Boa Feeding Recap

so I went through the first feed with my baby BCA this weekend and I guess I'm looking for a critique/thoughts of my actions

Background:
The breeder told me to feed two hopper mice and wait for him to poop before feeding again.
Temps are 78 cool side, 91 hot side
Previous to feeding he had a few different favorite spots to sit around, though if I touched him he would go to another spot as if hoping the new spot would be safer.

Anyway, fed two small hoppers Saturday afternoon.
First one he took sideways and refused to let it go to reorient. Took him about 30 minutes to get it down but it looks like it wasn't folded in half when he finally swallowed it.
Second mouse he took down backward after a perfect strike at the head. For some reason he let it go after coiling and then picked up the rear end.
sigh....Rio must be short for Riotard.

Anyway, he then stayed exactly where he had eaten on the cool side for the next 48 hours.
At that point (this morning) I got worried that he wasn't seeking out the warm side due to security issues, so I decided to move him to the warm side.
He reallly didn't want to move, but when I lifted his hiding spot (a fake plant) he had this huge bulge in his stomach still, so I became more worried that he wasn't warm enough to digest.
I then moved him as gently as possible to the warm side.
Now he seems extremely timid in the warm hide so now I'm worried that if he's too warm he won't move to fix it.

ok, are you sensing a theme of noobie paranoia and meddling?

Anyway, should he still have such a large bulge after 48 hours? Again, he's a BCA.
I am guessing that I should stop messing with him....
Also the breeder said 'don't handle him around day 5 because that's when they'll tend to cough up a hairball'
I'm guessing that maybe a bulge for 5 days is not unusual?
Should I leave him alone for 5 days after eating then?

sorry this was so long.

ooh...it looks like he's making his move away from the warm hide now.
I'm practicing my super stealth ninja peeking skills to observe. I need a web-cam so I can watch! He freezes if he sees anything :P

seems like perhaps he likes it cool and that's just that?

I haven't heard of BCA being that much different than other locale specifics. I have Hogs, Argentines, Colombians and Dumerils that all pretty much behave the same as each other. That said, I never tell any of my customers to feed a normal meal for the first meal. The boa is stressed from the move, the ship, the new setup, the new environment and etc etc. The last thing they need is a massive meal to digest during all that. I usually tell people to feed a smaller meal for the first meal and then wait a week to adjust the boa to their feeding preferences. I would monitor him very closely, but do not add anything to stress him out to already compounded stresses. I would also be ready for a regurge as a worst case scenario. If this happens, leave him alone and do not feed him for 2 weeks then feed him a small meal and wait another week to up the size, and so on and so on, until he's up to a normal size meal. I really don't know why anyone feeds a boa two rats and/or mice at a time. All you have to do is wait till they poo to feed them again and they will get the same nourishment with half the stress. That's just my opinion though, take it as it is.

What breeder did you get that snake from? They sound like a dolt. Waiting to feed after the snake defecates is going to starve the snake and stunt its growth. Also, snakes do not "cough up hairballs". Maybe the breeder was experiencing regurges in his collection? Just sounds very odd..

If he has that big of a bulge, then I would drop down to one hopper. Definitely don't want him regurgitating or the food rotting in his stomach.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by SatanicIntention

What breeder did you get that snake from? They sound like a dolt. Waiting to feed after the snake defecates is going to starve the snake and stunt its growth.

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I agree, but i disagree. If a boa is on a smaller meal, they will defecate before a week is up and be ready for another meal. When they are up to a year old or so is when their metabolism will start to slow down and they won't defecate after every meal unless they were on a very tight maintenance feed schedule, which is easy to figure out when you get a yearling still on mice.

actually, the breeder is very well respected.
I only stress that it's a BCA because they are known to have more sensitive stomachs than BCI.
The waiting for a poo is again BCA (and BCC) advice I got from several sources as well - they apparently can get impacted from too frequent feeding.

I value all the advice though - it's always good to question information ... I have no experience to fall back on.

The truth is, I fed extra large fuzzies (a little smaller than hoppers) just to be conservative. Still a much larger bulge than I have ever seen on my BP - perhaps it's more normal for a boa?

and yeah I think the hairball comment was meant to say if they are going to regurge they'll do it around day 5. he said that as they go from fuzzies to hoppers the extra hair takes some adjustment, and then going to weaned mice the extra hair again can be troublesome.

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Originally Posted by fishmommy

actually, the breeder is very well respected.

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Yes Barry Miller is.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by fishmommy

I only stress that it's a BCA because they are known to have more sensitive stomachs than BCI.

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Yes they do. Bcc and Bca and Hogs are all like this.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by fishmommy

The waiting for a poo is again BCA (and BCC) advice I got from several sources as well perhaps it's more normal for a boa?

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Very true.

Thanks Jimi....what about the bulge? normal for it to hang around for a few days?

also, I did wait over a full week after getting him before I attempted a feed.

I have experienced the lingering bulge with several of my BCAs. Not all of them, but some of them. I have noticed (and take this with a grain of salt, it's just my own observation) that they tend to bulge more when they're stressed out. I have one male South Brazilian BCA that eats the same size rat every week. He was full grown when we purchased him, he's on the small side, and if he's stressed out when he eats (he never refuses no matter WHAT is going on around him) he gets a crazy bulge for a few days, despite the fact that the rat is the same size he always eats. I'm not sure if it's gas or what.

Definitely wait for the poop before feeding again. Amarali are totally known for holding it in for whatever reason.

I've never had any of my BCAs regurge after 5 days, but we had one regurgitate on the 4th day after he was handled just to clean his cage. Needless to say, the BCAs get left pretty well alone after their meals now, lol.

thanks!
He's now actually over on the warm side again....I am going to leave him completly alone now until he's digested.
Hopefully he'll stay on the warm side and get the heat assist now that he's rediscovered it.

hopefully he'll forgive me :D

I am still gonna call him Rio-tard until he swallows a meal the right way :rolleyes: