Never Underestimate A Boa!!

[paulds]

Originally Posted by 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

I agree, in my opinion a regular feeding schedule encourages not only set feeding behaviour in a snake, making not only handling awkward but food dependancy

Originally Posted by 118-118

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.

She certainly doesn't look fat but as I say a snake, as will a human, stock pile fat around vital organs, which in the long run will affect vital blood flow to these area's. I'm assuming the expert you refer to is the same person you brought the snake from? If not I appologise but you need to realise you are dealing with a big and largely immobile boid who has no real output for the energy gained by such a regime. I would personally reconsider the feeding regime and I would guess you would notice no difference in the snakes behaviour if you started feeding once a month.

A percentage of big snake breeders will advocate power feeding as a way of instilling complancency in an aggressive feeder but make no mistake your regime would be consididered power feeding

Originally Posted by 118-118

best I can get

image

image

Looks brilliant but as above

[paulds]

Originally Posted by 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.

This just illustrated the point that each snake has individual requirements.

I have adult boa's that want feeding twice monthly as they spend a lot of their time active, where as other Boa's do nothing other than thermoregulate and don't need feeding more than every 4-6 weeks.

To me the fun of keeping reptiles is learning to recognise their needs and care for them as such. To hell with what the text books say

[118-118]

Welll the behavior doesnt concern me as she no longer strike feeds. I always slate powerfeeding byt always though you had to force feed to power feed. The feeding info came from another forum specialising in big snakes so assumed what i was advised was correct,

so do you think a large rat fortnightly is best?

[Freeman]

Originally Posted by 118-118

Welll the behavior doesnt concern me as she no longer strike feeds. I always slate powerfeeding byt always though you had to force feed to power feed. The feeding info came from another forum specialising in big snakes so assumed what i was advised was correct,

so do you think a large rat fortnightly is best?

Im going to sound like a tit here but feed it when you can be arsed. Your snake isnt going to dislike you anymore than it already does for not feeding it for a few extra days or whatever. Ive had boas a long time and to be honest even babies get 3 weekly or more feeds. I think as long as the snake looks healthy and is in good shape, feed it twice one month for a change and dont feed it for an 8 week gap. There are no rules. Obviously only feeding it once every 3 months is going to end up with you getting chomped up as the snake will want to eat everything including you. Just be sensible and dont worry and you will be fine.

[118-118]

Awesome, thanks for the advice like i said temprement isnt an issue its health, he mare it sound like it needed feeding that often or it would not have the nutrients to grow or sexually mature. With my adults they get fed fortnightly or whenever (my male boa feeds roughly 6-8 times a year, always two jumbo rats n hes really active longest fast has been 27 weeks. My female doesnt move n feeds every time its offered (2/3 weeks). lol.

My AF was my first baby snake so was really unsure. Im glad this has been highlighted as my next snake will be a baby tiger retic (unless im offered another rescue or a FWC) so this mistake wont happen again.

like i said advice is always welcome, some people judge too soon tho n it ends up as an argument and nothing is learnt and the animals suffer for it.
thanx Freeman

[April Taylor]

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!!

Sounds like me with the male corn, am like "Argh how hard is it to find the head!!!!!"

[sender]

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!!

that bit sounds just like both my boas, they just dont seem to understand what to do after they've killed it which can be funny and annoying

Originally Posted by babymarley

Lol when they eat, your supost to feed them abit bigger than there girth, so u can see a lump. I have a male pastle ball python about a foot long and hes on jumbo mice. And he eat that with in 10 mins.
Also if it takes your snake more than 20 mins then its to big and he/she is struggling. Hope this helps.

right well if thats true then me feeding both my 6 foot boas extra large rats is very wrong!!!

look mate not being nasty but it can take both my BCI 45 mins to an hour to eat thier rats and thats purely cause they arse around finding the head or trying to eat it tail first, where my largest royal is taking large rats in under five minutes.

i have never heard anyone say that a snakes food size should be judged on how long it takes them to eat it, and if i followed that rule my lot would be seriously under weight.

im actually considering increases my females food size as an extra large rat is not even showing after feeding.

[Gileadites]

We don't feed our snakes to any regular schedule, all the snakes are in the study which is where I work from most of the time or when i really don't want to go into the office so I get to see them almost every day for most of the day and often times into the evening.

I know some are more active and others well not so much, hence the feeding the way we do. Our Royals all eat rats varying from wiener up to large, the Corns eat mice with the exception of The Stig and he is on small rats and again their food is varied in size depending on the age and size of the snake concerned, finally the BRB is on large rats.

Feeding is based on my noting how much time they spend out and about during the day and night, the more active they become the more likely it is they will get fed but we don't feed them if it has been less than 7 days since they last ate. (Though it is more often we feed every 10-14days)

I really don't understand why people feel the need to feed their pets more often and even worse start to get worried and fretting if the thing refuses a feed 3 or 4 days after it last fed. Though of course I don't claim to be an expert so maybe we have got it wrong.

Finally, with regards to eating in less than X time........actually I really can't be arsed it's all been said already.

[paulds]

Originally Posted by April Taylor

Sounds like me with the male corn, am like "Argh how hard is it to find the head!!!!!"

Originally Posted by sender

that bit sounds just like both my boas, they just dont seem to understand what to do after they've killed it which can be funny and annoying



.

It took him 20 minutes last night to find the head, then a further 10 to work out which way he needed to be moving to get it in.

Frustrating as hell but was still an impressive feed.

Originally Posted by Gileadites

We don't feed our snakes to any regular schedule, all the snakes are in the study which is where I work from most of the time or when i really don't want to go into the office so I get to see them almost every day for most of the day and often times into the evening.

I know some are more active and others well not so much, hence the feeding the way we do. Our Royals all eat rats varying from wiener up to large, the Corns eat mice with the exception of The Stig and he is on small rats and again their food is varied in size depending on the age and size of the snake concerned, finally the BRB is on large rats.

Feeding is based on my noting how much time they spend out and about during the day and night, the more active they become the more likely it is they will get fed but we don't feed them if it has been less than 7 days since they last ate. (Though it is more often we feed every 10-14days)

I really don't understand why people feel the need to feed their pets more often and even worse start to get worried and fretting if the thing refuses a feed 3 or 4 days after it last fed. Though of course I don't claim to be an expert so maybe we have got it wrong.

Finally, with regards to eating in less than X time........actually I really can't be arsed it's all been said already.

Totally agree mate, I wouldn't want to be told, "it's 1 o'clock get eating" everyday

[PrimalUrges]

My 5ft+ boa smashed back a jumbo rat last night, and my retics get items 2x their girth regularly, 1.5x goes out the window with the species I keep, apart from maybe my King...

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'm not going to repeat what everyone has said, I agree with Bothrops and PaulDS and also Freeman... Although I would suggest more regular feedings for a juvenile - every 5-14 days would be a good schedule to keep to, just make sure the snake has taken a crap and its digestive system has had a couple of days (or more) to rest, trust me, if my retics could eat every day, they would, they are programmed to eat as much as possible in case a time comes where they will need reserves (droughts etc) - this scenario doesn't happen in captivity and so it is much more of a balancing act between keeping the snake satisfied and also healthy.

My Juvenile Retics get a large meal every 7-14 days, sub adults every 2-3 weeks and adults 3-6 weeks, but this is a very rough guideline, I like to mix it up, giving different sized prey (and different species of prey) at varying intervals...

Nice looking AfRock though mate!