and i have just been told that iam over feeding my south west carpet. Ive spoken to many herps and all say that 4 weaner mice a week is fine for a yearling. She is just over a meter and is weighing in at 23g. What do you guys rekn? i feed two one after the other monday then one thursday and one sat. thanks..,matt
Am i over feeding?
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Londos1990
Well-Known Member
Ive always feed mine no more then 2 every 5 days as a hatchie and as a yearling probably 5-7 and ive got no adults yet but will feed every 7-10.
Im not saying you cant feed more then 2 its just all ive ever done, im no expert so i cannot answer your obese question.... just as Jenny Craig
Im not saying you cant feed more then 2 its just all ive ever done, im no expert so i cannot answer your obese question.... just as Jenny Craig
Londos1990
Well-Known Member
Ive always feed mine no more then 2 every 5 days as a hatchie and as a yearling probably 5-7 and ive got no adults yet but will feed every 7-10.
Im not saying you cant feed more then 2 its just all ive ever done, im no expert so i cannot answer your obese question.... just ask Jenny Craig
Im not saying you cant feed more then 2 its just all ive ever done, im no expert so i cannot answer your obese question.... just ask Jenny Craig
itbites
Very Well-Known Member
I generally feed hatchlings 2 meals every five days & juvi/yearlings 2 meals every 5-7 days.
Four meals per week in my opinion is a little too much & it sounds like your power feeding him.
There really is no need to feed as much as you are...
Four meals per week in my opinion is a little too much & it sounds like your power feeding him.
There really is no need to feed as much as you are...
Thanks for your advice guys!! i will reduce my amount to 3 a week for now. Nearly time to upsize anyway! would still like feed back from more herps? she is not obese and is a active and health snake. Also i am not power feeding at all!! she will position herself in the same way, on the same branch each time she is hungry, If she's not she wont go to this branch or position her self in this way. If she's not in this position on her feeding days i will not feed her!
regards, Matt
regards, Matt
9 times out of ten she will be in this position on her feeding days waiting and as soon as that tounge touches her meal it's all over. Its not like she messes around checking it out or anything, If that were the case maybe i would think twice about feeding this much.
Snakelove
Very Well-Known Member
you asked people about their opinion on power feeding but you just answered that question for yourself. why ask it? lol 20% of their body weight. 5-7 days
4 weaner mice each week for a 1 year old carpet weighing 230 grams is not too much food. A weaner would weigh around 10 grams each, times 4 is 40 grams. This is less than 20% of the pythons body weight. However, your methods are a little unorthodox. Most people choose to use one food item each week as it works out cheaper usually. You might like to instead offer a 45 gram rat. The bulky size of a single larger feed will also stretch their heads out and help it develop size.
Octane
Active Member
You have asked the question am I over feeding?
Answer maybe or maybe not. You may be feeding to frequently.
You have to think of your python differently to a mammal eg dogs, cats etc.
Mammals need regular food to supply energy for body function and to maintain body heat, pythons are different they don't need food to thermoregulate. In addition to this pythons have evolved as oportunistic feeders in the wild having to conserve energy between feedings and can go for extended periods without food.
Pythons body systems have evolved to cope with a prey item when caught, processing this then switching off and waiting for the next prey animal to come along.
For this reason their body systems have a kind of regular body/energy conserving mode which then goes into a state of hyper activity when they are fed to break down their food.
When fed the snakes body systems switch on so to speak, the digestive system becomes active, the body processes speed up, the liver and the heart enlarge. Combined all these processes take a fair amount of energy, thus feeding to small a meal will provide less energy than the snake takes to process it. The snake then needs time between meals to let the body process the meal and give the body systems time to return to normal.
Think of it this way a general guide when feeding a python is 15-25% of body weigh in a feeding. To put this in human terms if you weigh about 60 kilograms you would have to eat between 35 to 50 regular meat pies in one sitting to have the equivalent meal.
Younger snakes put alot of the food they eat into growth and as previous posts before mine I would be feeding every 5 to 7 days and up your food size to keep up with the snake as it grows.
Mix it up a bit just as it would be in the wild, change the amount fed and time between feeds for a larger feeding give a longer time to the next feeding to allow for the body to return to rest.
Hope this helps
Cheers
Octane
P.S. Try and change to rats. Three weaner mice petstore price $1.75 ea total $5.25 equals one hopper rat petstore price $3. More economical so you can save quicker for another snake or bigger enclosure.
Answer maybe or maybe not. You may be feeding to frequently.
You have to think of your python differently to a mammal eg dogs, cats etc.
Mammals need regular food to supply energy for body function and to maintain body heat, pythons are different they don't need food to thermoregulate. In addition to this pythons have evolved as oportunistic feeders in the wild having to conserve energy between feedings and can go for extended periods without food.
Pythons body systems have evolved to cope with a prey item when caught, processing this then switching off and waiting for the next prey animal to come along.
For this reason their body systems have a kind of regular body/energy conserving mode which then goes into a state of hyper activity when they are fed to break down their food.
When fed the snakes body systems switch on so to speak, the digestive system becomes active, the body processes speed up, the liver and the heart enlarge. Combined all these processes take a fair amount of energy, thus feeding to small a meal will provide less energy than the snake takes to process it. The snake then needs time between meals to let the body process the meal and give the body systems time to return to normal.
Think of it this way a general guide when feeding a python is 15-25% of body weigh in a feeding. To put this in human terms if you weigh about 60 kilograms you would have to eat between 35 to 50 regular meat pies in one sitting to have the equivalent meal.
Younger snakes put alot of the food they eat into growth and as previous posts before mine I would be feeding every 5 to 7 days and up your food size to keep up with the snake as it grows.
Mix it up a bit just as it would be in the wild, change the amount fed and time between feeds for a larger feeding give a longer time to the next feeding to allow for the body to return to rest.
Hope this helps
Cheers
Octane
P.S. Try and change to rats. Three weaner mice petstore price $1.75 ea total $5.25 equals one hopper rat petstore price $3. More economical so you can save quicker for another snake or bigger enclosure.
I really value all your advice seemings there is such a mixed response out there. Snakelove i wasn't asking if i was power feeding at all just replying to itbites coments, i was askin if i over feed. Octane and Ewan thanks for the explinations behind you advice. Yeah i am about to up size i am just finishing off a batch of 100 wm the will upsize. Do think a hopper rat is what i want?
thanks again all !!
matt
. Yeah i am about to up size i am just finishing off a batch of 100 wm the will upsize. Do think a hopper rat is what i want? thanks again all !!
matt
Sock Puppet
Very Well-Known Member
Definitely upsize. I have 2x 14 month old Bredl's both were over 330g last weigh in. They are currently finishing off their 40g rats (equates to 12% food:body weight) & I've put in an order for 60-70g rats (equates to 18-21% food:body weight) to upsize. They are currently eating once every 7-10 days. This is just a comparison, not necessarily a guideline.
Hope this helps.
Hope this helps.
No-two
Very Well-Known Member
Would you all say the same things about power feeding and over feeding if it were 4 items all at once?Plenty of people feed multiple small items at once when they've purchased a bulk amount and want to use them before upgrading which is fine...
Rather than give it 4items every second day (until the 4 are gone), give him/her all of them at once, one after the other. Feeding that often would be power feeding if you were feeding it large items but something like a weaner mouse for a yearling snake is pretty small.
Rather than give it 4items every second day (until the 4 are gone), give him/her all of them at once, one after the other. Feeding that often would be power feeding if you were feeding it large items but something like a weaner mouse for a yearling snake is pretty small.
Cheyne_Jones
Well-Known Member
Are you sure your scales are accurate? 23g and 1m long doesn't really add up to me...
Choco
Well-Known Member
To sum up what has been mentioned they are opportunistic feeders. They'll take what is offered so to speak. Just cause it's positioned doesn't mean it's 'hungry'. You should be able to feed 1 appropriately sized prey item every 5-7 days. Doing this will also benefit your snake more than multiple small items as having to really work there jaws over the prey promotes jaw/head development. It's also more nutritional. Bigger prey is more developped with more meat, whereas lots of smaller stuff is all bones. Remember they can take prey quite a bit larger than there head. Have you got a photo during and after feeding the current food size?
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