Coastal Advice

[patonthego]

Ok need some advice over feeding. my girl is 13mths and nearly 4ft long. She was eating 2 fuzzy rats every 7 days but she had her first weaner this week, so should I keep her on the weekly feeds? I can't get it in my head that they eat fortnightly asa we eat 3 times a day or more!! My cats are fed at least twicea day. So guys tell me off or help me what is the right thing to do for my Tara. I'm not trying to get her big quicker.

 

[vs380kw]

feed the day after she poo's

 

[patonthego]

what if she feeds and poos 5 days later or less?? Doesn't matter on number of days between feeds?

 

[vs380kw]

i feed all mine the day after they poo even if its 5days later or 10days later but thats what i do we all have different ways

 

[Freeloader]

I feed my coastals (2yo) every 7 to 10 days, They are on weaner rats one of.

 

[yommy]

It's all dependant on how fast and how big you want her to get.
As a rule i feed all hatchies weekly and adults fortnightly.
When at breeding age i fed the girls weekly for conditioning as they loss so much in egg production and laying and the males are still on fortnightly feeds.
A nice slim male looks sexy to my girls
Keep em lean keep em keen.......

 

[patonthego]

Thank you for that. Makes sense to me. I knew not to feed if they didn't poo. I was thinking of trying to "last" for 10days. I don't want her to get too fat. No hurry in getting her to adult size ot breed her that's not going to happen in a rush. I'm enjoying her every day and holding her.

have a lovely Christmas.

 

[patonthego]

Hey Yommy didn't want to bug you by calling you. I seem to remember you telling me to go to fortnightly when she got to 12mths. Must get some new pics to show you how she's doing. Have any of the others sent you recent pics of the same clutch?? Hows the womas doing??

 

[yommy]

yeah they are developing nicely (woma) and change with every shed.
Most of last years offspring are turning into really nice juvis and will be really nice adults.
It would be good to see some updated pics of her, as she was one of the nicest in that clutch.

 

[patonthego]

yeah they are developing nicely (woma) and change with every shed.
Most of last years offspring are turning into really nice juvis and will be really nice adults.
It would be good to see some updated pics of her, as she was one of the nicest in that clutch.

Ok as soon as my hubby comes home to take some pics of her will pm them to you.

 

[yommy]

or post them on here to show her and her cousin (bree???) off for all to see

 

[Recharge]

I can't get it in my head that they eat fortnightly asa we eat 3 times a day or more!!

for gods sake, read up on HOW snakes work.. they can go LONG periods without feeding, they are cold blooded, they don't burn energy anything like warm blooded creatures do.
they also have the ability to slow their metabolism down to conserve energy when required.

they don't NEED to eat every day, or every other day or even every week in most cases.
*gah*

 

[patonthego]

recent pics of Tara

Hot off the press right now!! Well the digital camera anyway.

 

[scorps]

scarrf up

 

[patonthego]

scarrf up

what does that mean?

 

[Emydura]

1. enviroment first. if its ok step2
2. offer food. if rejected ,wait.
3 offer again

Try offering food at different times, some will only chow at night/in the dark, some will eat in early morning.
Avoid stuffing anything down your snakes throat, its extremely stressful and often unnessary. particularly young snakes, quite often they wont take a first meal for months.
As long as its enviroment is good, you've done all the right things, hides etc, and its not losing condition, just be patient.
A snake refusing food is ALWAYS a bigger deal to the owner than the snake itself.
every snake owner faces this issue eventually.

stick to once a fortnight feedings. as somebody said, its a common mistake to assume snakes need to be fed as often of cats dogs etc. a weaner rat for your snake, is like a 5 course meal, the snakes gets every last ounce of nutition and energy from its meal, they are survivors in harsh conditions where food is not offered on tongs regulary and they dont know when the next meal might come along.

snakes dont burn energy requiring constant replacement like mammals. your dog must eat daily because it expends energy to maintain its body temprature. but the snake is solar powered, it expends zero energy for this task and so a single meal is akin to putting a high energy duracell battery in something compared to a plain old everyready which dies after a few days.

feeding regular meals is a concept you will need to dis-associate from snake keeping.
Dont feel bad, your snake is fine.

 

[patonthego]

1. enviroment first. if its ok step2
2. offer food. if rejected ,wait.
3 offer again

Try offering food at different times, some will only chow at night/in the dark, some will eat in early morning.
Avoid stuffing anything down your snakes throat, its extremely stressful and often unnessary. particularly young snakes, quite often they wont take a first meal for months.
As long as its enviroment is good, you've done all the right things, hides etc, and its not losing condition, just be patient.
A snake refusing food is ALWAYS a bigger deal to the owner than the snake itself.
every snake owner faces this issue eventually.

Someone is confused she never refuses a feed, my concern was over feeding her

 

[scorps]

its alot of fededs to grow a small snake fast

 

[Emydura]

Edited after a quick re-read! Im full of xmas cheer Lol.

 

[yommy]

She's looking good pat and has got some size to her now.
Don't scarf her unless you want to kill her with kindness by over feeding.
Each to their own but i would not advise it.