Power Feeding?

Blueeheeler · #1 (**permalink**) 12-15-2002, 05:12 AM

I have been through all of the feeding titles and have not found anything on power feeding. I have seen it mention and from what I gather no one likes to do it. But My? is What is Power feeding?
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deadboy · #2 (**permalink**) 12-15-2002, 06:11 AM

powerfeeding is overfeeding so that u can breed your snake early. i think. im pretty sure of it. like feeding it twice a week when it only needs to be fed once a week. if im wrong someone will come along and correct me but im pretty sure that's what it is.
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faze · #3 (**permalink**) 12-15-2002, 08:18 AM

<TABLE BORDER=0 ALIGN=CENTER WIDTH=85%><TR><TD><font class="pn-sub">Quote:</font><HR></TD></TR><TR><TD><FONT class="pn-sub"><BLOCKQUOTE> powerfeeding is overfeeding so that u can breed your snake early </BLOCKQUOTE></FONT></TD></TR><TR><TD><HR></TD></TR></TABLE>
deadboy's right on the rest of the post and partially right on this one... the main reason I see people doin a lot of "power feeding" is to get there snake up to a "cool" size very quickly
but what they dont understand is that it is not healthy for the snake ......

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Blueeheeler · #4 (**permalink**) 12-15-2002, 07:21 PM

Okay I agree with not power feeding but what is too much. I have a 3 yr old female that is 48 " long and she is well proportioned I think, but she was a rescue when I got her October. She was in a 10 gallon tank and underfeed and just basically forgotten about.

So I guess my ? now is: her size and weight seem to be comparably small for her age. I am getting a lot of my comparisons from the RTBposts on this site. Some are 2 yrs and 12 inches longer than her, and these are male RTB's I am mentioning. What is considered overfeeding.

At this time I am feeding 1 Adult rat a little bigger than a Dollar once a week. She is in a 36x16x16 tank with uth and lighting for warmth. Her tank temps are 92 - 82 with hum at 61% during the night and am hours then it drops slowly to 50% never lower.

Any information you all could give me. I would appreciate it. Oh by the way I am aware of gentics as to size vs. age as in Humans, but I just think that she should be bogger than she is. Again thank you for all of the advice....Jamie
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dlamphere · #5 (**permalink**) 12-15-2002, 07:36 PM

I'm not an expert by any means, but I would just worry about if she looks really thin for her instead of worrying about what she is "supposed" to look like to other snakes of her kind. My Burm is smaller than other Burms his age. But he is healthy and growing, just at his own pace. I feed him once every 10-14 days and we just got him over to bunnies so he may start growing faster now. He really didn’t look neglected at the shop I bought him at but he may not have been fed quite right then, but I don’t want to over compensate now. He will get there, just in his own time. If not....cool I will have one just a little different than everyone else.
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Flood · #6 (**permalink**) 12-15-2002, 07:36 PM

Firstly, power feeding isn't usually a good idea. Generally when poeple power feed, it is to get their snake ready for breeding early. In some cases though, it is not incredibly harmful. A boa, for instance, will typically not take well to pwer feeding and wil get "fat", where as large pythons (burmese, retc, af rock) will not get very overweight, they will grow faster. Regardless though, it is not something that would be common in the wild and is that not what we all strive for; to create natural conditions in hopes that our herps will do their best physically and emotionally.
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telefrag · #7 (**permalink**) 12-15-2002, 07:58 PM

Power feeding is very up to interpretation.

Some snakes by nature have ravenous appetites and will eat at every chance that they can.
So is it power feeding when you feed a snake with a naturally high metabolism 2 or more times a week?
I dont think so.

Boas, Pythons yes I think they can be easily overfed.
Many colubrids have very high metabolic rates and do better when fed more often.
For example, a wild pituophis will eat food whenever it encounters it, and given the tendency for pits to inhabit areas with high prey item population density, they may have more than one large meal a week.

In short, it really depends on what type of snake we are talking about here.
I personally dont see anything wrong in wanting to promote steady growth in a snake.
Feeding 3 times a week for the sake of breeding at 18 months, that definately isnt good for many species of snake.

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Bry · #8 (**permalink**) 12-15-2002, 08:00 PM

Blueheeler, don't worry too much about your boa being smaller than average. Animals grow at different rates, and with some, their growth slows down a lot once they reach a certain size. It's just an individual thing. There is an average height for adult human males and females, but some are just taller or shorter than the average adult. Like others have said, don't worry too much, as long as the snake does not seem thin for its size, then it is fine. Lori has a female boa which, I believe, is at least 4-5 years old, and it is still only around 4 feet in length, and you and I both know female boas usually get considerably larger than that.

Bry
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metamorph0sis · #9 (**permalink**) 12-15-2002, 08:21 PM

i agree with everyone else on this. my bci is a male, but he didn't reach 4' til he was 4 yrs old. then again, now he's 6 yrs old, and just about 6'. for now, i think your feeding schedule sounds great. if she seems "fat" at all, you might consider feeding every 10-14 days instead, but if she's proportional, feeding once a week is fine while they're still growing. what i would be concerned about would be starting to think about a bigger cage! she's starting to push the limits for hers right now, and though you won't know exactly when she's gonna get much bigger, you can pretty much guarantee that she will!
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#10 (**permalink**) 12-15-2002, 08:49 PM

Since snakes due the bulk of their growing in their first 12-24 months, this is where people tend to powerfeed, to hope they're the first one to raise a 16' BCI or what have you. Also, some just maintain the juvenile feeding schedule for extended periods...i.e. they fed their baby BCI every 5 days, and 3 years later, they're still trying to maintain the same schedule, when they should be on a 10-14 day routine.
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Blueeheeler · #11 (**permalink**) 12-16-2002, 12:07 AM

Okay I understand about growth, and power feeding. Thank you.

My RTB is 3 like I said before shouuld I change her schedule to 10-14 days? Even with her only being on the 1 a week schedule from Oct to now. When her 1st owner had her she was lucky if she got feed once a month if that.

What do you all think of changing her feeding schedule? [img]modules/Forum/images/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif[/img]

By the way What size cage should she in for her size? Because the tank she is in is splint in 2 with her having 36" of the tank and My Corn has the other 12". So the tank is really 48x16x16. Should she have it all? Or more?

If you have a chance a would like to see a picture of her maybe one of the members or owners of this site could post a picture for me since I have not ordered my Photo Book yet from Redtail. If you would like to post a picture for me Please contact me at <Blueeheeler@attbi.com> PLEASE NOTE THE SPELLING 2 "EE" FOR BLUEE. Thank you all for the comments and advice it is greatly appreciated for the Newbie...Jamie
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jpaulson · #12 (**permalink**) 12-16-2002, 12:19 AM

Either the once a week or every 10 days would be fine. I don't think she is ready for every two weeks, personally. But, she can go a long time without eating, so not a big deal. Whatever is comfy with you should be fine. I don't think that at 4' she is ready to go two weeks between feeding.

As far as the caging question, she will need the whole thing soon. Adults need 4'2'2' MINIMUM, so switching her soon would be o.k. Are you going to build your own? If so, start thinking about it, as she will outgrow her 3' 1.5' very quickly.
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jpaulson · #13 (**permalink**) 12-16-2002, 12:23 AM

After thinking about the size of the viv now, she is in too small an area now. You need to get her the whole viv right a way!!!
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