Power Feeding Pythons

[trendkill]

It's common to see people feeding their pythons lots of food, and/or really large prey. They digest fast, have strong stomachs, and often extreme appetites.

You'll see burms and retics grow from 3' to 10' in a very short amount of time. Burms reaching lengths of 12' by their second year. Even carpets and balls.. because "if they can handle it, why not?" Breeders do it... they want their animals to reproduce at younger ages. Keepers do it... they want big "impressive" snakes, and they want them fast. BUT.. sadly, they're shortening their animals' lifespans by years. Not so good for breeders.. think of how many more litters a female could have if she lived a lot longer? Not so good for keepers.. would you intentionally shorten any pet's lifespan?

This isn't new news. But it's becoming more popular for people to ignore the facts.. and focus on the feeding.

So.. how many years are they losing? As many as 10. Here's some information I just recieved from a privale local burm and retic keeper and breeder, Chad Kendrick. He publically admits that he used to power feed his animals, and gave me his permission to post this. He's talking about both Burmese and Reticulated pythons:

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-I lost nine obese females in three years. They were all between seven and twelve years of age. Some were bred every two years. Some were never bred at all. I raised them up really fast. I can't even remember most of them being small because they got really big in a blink of the eye. They were kept fat for breeding and fed well after laying eggs. They would eat whatever I gave them and I was more than generous.

-I lost a sixteen foot male Burmese at the age of eight two years after losing those females. He was also overweight. I pumped him full of food to see how big this male would grow. He was large since birth and I wanted to see if he could compete with the girls. Unfortunately I never found out.

-I stopped pushing males and females the very next year. I continued to lose older pythons that were raised quickly at younger ages. Many never made it past twelve.

-I managed to rescue quite a few by cutting back on feeding when I did. I now have many burms and retics that are fifteen to eighteen years old. My oldest just died at twenty one years from natural causes. The old folks are all kept lean.

-Since my 'awakening' my pythons have been and will always be fed every two weeks as babies and every three to five weeks as adults. They're all in great condition. I still get big and healthy clutches from lean females. I just had a fourteen year old female lay a huge clutch. She layed two years ago and two years before that. I figure her last two or three clutches would've never been produced if I continued to feed my snakes like I used to.

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Good read.

[Johnny Utah]

Thanks for this post Trendkill.

I think when a lot of people first get into pythons, they are eager to see them get big. I know I was. I never power-fed any of my snakes, but I do think I fed a little too large and a little too often. What made me slow down was reading things like what Chad Hendrick expressed. (Thanks Chad!)

I swear my female Jungle Carpet could eat a rat twice the size of her girth, but that doesn't mean I will try it. I am much more interested in seeing my snakes live long, healthy lives.

[trendkill]

Yep. When I was a young teenie bopper, I used to powerfeed one of my carpets.. a dimamond/jungle cross. He'd get anything that other snakes wouldn't eat, or any extras that I thawed. Plus his normal large meals. He'd eat tiny little mice even.. anything he could swallow. He never seemed obese, maybe just a little thick. He was active and handled A LOT, thankfully. But when I fed him to the point of regurgitation, I realized just what I was doing. I still fear he'll die young because of how I fed him years ago.

[Stargazer]

This is a great post, and I hope it deters a few people who are thinking about power feeding.

[stalk]

I will be the first to admit that by a lot of people's standards, my Burmese is powerfed. He sometimes eats as much as every 3 days. However I am always watching a lot of things - his overall health, his weight, his activity, apetite, and so on. It never was about getting him big, just a different means of health. I don't force him to eat anything, and I don't want an obese snake.

I also take into account things like the size of the cage, his activity level, and so on. 3' Burmese will normally be held in a 20 gallon long cage. I keep mine in 6x2x2's with a lot of things to explore, trees, ponds, and so on. So I think the whole feeding aspect depends on more than just feeding x amount in y days.

Most powerfed snakes, you can see immediately all the signs of overeating. The most obvious is obesity. I feel that powerfeeding deaths have a lot more to do with obesity than the mere act of powerfeeding.

That's just my take on it. I would never recommend anyone to do what I do, unless they knew what I knew and had what I did. Just my perspective! I'm always up for discussing why I may be wrong so feel free to correct!

[ssjsmits]

Great post Trendy!
.
I need to read this in regards for MY eating habits, so I can quit putting on the lbs!

[danktat]

I am glad this subject was brought up. I never really gave it much creedence (sp) while I was into retics. It wasn't till I was into BCC that the issues of overfeeding became "amplified". Seems like everytime I bring it up on other forums people give me the good ole' "but I do this or that and have done it for years and my snakes are fine" thing. There always seems to be a good "rationalization" as to why it will work for them where it hasn't had good results for others.

Thanks for keeping this issue in the mix. This may have to become a sticky for the time being. I am sure if this thread goes on we will get some interesting and varried opinions on this. MINE IS FOR MODERATE FEEDING!

	Boa Constrictor Constrictor

[danktat]

lol....I see someone already stuck it

[razeraze]

Power feeding and feeding a hungry snake is 2 totally different things. People need to realize any obese animal (reptile, bird, mammal) has more than one factor and all should be addressed instead of forcing a snake into a diet, when you have no idea how big it should get. I have seen a 27 year old obese python and many other old snakes bordering obese. I grow tired of the short cuts a feeding schedule rewards; instead of personal research. Every zoo and rescue I know of using feeding prey size and schedule as a guide to make it easier on the keepers not the snake. Micro managing weight, food intake, age, length and proper cages would take too much time and effort for keepers with large collections.

I find too much of these short cuts really hurting reptile keepers. Why research in the slightest if some breeder has already told you his results? Just plain dumb in my opinion. Breeders are the last place I get information from. First I ask herpetologist and field researchers, then zoos and zoologists, then read their recommended readings and books, then read more on things like obesity, parasites, brain behavior, metabolisms, seasonal fasting, seasonal binging, longevity, and anything else I have the smallest question for. Then I decide. The last place I would go for answers is someone making money off of their animals. I would rather take advice from people trying to breed endangered species and worried about species survival not there own pockets.

Could someone please describe, the feeding schedule and prey size, humidity gradient as well as the cage size and temp gradient, cage decor, daily exercise, locality of this breeders snakes genetics reflecting size and amount of snakes and time dedicated to each snake as well as records on refused food and offered food. This way I can decide if this breeder is worth listening to.