Re: Strange eating pattern

"Dr. Barbara Horwitz" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message
news:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> I have three CaliKing six month olds that I got from the same person,
> who fed live one week and f/t the next,  in rotation.
>
> I feed only f/t.
>
> These three snakes without fail eat....every other week.    They look
> and are healthy.
>
> Will this stunt their growth and do you think this is 'okay' for them
> developmentally and nutritionally?   It's just an academic question I'm
> very curious about as this is their regimen whether I like it or not.
>

Miss Horwitz,

Your question, and my response, assumes that they are young (eating pinkies
or fuzzies).

Young or adolescent snakes typically eat every 5 to 7 days, one rodent the
size of their girth. Only large boids eating large prey
go 14 days between meals.

If you have three, you could experiment with only thawing 1 and offering it
to all three (1st one refuses, offer to second, etc.)

If all three refuse the meal at a 7th day interval, you may need to look at
temps. Additionally, I am a avid believer in ONLY belly heat for snakes
(meaning the only heat source is an undertank heat mat). This give your
snake a nice area to digest each meal, poop it out, and be ready for the
next one. Overhead heat lamps (or light sources) are somewhat difficult to
produce a optimum heat situation for snakes (although they are great for
critters such as lizards).

However, undertank heat mats are typically TOO HOT as purchased from the
store. I've found that most of them, when checked with a temp gage, run
around 100 degrees from the factory (you want 83 to 85 degrees). All of my
heat mats have these nifty dimmer switches installed that you can buy from
Home Depot or Lowes, where you cut the cord (not plugged in of course) and
insert the cord into each end of the dimmer switch and press down with their
already installed wire crimps. You now have a way of regulating the voltage
and temperature.

Link below for this item, #162660

http://www.homedepot.com/prel80/HDUS/EN_US/diy_main/pg_diy.jsp?CNTTYPE=PROD_META&CNTKEY=misc%2fsearchResults.jsp&BV_SessionID=@@@@2003327178.1070504394@@@@&BV_EngineID=ccchadckdhlmmjfcgelceffdfgidgnj.0&MID=9876



Spit