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feeding: how often is too often

T

tmountain35

New member
I reread the cornsnake manual on feeding (pg 21) and it's talking about how baby snakes can eat 2-3x per week. I recall reading a few posts on this site where if you overfeed a baby snake "bad things can happen in the future." What are these bad things? Also what is overfeeding? I know that last question sounds a bit obvious, but i assumed if a snake was overfed it would regurge, if not, the meal would be reasonable. Overfeeding an adult snake seems very possible, but i dont recall the manual bringing this issue up in hatchlings.......


Say I feed one pinkie on day 1
Baby snake defecates on day 3 (48 hours later)
Is there any reason not to feed on day 3? (intuition is telling me yes)
Is there any reason not to feed on day 4?

Thanks,
travis
 
I don't know if I can really answer your questions. I've not had enough experience with hatchlings to confidently give you a knowledgeable answer. I will tell you this...I feed my hatchlings approximately every 4 days and have never had any apparent problems.

As my hatchlings get closer to eating fuzzies, I start spreading the feeding apart. By the time they are actually on fuzzies, they are being fed at 1 week intervals.
 
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Great advise, CornCrazy.

Every corn grows and eats differently. You get to see this first hand with a large collection. Trial and error is unfornunately a necessary evil. IMO, the demonization of overfeeding comes from power feeding vesus natural growth diets.
 
ok, power feeding

Power feeding? Feeding as much and as often as possible? Is that the definition?

Also, what are the negatives of power feeding? Short term, long term problems

Just curious. Also surprised there hasn't been more responses.

thanks!
 
You have the general idea. Besides genetics, diet is a main contributor to growth. Some collectors choose to grow their snakes as quickly as possible in order to achieve sexual maturity.

As far as I know, there are many discussions on the pros and cons of this practice. However, much of the argument is based on assumption and not hard, scientific facts.
 
Personally, I don't see any problem with feeding most young (under 36"}cornsnakes every 3-4 days as long as the food item is not overly large and they don't regurge. Some snakes simply won't eat that often, but many will. Once they become adult size, then the feeding interval should be lengthened so they don't become obese.
Mark
 
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