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Re: Feeding juvi dekay's snake


[ Follow Ups ] [ Post Followup ] [ The Garter and Ribbon Snake Forum ]

Posted by chris_mcmartin on January 14, 2003 at 08:01:22:

In Reply to: Feeding juvi dekay's snake posted by LisaOKC on January 13, 2003 at 23:19:49:

OKC, huh? That's where I grew up.

:What I'm wondering is how often to feed him. In the past he's seemed content to have something every 2-3 days. Now he seems more active and will usually eat something whenever I offer it.
:Is it possible to overfeed this type of snake?

My rule of thumb is: If the width of the skin visible between the scales is wider than the scales themselves, you're overfeeding! :)

Hopefully, if it's a juvenile snake, the extra food will translate to a higher growth rate rather than an inclination towards obesity.

I weigh my snakes to watch for sudden weight gain/loss using a digital postal scale. I have a juvenile kingsnake and an adult garter. More so for the king, I also measure him frequently to monitor the growth rate. If the weight started increasing out of proportion to the growth rate, I might lay off the food somewhat. (Keeping in mind that "length" is appropriately enough a linear measurement while "weight" is proportional to "three dimensions" of the snake--i.e. its volume; therefore, the weight may seem to increase more rapidly than the length)

Understand that this is mostly my own personal "take" on the subject and others may disagree.

Chris



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