How big do redtails get in captivity?

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Originally Posted by alysalouise

I dont know whats a propper feeding for a redtail

I cant find mice that are the size of her head (i was informed to feed her mice about the size of her head, but her head is tiny)

So she gets what ever sized mouse i can get, but were switching her over to Gerbils soon, Im getting a whole population going for me and the shelter i help out at cause they have tons of snakes in and they need a better food supply, their trying to get the gerbils they just got in to breed but nothing so far from what i know

They have these 2 really cool snakes i want, but you have to always have pinkies on hand for them for the rest of their life

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Proper feeding for a redtail depends on the size of the snake. Usually adults will be cut back on the freqency of feeding sessions to not overfeed it and make it obese. I hear ~2 weeks feeding for adults over ~1 week for babies/juvies is the norm, though it depends on the size of feeder as well.

Never heard the head thing, go by the widest part of her body or by the 10-15%rule if you have a digital scale. How much does your BP weigh?

I'd say away from gerbils personally, look into breeding rats if anything.

What are the snakes you want?

and from your other post - BPs can become obese (adults, I've never heard of an obese hatchling/juvie). A clue to a obese BP is to look at the scales: if you can see spaces in between them when the snake isn't curved/coiled (ie laying straight) then it could be overweight.

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Originally Posted by Kinra

I don't know about feeding based on the size of the head, I go by girth. I feed my boas a meal that is almost as girthy as they are once a week. When they reach 4ft I will be switching to feeding them once every 2 weeks. This is the feeding advice I got from the breeder of my first boa and it's been working for me so far.

What snakes are you interested in that need to be fed pinkies for life? I don't know any that stay that small, even my little adult male kenyan sand boa takes hopper mice.

I also wouldn't recommend gerbils. Those are an expensive diet, you will probably be better off with rats. I know BPs tend to stick with one type of food and I believe boas are much more flexiable but rats are much cheaper than gerbils.

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I just sent a text asking them what type of snake they are
their expensive snakes, and it was complete luck they got them in
The guy who breeds and sell these snakes sells a pair for $500 i do believe

But as far as gerbils go, i breeding my own food, and im not going to start feeding her gerbils until i have a good amount and more females producing babies
plus she is still small enough to be eating mice right now anyway lol
Shes only 2 and a half feet long right now

^ $500/pair for snakes that will only be on pinkie mice their entire lives? Now I'm very curious as to what species of snake these are!

their called Nuclear sand boas

Ah, it's a kenyan sand boa morph! The adults won't always need pinkies, but they will only eat young mice throughout their lives pretty much, some females get big enough to eat adult mice. But they stay pretty small. Awesome snakes though! I personally like normals just as much as most of the morphs, though anery is sweet as well :)

How can they eat regular sized mice? their tiny! Lol, so cool though they have like a nutes head

They are babies right now! When they grow up they get bigger.. Some adult kenyan sand boa females get a nice size--well, for a kenyan sand boa. They won't be on pinkies forever though!

How much bigger will they get?
I want them so bad, but my boyfriend thinks that between My kitten, His puppy, and our snake (and all they gerbils, and all 11 soon to be 12 it looks like, bettas) Will be plenty lol
He wouldnt be happy if i bought those 2

But they dont need a huge tank lol, and just need sand for them to dig under

Lol
I think i may spoil my Ball, she has a big 55 gallon all to herself of coarse
I wish they could be housed together, there is this little boy ball at the shelter that from what i hear has a real silly personality :)

It depends greatly on the locale.

I have an adult male kenyan sand boa and he's only about 18 inches and he eats hopper mice. :D