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"Powerfeeding"

Phaedra

Phaedra

Witty phrase
What's considered power feeding? I told a friend of mine who breeds herps that I was planning to feed Elektra every 4 days (this was when I first got her) and she said that I should reduce it to 5 days and mentioned that overfeeding a snake to get it to grow is considered powerfeeding and reduces their longevity.

I still think she's a titch and she doesn't appear to have grown at all in the month I've had her, although she's just come out of the blue and ready to shed, so I suppose she has grown a little.

I suppose I'm just asking if every five days is the maximum you should feed a snake? She always takes her pinkies readily and has never refused one, even the one I gave four days after she moved in.
 
Theres alot of different opinions on this. 4 days isn't really power-feeding. I feed my hatchlings every 4 days on pinks, and every 5 on fuzzies, every 7 on anything multiple, or bigger.
 
Power feeding is a bit of a hot potato. If you useit as a search term you'll find some quite heated discussions on here
http://www.cornsnakes.com/forums/showthread.php?t=23293&highlight=power+feeding
Is a link to some opinions on how often to feed.
My personal interpretation would be to feed a snake on pinks every 4-5 days, and increase the interval as the size of food increases. The seriously underweight hatchling I'm fostering and syringing is on a 3-4 day schedule of very small meals for now, but that is only temporary as she has lost a lot of bodymass due to her problems
 
It takes about 3 days for a snake to fully digest a meal and then poop it out. Powerfeeding is feeding your snake on that third day once you see that they've completely digested their last meal.

This is how Don describes it in his book, "Cornsnakes in Captivity".

Every four days might be power feeding as well, I'm more inclined to call it aggressive feeding. I suppose those two terms could be synonymous though.
 
Definitely no clear answer then. I think I might feed her then wait four days, then wait five days, then wait four days, then five etc. Then I'm giving her a rest from digestion every other feeding and getting her to grow a bit. If anyone thinks that's a terrible idea, do let me know. :)
 
4 or 5 days definately gets hatchlings off to a nice start I M O. When it's time to go up a size, I've had more success with giving successively bigger pinks-peach fuzzies-fuzzies rather than trying 2 pinks.
 
Phaedra, do you have a scale to weigh her? To me, Inez never seems to grow- she still seems like a little Devil Worm, but actually she's gone from 12 grams in November to I think 16 now, so that is like 33%!! I just can't _see_ the difference.

Nanci
 
GiantBlueberry said:
I'm more inclined to call it aggressive feeding. I suppose those two terms could be synonymous though.
Click to expand...

I agree with Jessica, as to 4-day feedings being termed more as [possibly]aggressive feeding and not powerfeeding. However, I don't think power feeding and aggressive are synonymous, but it seems like a lot of folks use them interchangeably.

I term powerfeeding as when someone feeds their snake a prey item, and just as the snake has the last part of the prey in its mouth, the person feeding it, pushes another prey item to follow immediately.-->I recommend strongly against this practice.

I don't see anything wrong with feeding every 4-5 days. Just remember, each snake is going to have a somewhat varying metabolic/digestion rate, which depends both on the snake's genes and the environment--so it really depends on the individual snake--some snakes need 7 days to digest.
 
hi right well i have read threads on here that state that if the snake is not full, or if it doesnt have a lump in its tummy after 24hours then the food isnt big enough for him.... does this mean that it is ok for you to feed him again after 24 hours if the lump has gone? or again is this classed as power feeding.

i did that the other day and he greedily gobbled it down faster then any of the pinkies i have fed him before... i thnk he might really have been hungry but he seems absolutely fine now and hasnt regurged or anything.
 
dragar said:
hi right well i have read threads on here that state that if the snake is not full, or if it doesnt have a lump in its tummy after 24hours then the food isnt big enough for him.... does this mean that it is ok for you to feed him again after 24 hours if the lump has gone? or again is this classed as power feeding.

i did that the other day and he greedily gobbled it down faster then any of the pinkies i have fed him before... i thnk he might really have been hungry but he seems absolutely fine now and hasnt regurged or anything.
Click to expand...

Most people would suggest increasing the size of the prey item rather than the frequency with which you feed. Next time, offer two pinkies at once, then wait 4-5 days for the next feeding. Once two pinkies aren't enough, move up to hoppers.
 
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