snake feeding

When feeding your snake, what determines the size of the food item used?

The reason I ask, it seems that some people believe a large constrictor must eat very large food items. One friend of mine buys frozen pigs for his retic. Another friend of mine could hardly wait to give his Burm its first rabbit. I am not saying anything is wrong with feeding large food items to their boids. I just was wondering do some people do this to try & get the constrictor bigger or do they want to see how big of a food item they can get their snake to eat? Other than the fact that it probly cost less in the long run, I personally do not see the advantage to feeding a constrictor the largest item you think it can swallow.

I personally, feed my constrictors smaller meals more often. I have found (not a scientific study) my snakes are more active by doing such. They still grow to good size & I do not have to be concerned about the food item in them the day after feeding them if I am going to take them out. Anotherthing, my friends burm, looks like a big slug now(overweight). When it eats, it doesn't move for a few days afterwards. Kind of like I feel after Thanksgiving Day meal I one time seen a documentary on the reticulated pythons. In the show, they said some of the largest retics were found by sewage areas, where they fed on the rats.

Anyhow, I would like to know your thoughts & what determines what size food item you feed your boid.

My retic, 4 years old & never seen a rabbit Feed him rats only, 3 or 4, every 5 to 7 days normally.

Not much to say about feeder sizes (my biggest snake right now is a yearling corn!) but WOW! What a gorgeous retic! Congrats on such a fine looking snake. What do you keep him in?

a lot of people DO like to see the larger prey item being eaten. a lot go strictly by the "girth of the snake equals the girth of the prey" rule. others just don't know any better and see a nature show and think that it's best.

Yeah, ^^second the "girth of the snake should be the girth of the meal" rule.
As you might suspect a large prey item takes much longer to digest than a smaller one so you can go a bit longer between feedings. However though, when you feed smaller meals more often, the snakes tend to grow quicker than if a large meal was fed every so many weeks or something. Keep in mind that baby animals *pinkies, chicks, etc.* have more nutrients and such than larger items, so some people will feed younger snakes 2 or 3 pinkies rather than bumping up to a fuzzy, and then several fuzzies rather than a hopper. But that is personal preference.
For a full grown snake, I am sure smaller meals more often keeps it more active *since the meals are more easily digested* but health wise, there isn't much of a difference between the two styles of feeding.

Originally Posted by kepster57

but health wise, there isn't much of a difference between the two styles of feeding.

there seems to be a link between longer lifespans and less time/energy spent digesting food.

like you stated, more energy is spent digesting larger meals, and they also require lessened activity by the snake just to do so.

snakes fed more frequently tend to live shorter lives vs. snakes fed less frequently.

all the snakes that see 25+ years seem to be fed once a month or 10x a year and with small to medium meals.

You might be interested in something I posted a while back. I don't have time to dig up the link at the moment - I'll try to remember when I get online tomorrow - but you can search "power feeding" in the Pythons discusssion forum.

Originally Posted by kepster57

Yeah, ^^second the "girth of the snake should be the girth of the meal" rule.
As you might suspect a large prey item takes much longer to digest than a smaller one so you can go a bit longer between feedings. However though, when you feed smaller meals more often, the snakes tend to grow quicker than if a large meal was fed every so many weeks or something. Keep in mind that baby animals *pinkies, chicks, etc.* have more nutrients and such than larger items, so some people will feed younger snakes 2 or 3 pinkies rather than bumping up to a fuzzy, and then several fuzzies rather than a hopper. But that is personal preference.
For a full grown snake, I am sure smaller meals more often keeps it more active *since the meals are more easily digested* but health wise, there isn't much of a difference between the two styles of feeding.

There is also a consideration for feeding more developed prey items due to higher calcium levels in them.

That is also true.
Something I forgot to mention is that these are snakes, generally not hyperactive creatures. After they are done growing, they only need enough food to maintain their weight. They don't regularly eat a ton in the wild, some of them go for a month or so between feedings. They can probably go with less food *within reason* than most people would naturally think.

Well, here is the discussion I was referring to...but it seems the link to the article I wanted you to read is dead now. I'll see if I can find it someplace.

Originally Posted by kepster57

That is also true.
Something I forgot to mention is that these are snakes, generally not hyperactive creatures. After they are done growing, they only need enough food to maintain their weight. They don't regularly eat a ton in the wild, some of them go for a month or so between feedings. They can probably go with less food *within reason* than most people would naturally think.

My friend's mother has a female columbian redtail boa that she has had since I was in jr. high school. So, that would have been 1976, making the snake at least 30+ years old now. The snake has, as long as I have known, eaten only large rats. It used to eat 1 or 2 rats every week or so. Never "powerfed", feeding was based on when it went to the bathroom it was ready to feed again. In recent years, she only eats maybe once a month at the most. The snake does look really old now, but still healthy. BTW, she would never eat the white rats for some reason. I used to get calls from them asking if I would trade a colored rat for a white one because the boa had refused it.