prey to big??

Hey everyone,

i'm a goof today. i fed my colombian rainbow boa a mouse that is a little larger than i usually feed. he came right out and made quick work of it, but he's having a tough time getting it down! will they attack, kill, and attempte to eat something to large? and can it kill him? I know, i should know better, but like i said, G-O-O-F.

Thanks,

Lucke

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Originally Posted by bassplayinfool

Hey everyone,

i'm a goof today. i fed my colombian rainbow boa a mouse that is a little larger than i usually feed. he came right out and made quick work of it, but he's having a tough time getting it down! will they attack, kill, and attempte to eat something to large? and can it kill him? I know, i should know better, but like i said, G-O-O-F.

Thanks,

Lucke

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Hey, sorry I missed this yesterday. How'd the meal go? If he got it down just give him an extra day or two to digest before moving him at all.

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Originally Posted by jim020cricket

Hey, sorry I missed this yesterday. How'd the meal go? If he got it down just give him an extra day or two to digest before moving him at all.

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I was actually asking myself the same question right now lol. Im watching my colombian rainbow boa eat his first meal since I got him and he's really taking his time on it but I heard that boas, aswell as pythons, can eat meals almost 6times the wideness of its head so i wouldn't worry about it. Take the advise that you got earlier and dont touch him for a fiew days:P...

p.s someone corect me if im wrong about the wideness thing ;)

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Originally Posted by jeff91

I was actually asking myself the same question right now lol. Im watching my colombian rainbow boa eat his first meal since I got him and he's really taking his time on it but I heard that boas, aswell as pythons, can eat meals almost 6times the wideness of its head so i wouldn't worry about it. Take the advise that you got earlier and dont touch him for a fiew days:P...

p.s someone corect me if im wrong about the wideness thing ;)

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I'm sure it's possible, but probably dangerous. :[

Keeping the same rule of thumb with the mouse being the same width as the largest point on the snake is a good idea.

I am not an expert by any means, this is just a summary of the information I was able to gather from searching the web in reference to your question. If any of this info is incorrect please say so, I don't want to pass on ANY wrong advise :) Hope this helps.

As The rule of thumb is that you can feed prey items that are no wider than the widest part of the snake's body. While Boas will often gladly eat prey that is actually too large for it, they will generally regurgitate the prey item one or more days later. With all snakes, keep the handling of a Boa after eating to the absolute minimum for 24 hours,48 hours is a safer choice. Apart from the possibility of regurgitation, rough handling after a large meal can damage the snakes digestive tract and may prove fatal. If your Boa regurgitates it's meal, DO NOT feed again for at least 2 weeks(12-15 full days) after regurgitation. This is critical recovery time the boa needs to "rebuild" the fluids back up in the stomach.

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Originally Posted by norcal_707

I am not an expert by any means, this is just a summary of the information I was able to gather from searching the web in reference to your question. If any of this info is incorrect please say so, I don't want to pass on ANY wrong advise :) Hope this helps.

As The rule of thumb is that you can feed prey items that are no wider than the widest part of the snake's body. While Boas will often gladly eat prey that is actually too large for it, they will generally regurgitate the prey item one or more days later. With all snakes, keep the handling of a Boa after eating to the absolute minimum for 24 hours,48 hours is a safer choice. Apart from the possibility of regurgitation, rough handling after a large meal can damage the snakes digestive tract and may prove fatal. If your Boa regurgitates it's meal, DO NOT feed again for at least 2 weeks(12-15 full days) after regurgitation. This is critical recovery time the boa needs to "rebuild" the fluids back up in the stomach.

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I dont know how big your BRB is but if you got it from petco I'm sure its big enough to eat the mice they sell. Because I got mine from petco and I feed it two adult mice a week from there and he got them down each within a minute.

I'll be feeding him again on saturday I do a five day schedule. And usually petco buys their snakes (from the look of their ball pythons) all around the same size so i dont think they buy them until they get to a good size that would look attractive to customers.

The way im going to do it is with mice is once it sheds three times in my care im going to move it up hopper rats. then 3 - 5 sheds after that it should be ready for small adult rats...and so on...

Does anyone think this is an ok way to do it? does any one see future flaws in my plans?

Oh yea and give or take a few sheds these are just estimates around the shedding not exactly saying it will be ready for adult rats after 5 sheds.