Again the oldest snake recorded so far lived to be 40 with out a feeding schedule. Until I get solid proof on what levels of fat are unhealthy and when snakes start to metabolize their own organs from lack of food, I am not changing my schedule. I would rather listen to the zoos and herpetologists I trust than people I do not know on a forum.
Gus here is the experiment:
Rattlesnakes Grow While Starving | LiveScience
Discovery Channel :: News - Animals :: Starving Snakes Eat Their Hearts Out
How Snakes Survive Starvation
Now these snakes went 5 months with out food, Charger has gone 3 living on her healthy amount of fat stores. They do not explain exactly what weeks or months the organ metabolizing started.
I know in humans tissue breakdown can happen between 4-40 days of starvation. I have not been able to find an exact time for this body reaction. Studies on bears have been done also. The truth remains we do not know a clear line between malnutrition and obesity in reptiles, we barely understand it in people. So until I get proof i am going to feed animals (even my cat) when they are hungry.
