How often should a one year old 4 foot long retic eat - Page 5

SnoopySnake · 06-19-15, 11:49 AM

I seriously can't handle this lol. Why is it SO HARD for people to listen when someone knows better than them? 6' and 35 lbs is obese. The lump from prey should be 1/2 size after digesting 2 days, that jumbo looks like it was just eaten. Why are you even here if you're not going to take the advice you ask for?

RAD House · 06-19-15, 04:46 PM

Personally I think he is both ignorant and a bad pet owner. He refused to do any research, which is shown by the fact that he continually has issues which can be avoided by even a miniscule amount of looking around. He asks questions, but then ignores any advice given. He treats his pets like property by doing whatever he wants with them regardless of the effects on them. This guy is the reason people like PETA and the ASPCA go after pet owners so aggressively. If everyone were responsible pet owners they would have no leg to stand on.

Albert Clark · 06-21-15, 09:58 AM

Kyle, you can love and care for your animals without showering them with excessive food to show it! Why don't you rechannel that care and love by keeping their enclosures super clean and or interacting with them more without a feeding being the sole reward? We are all trying to explain to you how important it is to phase out the overly large meals. Everyone is concerned about the health of the animals. If you really love and care for them then show it and give their jaws a break and let them get back to being the opportunistic creatures they are supposed to be. Stay in peace and not pieces. Good luck man. Its called comfort food and it leads to obesity!

**millertime89** · 06-29-15, 12:17 PM

I'm looking through who commented and what has been said, it seems like nobody that actually has a significant amount of experience with these animals has really chimed in. Kyle, that size is fine, but I would feed every 10-14 if you're going to feed that size. It's big, but not too big. It looks weird in the first picture because it's still in his throat and he hasn't finished swallowing.

bigsnakegirl785 · 06-29-15, 03:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by millertime89

I'm looking through who commented and what has been said, it seems like nobody that actually has a significant amount of experience with these animals has really chimed in. Kyle, that size is fine, but I would feed every 10-14 if you're going to feed that size. It's big, but not too big. It looks weird in the first picture because it's still in his throat and he hasn't finished swallowing.

Are you sure? It had been 2 days and bulge hadn't even dissipated, he showed a picture of it later on and it still looked like it was going to burst from the meal. Shouldn't he go a bit longer than every 10-14 days with it being that large? Or does that depend on when the bulge ended up going away?

I just don't see this being a good staple size, even when spaced out. Snakes digest smaller, more frequent meals easier overall. It would be less stress on the snake's digestion to feed it smaller meals every week or biweekly. I don't see it hurting anything having a meal this size every once in awhile, though.

Mikoh4792 · 06-29-15, 07:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by millertime89

I'm looking through who commented and what has been said, it seems like nobody that actually has a significant amount of experience with these animals has really chimed in. Kyle, that size is fine, but I would feed every 10-14 if you're going to feed that size. It's big, but not too big. It looks weird in the first picture because it's still in his throat and he hasn't finished swallowing.

It's already been expressed that this is less of an issue for the retic, but the boa and ball python? Feeding a jumbo to a ball, and feeding the boa until it is obviously overweight...these need to change if he cares about his animals.

**millertime89** · 06-29-15, 05:00 PM

I'm positive. It still shrunk which is good. If it hadn't shrunk at all then I would be concerned about another issue. If the meal is gone in 24 hours then the meal was too small. 10-14 days is fine for a meal of that size on a young snake. They're metabolisms are higher than an adult animal's so they'll digest it faster. I personally wouldn't have this be an "every meal" size myself, but if you space out the feedings a bit more it'll be fine.

RAD House · 06-29-15, 05:57 PM

Why not feed the snake more reasonable portions every week? There is no reason to push the animal to it's limits. He is causing the animal undue stress. Who knows if this behavior would cause the animal an early death, but why risk it?

He was overfeeding the snake no matter how you look at it. I don't think he would have taken your advice to feed less often just as he refused to take any advice in the rest of his silly threads. Through out all his posts the only thing I learned about is that he treats the animal as a toy and not a living being that needs to be respected.

Albert Clark · 06-29-15, 07:45 PM

You don't need experience with a animal to see that this prey item is insurmountably larger than what the animal should be eating at a sitting. Stevie Wonder could see that. Its unhealthy and unnecessary!

Mikoh4792 · 06-29-15, 08:09 PM

Sorry I left out that the ball was 2.5 feet.

Quote:

Originally Posted by mikoh4792

but the boa and ball python? Feeding a jumbo to a ball, and feeding

sirtalis · 06-29-15, 09:40 PM

Heck, the only experience I have with boas is that I held one, once.... but that food item looked massive, for both snakes.

**millertime89** · 06-30-15, 10:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MesoCorney

Why not feed the snake more reasonable portions every week? There is no reason to push the animal to it's limits. He is causing the animal undue stress. Who knows if this behavior would cause the animal an early death, but why risk it?

Who knows why? Sometimes that's all the person has available. There could be a dozen reasons why.

Quote:

Originally Posted by MesoCorney

He was overfeeding the snake no matter how you look at it. I don't think he would have taken your advice to feed less often just as he refused to take any advice in the rest of his silly threads. Through out all his posts the only thing I learned about is that he treats the animal as a toy and not a living being that needs to be respected.

No, he wasn't. He asked a question. Sure he said he gave a 2.5 ft ball python a jumbo, but that doesn't mean he's going to feed jumbos to a 4 ft retic weekly. He said in post 49 he would feed jumbos every other week, which is exactly what I recommended.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mikoh4792

It's already been expressed that this is less of an issue for the retic, but the boa and ball python? Feeding a jumbo to a ball, and feeding the boa until it is obviously overweight...these need to change if he cares about his animals.

I don't have a lot of experience with boas and balls which is why I only talked about the retic. Also, it's in the giants section. That said, It's hard to judge the size of the rabbit and the boa from that one picture. If it's a 10lb boa and a 2 lb rabbit then it's fine. Rabbits are shaped funny and the bodies kind of bunch up, but then stretch out and look really thin. I need to set some food out to thaw so if I remember I'll take two pictures to demonstrate.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Albert Clark

You don't need experience with a animal to see that this prey item is insurmountably larger than what the animal should be eating at a sitting. Stevie Wonder could see that. Its unhealthy and unnecessary!

No, it's not unhealthy for the retic. Unnecessary? Sure, but that doesn't make it harmful to the snake. If it was insurmountably larger then the animal wouldn't be able to eat it.

Insurmountable; adjective: too great to be overcome.

Quote:

Originally Posted by sirtalis

Heck, the only experience I have with boas is that I held one, once.... but that food item looked massive, for both snakes.

It was big, but that's not a reason not to feed it to the snake.

Quote:

Originally Posted by CosmicOwl

Both snakes look obese. You can see the fat deposits building up near the retics tail.

Just saw this post. That's not fat deposits, that's poop, the snake is going to leave a stinky brown and/or white present.

Mikoh4792 · 06-30-15, 10:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by millertime89

I don't have a lot of experience with boas and balls which is why I only talked about the retic. Also, it's in the giants section. That said, It's hard to judge the size of the rabbit and the boa from that one picture. If it's a 10lb boa and a 2 lb rabbit then it's fine. Rabbits are shaped funny and the bodies kind of bunch up, but then stretch out and look really thin. I need to set some food out to thaw so if I remember I'll take two pictures to demonstrate..

No need, I agree with you that the rabbit is not too big for the boa. I'm just stating that it is overweight.

**millertime89** · 06-30-15, 10:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mikoh4792

No need, I agree with you that the rabbit is not too big for the boa. I'm just stating that it is overweight.

It's not the best picture to really gauge the size of the animal IMO. But that's a discussion for the boa section

bigsnakegirl785 · 06-30-15, 04:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by millertime89

Who knows why? Sometimes that's all the person has available. There could be a dozen reasons why.

No, he wasn't. He asked a question. Sure he said he gave a 2.5 ft ball python a jumbo, but that doesn't mean he's going to feed jumbos to a 4 ft retic weekly. He said in post 49 he would feed jumbos every other week, which is exactly what I recommended.

I don't have a lot of experience with boas and balls which is why I only talked about the retic. Also, it's in the giants section. That said, It's hard to judge the size of the rabbit and the boa from that one picture. If it's a 10lb boa and a 2 lb rabbit then it's fine. Rabbits are shaped funny and the bodies kind of bunch up, but then stretch out and look really thin. I need to set some food out to thaw so if I remember I'll take two pictures to demonstrate.

No, it's not unhealthy for the retic. Unnecessary? Sure, but that doesn't make it harmful to the snake. If it was insurmountably larger then the animal wouldn't be able to eat it.

Insurmountable; adjective: too great to be overcome.

It was big, but that's not a reason not to feed it to the snake.

Just saw this post. That's not fat deposits, that's poop, the snake is going to leave a stinky brown and/or white present.

Actually, a 10 lb boa should be eating a rabbit that's 1 lb or smaller (1lb being the largest the snake could physically get down; 1/2lb being the size that would allow the snake to maintain a healthy body tone). A 10 lb boa is a 6' boa, which is the size my boa is. He's 8.5 lb and getting on average 4-6 oz rabbits, with 8 oz being the biggest. He also gets large rats, but a 2 lb rabbit is bigger than a jumbo rat. I honestly think his boa should be on large rats or 1/2 lb rabbits. He should also start lengthening his feedings. If his boa is really 35 lbs and 6', it's morbidly obese and needs to be on a diet now. I wouldn't go straight to a 4-6 weeks schedule, but starting it on every 3 weeks and then slowly working to 4-5 weeks would be best. It's so overweight you don't want it to go without food for too long or it could die. As it is, if the snake ever went on a feeding strike, the chances of fatty liver disease is extremely high, and the snake would probably die.

I also pointed out that the retic was probably going to poop as well. The retic honestly doesn't even look overweight to me. I'm just worried about him feeding that snake a jumbo rat all time, even if he only fed it every 2 weeks. I'd feed a rat that size every couple of feedings at most, because it is easier on their stomachs and easier to digest smaller meals. You'll get as good of growth off a 4' retic eating small or medium rats as you would one eating a jumbo rat.