Never Underestimate A Boa!!

[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!!

[Stu.G]

How long is he mate? I often feel sorry for the poor wild boas who have to live in the wild and eat what comes along even if it is more than 1.5 times the girth of snake.Its a wonder they survive!

[kniterider]

my mid 09 is a couple of inches short of 4foot and will hppily nock back a small rat now large weaners barely show...thats all she's having tho till im a bit lower as the freezer is bursting atm lol got any pics?

[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.

[paulds]

Originally Posted by Stu.G

How long is he mate? I often feel sorry for the poor wild boas who have to live in the wild and eat what comes along even if it is more than 1.5 times the girth of snake.Its a wonder they survive!

Totally, stupid bloody things have they never read a care sheet?

Originally Posted by kniterider

my mid 09 is a couple of inches short of 4foot and will hppily nock back a small rat now large weaners barely show...thats all she's having tho till im a bit lower as the freezer is bursting atm lol got any pics?

This dude was a December baby and at a guess just over 3 ft. This has certainly made him look fatter but he won't be pigging out again until I havea nice smelly viv and an overactive snake to deal with

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.

No offence intended here but don't believe the hype That is standard care sheet patter and seeing as you own a Royal, giving it less than 20 minutes to eat will no doubtedly see your Royal never eating again.

For a snake to struggle eating is perfectly natural, if the cant cope they will spit it out. Snakes are greedy, greedy things but they aren't stupid. Lets face it snakes like most students have noting else to think about then Eat, Sleep and Breed, you would think they would be quite good at it by now

[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.

[sidecarlee66]

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

[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

[bothrops]

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.

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

[kniterider]

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