Never Underestimate A Boa!!

[118-118]

Im only offering her food when she is activly looking, if she doesnt take it i bin it i dont shove it in her, last feed was tuesday last week n she just started showing furst signs of shedding so gonna be another week before she feeds again. She took the weaners 3 days appart 3 times in a row which followed a 23 day fast with a shed in between n she was put onto larger food. shes not overweight at all n will be going to fortnightly feeds once shes a year old in about 6 weeks time. I wouldnt call it powerfeeding like americans sticking a 2nd rat down their throat when their swallowing another rat.

[paulds]

Originally Posted by 118-118

I agree my african rock has been on large rats since she hit 4 foot. She was on weaners n taking 2 a time every 3 days in the end. I picked up some small rats but not paying attention defrosted the wrong rat as i got 5 large out instead of 4 n a small. By the time i realised the rat had gone and despite being over twice the width hardly showed at all. Shes been taking roughly 3 a fortnight, just reeding her when shes looking for food n shes now almost 5 foot n its only been about 8 weeks maybe less.

I would say that is possibly too intense, just because a snake can be feed that much doesn't mean it should. Just look at all the fat kids there are around these days. Although they can eat a 12 piece bucket doesn't mean it's good for them

Originally Posted by sidecarlee66

Ooooo some1 should tell my burms that.... My hypos have been eating rabbits since they were 4ft

Exactly, care sheets are a starting point but true observation of your animal is the key to feeding. ( I still really want that Boa )

Originally Posted by kniterider

my burm took over an hour with a chick as it took it the wrong way did her no harm lol

i give mine 2 large weaners (as im trying to get rid of them) once every 3-4 weeks as she keeps a bit of bulge on her for a while but is growing steadily. my burm has put on over 3/4 foot nearly since march lol

i remember defrosting a rat for my burm and then realising id got a rather large one compared to what i wanted, she looked fit to burst and didnt move for 4 weeks. if the snake can eat the meal im ahppy, i then judge how long till the next meal on how the snake looks and acts but my boa is usually spread out at least 3 weeks a feed even tho she is about a year old

I have a general rule that when a Boa starts on rats feeds become no more regular than bi weekly, if it genuinely acts hungry I will feed but if it doesn't show signs of being hungry it will wait longer, nothing is set in stone

Originally Posted by bothrops

There is a difference between feeding a large prey item occasionally and then leaving a little longer between feeds than power feeding.

I would think that 2 weaners every three days is far too much food for your snake, to then change it to three large rats a fortnight is again too much IMO. But then again I prefer to grow my snakes on slowly ensuring that their internal organs grow at the same rate and I end up with healthy, fair sized adults rather than grossly overweight, powerfed slugs with drastically shortened lifespans

Cheers

Andy

I

Andy, it is impossible to disagree with this. Snakes are pre programmed to feast incase times of famine occur, to constantly over feed is a recipe for disaster. Whereas people realise they are unhealthy when they can't do up their belt a snake would still continue to feed until it's liver resembles a block of Kerry Gold

Originally Posted by kniterider

it is rather an intense feeding regime to be fair...

As above

[helraiizza]

Originally Posted by babymarley

Also if it takes your snake more than 20 mins then its to big and he/she is struggling. Hope this helps.

i would have disagree, it takes about 20 to 30 mins for my largest female boa to take a large/xl rabbit... sometimes a bit longer..(fed every 5-7 weeks)
but she is around 9ft...
its either that or i give her 3-4 l/xl rats which is more expensive and even more time consuming..
i dont think time is an issues and on occasions size also.. i misjudged a meal size for our female royal, she was on large weaners at the time, and i i gave her a medium rat.. she still ate it with relative ease.

[paulds]

Originally Posted by 118-118

Im only offering her food when she is activly looking, if she doesnt take it i bin it i dont shove it in her, last feed was tuesday last week n she just started showing furst signs of shedding so gonna be another week before she feeds again. She took the weaners 3 days appart 3 times in a row which followed a 23 day fast with a shed in between n she was put onto larger food. shes not overweight at all n will be going to fortnightly feeds once shes a year old in about 6 weeks time. I wouldnt call it powerfeeding like americans sticking a 2nd rat down their throat when their swallowing another rat.

Only thing is bud, a second feed three days apart is giving your snake far too short a time to digest the food. The amount of fat it gains from the meal will be no where near used up by the time you offer again, which will inevitably mean the energy is stored as fat. Although your snake may look nice and bulky, it's Liver and other internal organs will be fast becoming dumping grounds for fat, as this is where their body will horde fat cells in order to protect vital organs when food is scarce

[My Serpentine Mind]

Originally Posted by paulds

I made the decision today to up the feed for my 09 BCI.

He has been on jumbo mice for around 2 months now and at 8 monthsa old was still growing well on them.

Today I thought, I would give him a chance at his first Rat, it was a reasonably sized weaner but looking at it compared to him thought he would have trouble.

He has been 10 days without food so I knew he was hungry but I was shocked at how quickly he smashed the rat from the tongs, I barely got it in the viv!!

After the usual frustration of " thats it mate lock on there...no where you going?.. yeah thats it.....oh ffs!" He finally found the business end, I was initially concerned that the front legs were gonna be a bridge too far but he handled them with relative ease and the rest was childs play.

I personally hold 2 fingers up to the 1.5 the thickest part rule and am now firmly committed to letting the snake do the talking.

I'm off to feed a rabbit to a trinket, crack on!!

The arms are no biggie, I just chop them off for Muscles (No I'm not kidding!)

[paulds]

Originally Posted by My Serpentine Mind

The arms are no biggie, I just chop them off for Muscles (No I'm not kidding!)

That is simply because you American's are crazy. When I was training I saw a couple of your guys sizing up my guns like they were about to become a snack for the roid hungry

[kniterider]

just realised on my post that paulds quoted i said i gave my burm a bigger meal than i meant to, i actually meant my boa. but same still applies lol

maximum i feed any snake is7 days apart depending what it is. my boa as i said 3-4 weeks sometimes longer but last feed i gave her 7days apart and now a month off. just jogs it up a bit and she got rid of the bulge quicker so its obv helping/effecting her metabolism

[118-118]

Originally Posted by paulds

Only thing is bud, a second feed three days apart is giving your snake far too short a time to digest the food. The amount of fat it gains from the meal will be no where near used up by the time you offer again, which will inevitably mean the energy is stored as fat. Although your snake may look nice and bulky, it's Liver and other internal organs will be fast becoming dumping grounds for fat, as this is where their body will horde fat cells in order to protect vital organs when food is scarce

Yeah thats cool mate. Im very aware of her turning chunky and she isnt at all. She was fed weekly when i got her.but was really aggresiv n a rock breeder advised me that in the first year they grow so fast they need feeding more often. She wont feed atleast a week before n after a shed n so iv been making sure she has what she needs as per 'expert' advice given. Iv slated powerfeeders plenty of times n im not going for a big snake here, if i was i would have gettin a annie or a retic. Im hoping for her to fall below 12ft but no problem if she gets bigger. I was just.under the impression that as long as she doesnt look chunky feeding schedule is fine.


Will put pics up n you can let me know if your opinion of her is diffferent. It cool to give advice but jumping on someone with accusations isnt.

[118-118]

best I can get

[Freeman]

Ive always started snakes off on large rat weaners even from birth. This accounts for boas, anacondas, burms and retics. None have had a problem. The only people with a problem in feeding large prey to little snakes is the owners generally. This is due to lots of misinformation about size/girth ratios etc and is usually bull to be honest.

Feeding large items less often is a much healthier way to feed snakes generally. Feeding small animals often can lead to digestive problems with snakes as their digestive systems were never designed in a way to operate on an almost continual basis. If it takes a few days to rid a bulge, and you are feeding every 5 - 7 days as some do, then your snakes digestive transit isnt behaving like a snakes should and is in constant process.

Even baby retics ive had in my care, which are the quickest growing of all snakes from where im stood, were fed conservatively even in the explosively growing early days. I have one that is growing massively quick by comparison to another I have, on, until recently the exact same feeding regime. Ive had to up the food intake on the big female baby as she is growing quicker than Im feeding her so im in the position of needing to keep up with her at the moment.