• Responding to email notices you receive.
    **************************************************
    In short, DON'T! Email notices are to ONLY alert you of a reply to your private message or your ad on this site. Replying to the email just wastes your time as it goes NOWHERE, and probably pisses off the person you thought you replied to when they think you just ignored them. So instead of complaining to me about your messages not being replied to from this site via email, please READ that email notice that plainly states what you need to do in order to reply to who you are trying to converse with.

  • IMPORTANT! PLEASE READ!! About the Google Adsense ads being displayed

    =====================
    Posted 08/15/2025
    =====================


    Yeah, I know. They are a pain in the butt. But they pay the bills to keep my server running. Just a fact of life, I am afraid.

    Want to get rid of them? Simple. Just become a Contributor level member or above and they will be gone. -> Please click HERE."

    Is that too much for me to ask of you to keep this site running? Well, sorry about that. I too wish I could get everything for free. But alas.....

    =====================
    Addendum: 01/10/2026
    =====================


    Google Adsense ad revenue for December, 2025 was just $30 over the cost of the lease for the server running this site. So, in effect, the money providing the incentive for me to continue running this site is coming SOLELY from the paid memberships and sponsorships here. Which honestly ain't much....

The growth of a snake.

1

1stBp

New member
Joined
Jun 19, 2005
Messages
6
Reaction score
0
Points
0
Location
Northern Virginia
I read on a different web site that you can reduce the size a snake grows by feeding it less. I personally dont believe that to be true because it would cause the snake to have poor health. I was just wondering if anybody has had any person experiance doing that.
 
Anything that is malnousrished will grow more slowly. Most people want their animal to grow NORMALLY, and be healthy....which they won't be if underfed. Why would you WANT to keep your animal from growing????
 
If you don't want a large snake, then don't buy one. You get what you pay for.

I realise that this might not be a practice that you yourself are interested in. It just seems silly, don't buy a large snake if you don't want a large snake, simple as that!

My $0.02
 
HerpAddict said:
If you don't want a large snake, then don't buy one. You get what you pay for.

I realise that this might not be a practice that you yourself are interested in. It just seems silly, don't buy a large snake if you don't want a large snake, simple as that!

My $0.02
Click to expand...

EXACTLY!!!!! If you don't want your snake to get too large, buy a species that NATURALLY doesn't get large. Buying a Burm or a retic and then starving it.......yeah, that makes a LOT more sense than just buying a smaller snake to begin with. NOT.

The only reason that I can see people doing this kind of thing is that they want to be "cool" and tell people they own something that CAN reach enormous lengths....and half starving an animal is definitely NOT cool.

Would you starve your kids to keep them from outgrowing their clothes?
 
Actually, there is *some* truth in this. Hatchling/neonate/growing snakes grow according to their intake. Some people "powerfeed" their snakes. We have all heard of Ball Pythons that are fed every three to four days so that even the females are breeding size the second winter. Similarly, if they are fed every 10 days or even every 14 days they may be "well nourished" but just grow more slowly. Eventually, however, they will catch up and attain their "normal" size. After all, in the wild, snakes are not presented with "an appropriate sized prey item once a week". They may go a month or more between meals quite regularly.

In fact there are theoretical reasons for bringing young snakes along slowly. The dreaded "Diamond Python Syndrome" may, in part, be related to feeding too much to young Diamonds. Certain species of non-giant snakes are meant to take 4-5 years to reach maturity, like Diamonds and also Black Headed Pythons. Scrub Pythons also do much better when brought up slowly. That is not to say these snakes are not hungry. All of them will eat whatever is offered. It is simply to point out that slow growing snakes are often healthier snakes.

Anyone who suggests, however, that you can control the eventual size of a reptile by feeding it less or (my favorite) by keeping it in a smaller enclosure is simply wrong.
 
1stBp said:
There reasons for doing it are to keep large snakes from getting so big.
Click to expand...

I realize what you're saying, Jim...and I agree, I don't think "powerfeeding" is best either, however what I believe this guy is clearly talking about is UNDERFEEDING an animal....TO KEEP LARGE SNAKES FROM GETTING BIG. Buy a Burm, keep it ball python sized by malnourishment? It doesn't work.

I believe an animal should be given the appropriate amount of food for them to grow at a natural, healthy rate.

Sadly, too many animals suffer because people believe that they can keep them small forever by underfeeding, and as you said, the misinformation that "a snake will only grow as large as its enclosure allows".
 
Back
Top