Do Boas (BCC/BCI) need to be fed rabbits?

[TheKingInYellow]

I have no trouble feeding rats/mice but I have pet rabbits and I think that would be a line I don't want to cross.

Can an adult BCI/BCC subsist happily and healthily on, say, 2 jumbo rats a week as opposed to a small rabbit?

On a side note, I'm already considering a third snake. I think I might have *the bug*.

[TheKingInYellow]

Hmm... Maybe I should be reading the FAQ where this question is answered

Let me ask this then. Assuming an 8'-10' BCI female, is it a 2 jumbo rat per meal type thing, or more like a 4-to-6 jumbo rats per meal type thing?

[mooingtricycle]

Boas dont need to be fed weekly. But Guinea Pigs would work, as do large rats.

[ADEE]

there is no way in h*%% Jaxson would ever eat a rabbit.. nope, no way. For now hes still feesting on mice, but then again hes a small BCI. I too draw the line on rabbits but then again.. if you get a giant snake you know what your going to have to eventually feed.. sadly its the truth of food chain, i think guinea pigs would get expensive no?..even then i couldnt feed one!

[frankykeno]

Well a picture's worth a thousand words....



This is Tequila. She eats the largest rats we can find, either one or two of them each feeding. She generally eats between 2 and 4 times per month depending on her interest (if she wants to eat, she eats, if she doesn't....well you try to make a snake that big eat anything LOL). She's a 16 year old, female BCI, about 8.5 feet in length, no idea of her current weight.

One thing to note though, since I have fed adult BCI's on rabbits before. Those rabbits are not ever bred or meant as pet rabbits. They are actually meat breed rabbits, just like we have different breeds of chickens meant for egg or meat production. Meat breed rabbits have a higher meat to bone ratio and are produced usually for human consumption but make excellent larger snake food. You can purchase them frozen/thawed or if you are lucky as I was back then, you can buy them locally from a meat rabbit producer (one lived less than 5 miles from my home).

Just remember these are not fluffy pet rabbits. They are bred and produced for food just like cattle, pigs, chickens, etc. I'm not trying to convince anyone to feed rabbits to their snakes, just laying out the facts of it.

[cassandra]

I lub me some Tequila!

[TheKingInYellow]

I completely understand the meat/pet rabbit distinction, but I still can't envision purchasing them (even F/T) as food. For some reason I have no trouble with mice or rats, but there is just this mental hurdle there.

Having said that, I will never own an animal I can't care for properly. If it can't thrive in my care, I won't have one. I'm an animal lover (to the point of vegetarianism) and my pets are very dear to me.

(Yes, I am a vegetarian snake owner who feeds mice and rats. Wierd, huh?)

[TheKingInYellow]

Oh, and tequila pretty much rocks.

[starmom]

You don't need to feed a bci rabbits. Jumbo rats will do the trick for the entire life

[frankykeno]

I completely understand the meat/pet rabbit distinction, but I still can't envision purchasing them (even F/T) as food. For some reason I have no trouble with mice or rats, but there is just this mental hurdle there.

Having said that, I will never own an animal I can't care for properly. If it can't thrive in my care, I won't have one. I'm an animal lover (to the point of vegetarianism) and my pets are very dear to me.

(Yes, I am a vegetarian snake owner who feeds mice and rats. Wierd, huh?)

Heck I'm a person who loves rats and thinks they make excellent companion pets, yet I just as happily breed them, raise them and feed them to snakes. It's all about what the animal was meant for I guess, at least in my way of seeing it (pretty much same with the rabbits).

Tequila's been raised on rats her whole life and obviously you can see she's done just fine with that sort of feeding. In the end really it's all about total prey volume and the quality of that prey. Enough rats easily equals the volume of one rabbit. Also it depends on the quality of that prey item. One scraggly, skinny rabbit would never equal two big, well fleshed rats so quality is a huge concern I think no matter what prey type you pick.

Remember too that male BCI's rarely reach the size of the bigger females so do very, very well on a purely rat diet their whole life. Our male BCI, Severus, is much smaller than Tequila and is extremely healthy and fit on his rat diet.

Oh, and tequila pretty much rocks.

Thanks! We just adopted her not long ago from another BPNet member (Jamie Glass) and we're in love with this big girl. She's so incredibly laid back and just a really big love of a snake. You can't be stupid and ever forget how much power she has in that big body of hers but all in all, her temperment is that of the very typical good natured, hard to stress out boa.