Powerfeeding.

[Ray]

Guys is it true when you overfeed your B.P that they dont live a long life??People in holland se that they not get older as 6 or 7 years.


Thank Ray,

[marisa]

What do you mean by overfeed?

And if someone has ball pythons that consistantly only live 6 or 7 years, they are doing something very wrong. Ball Pythons are a very long lived species, with one on record as being over 45 years old.

Marisa

[thunder]

they definitley live longer than seven years. in fact, the worlds oldest snake was a bp; i believe it was in its 30's. the oldest bp ive ever cared for was born in the 80's, so she'd be about 20 now.

[mannannan]

Powerfeeding does shorten the animals life, they get 'fat liver' (dunno the actual word in english so I just translated directly), amongst many things. 'Fat liver' is the most common cause of death in captive reptiles, from what I hear.

[thunder]

obese females are also more likely to become egg-bound, and are generally less prolific.

[Ray]

People in holland tell me that a lot of americans powerfeed ther animals(B.P) So that they grow real fast and breed real fast.
If i ask a question on a dutch forum then they all know better.:mad:
So i hope i lurn a lot more from you guys.


Thanks Ray:)

[marisa]

Well what's overfeeding to you when it comes to Ball Pythons?

To me, a good amount of food is a prey item that leaves a sizable lump for a day or two, once a week. Others feed more with no bad results, others less with the same outcome.

Considering the little amount of real research into the nutrional and diet needs of all snakes, it's hard for ANYONE to say what amount of feeding will lead to a shorter lifespan. I mean we really don't even know for SURE how long these animals live in general in the wild. While this shouldn't give us exactly something to shoot for in CAPTIVITY, these things (nutrional need info, age info in wild balls) would answer some questions.

Marisa

[Vengeance]

Although I'm no expert, another thing to take into consideration is that most Ball Pythons fast at some point, not all do but it is fairly common for a Ball Python to go off food. So any fat reserves at that point would be used during the fast until they are ready to feed again. I remember a post on this forum discussing obesity in snakes and if I remember correctly other species of snakes were much more prone to obesity because of their feeding response and are less likely to fast but Ball pythons with their stereotypical refusal of food are less prone to obesity because of it.

I could be way off the mark so feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.

[mannannan]

From what I gather, 'powerfeeding' refers to raising the temp in the enclosure, thus speeding up the snake's metabolism so you can feed it about every 48 hrs or so. Ppl do this to burms and retics mostly, to get them up to like 10 ft in the first year...

In sweden there also seems to be a general opinion that 'a lot of american ppl do this', but from what I have gathered at this forum, that is bad info.
I think maybe ppl USED to powerfeed to get their breeders faster, but the long term loss in fertility and health makes it not worth it I guess...

Sorry for the rant, got a bit carried away...

[mykee]

Mannanna: most of us are NOT American. No offense to our bretheren to the south.
Marisa: I'm with you, how DO you overfeed a ball python?!
Most of my females are consistently reaching 2000g by their second breeding season, but they eat a decent-sized meal every 7 days. Powerfeeding? I think not. Well fed? Yes. Overfed? Only they know and they're not telling.