New BCI!! Need some HELP

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Originally Posted by Gio

STOP THAT ROUTINE ASAP!

No boa constrictor that age should ever be fed once a week and certainly not 3 large rats at one time.

As stated above 1 rabbit a month is fine for that guy. There are other options, but you are best doing a site search here to find them.

From what the sellers have told you so far, I'm not confident they have passed on the best advice.

The RHP will be great, and when you can look for a larger enclosure. Hopefully you have a quality thermostat, but if not look into Herpstats.

I would give your boa a least a month to clean out before feeding again.

Snatch up a copy of this!

THE COMPLETE BOA CONSTRICTOR
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0978897927/...sl_12qfyt0i2_e

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I'm going to second this. And third it. Once a boa hits 12 months old it should be on a 10-14 day schedule. The one you purchased should be several years old and eating every four weeks at most - some of my males are on 5-6 week schedules, eating just one 12-16 oz rabbit since large+ rats have a high fat content.

What is this guy's body shape like? Is he squared up like [] or round like () on his sides? Hopefully his back end doesn't look like a stack of tires.

And be prepared for him to beg. He will tell you he's huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuungryyyyyyyyyyy. He's staaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarviiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiing. He's waaaaaaaaaaaaasting aaaaaaaaaaawaaaaaaaaaaaaay from lack of food. IGNORE HIM. Boas will eat themselves to death if you let them.

He won't be doing much moving around in a 4x2 so I would also suggest that after he has a few weeks to settle in with you, get him out and hold him, take him in the yard on nice days, etc. Keep him active. It's a pain while they're in QT since you have to go shower right after but it will be worth it, especially if he's started packing on extra weight due to being overfed.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Gio

STOP THAT ROUTINE ASAP!

No boa constrictor that age should ever be fed once a week and certainly not 3 large rats at one time.

As stated above 1 rabbit a month is fine for that guy. There are other options, but you are best doing a site search here to find them.

From what the sellers have told you so far, I'm not confident they have passed on the best advice.

The RHP will be great, and when you can look for a larger enclosure. Hopefully you have a quality thermostat, but if not look into Herpstats.

I would give your boa a least a month to clean out before feeding again.

Snatch up a copy of this!

THE COMPLETE BOA CONSTRICTOR
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0978897927/...sl_12qfyt0i2_e

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yeah after researching different boas and different care sherts for weeks, i am going to follow hlh reptiles advice and feed a jumbo/large rat once a week. i just got him, so ill let him settle in for a week before attempting. hes in shed currently anyways so its an incentive to just to leave him alone until hes shed lol great advice. ill look into the bigger enclosures.

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Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Gio

STOP THAT ROUTINE ASAP!

No boa constrictor that age should ever be fed once a week and certainly not 3 large rats at one time.

As stated above 1 rabbit a month is fine for that guy. There are other options, but you are best doing a site search here to find them.

From what the sellers have told you so far, I'm not confident they have passed on the best advice.

The RHP will be great, and when you can look for a larger enclosure. Hopefully you have a quality thermostat, but if not look into Herpstats.

I would give your boa a least a month to clean out before feeding again.

Snatch up a copy of this!

THE COMPLETE BOA CONSTRICTOR
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0978897927/...sl_12qfyt0i2_e

---

yeah after researching different boas and different care sherts for weeks, i am going to follow hlh reptiles advice and feed a jumbo/large rat once a week. i just got him, so ill let him settle in for a week before attempting. hes in shed currently anyways so its an incentive to just to leave him alone until hes shed lol great advice. ill look into the bigger enclosures.

No, don't feed weekly. Feed every 4-6 weeks. Feeding weekly at his age is power feeding and will significantly cut his life short.


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he has a very nice body shape and has a [] appearance rather than a round one. hes a very big boy lol right now everything perfect(temps,humidity wise) hes on newspaper substrate and he has a huge wter bowl on the cool side and thats it. no hide or decorations. seems very relaxed and stress-free

temps are good bc im using a oil filled heater temporarily and im waiting for the rhp to arrive from reptile basics

As others have stated, no adult boa should be fed every week.
My largest boas get 2 jumbo rats, once every 4-6 weeks.
Overfeeding will cause premature death.
Please understand, we're just trying to help.
Other than that, it sounds like you have a good setup to me (the rhp is a great idea)

thanks, it seems theres a lot of mixed opinions qll over the internet but im being given a good consistency of answers here on feeding adult boas. so every 4-6 weeks, 1-2 jumbo rats? and any answers on installing and placing the rhp?? kindof anxious because idk if its one of those things where once you install it in one location you cant move it....im not really educated on rhps and what their deal is when it comes to installation and the preferred location in an enclosure...

One single prey item per feeding, always. Multiple prey items could also be considered power feeding.

All you have to do is screw the RHP to the top. I usually drill a hole near where the wire is connected to the RHP so I can pull the plug through and there isn't enough wire for the snake to climb on.

It should always be attached to the top pointing down, off to the far left or far right side.

They can be moved, easily.


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Quote:

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Originally Posted by RoyalBlood20

thanks, it seems theres a lot of mixed opinions qll over the internet but im being given a good consistency of answers here on feeding adult boas. so every 4-6 weeks, 1-2 jumbo rats? and any answers on installing and placing the rhp?? kindof anxious because idk if its one of those things where once you install it in one location you cant move it....im not really educated on rhps and what their deal is when it comes to installation and the preferred location in an enclosure...

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OK,

Don't go off that Youtube channel. Once a week is too often. Some of the real experienced BC folks won't even feed a young BC that much. They would go 10-14 days.

A BC should have eliminated everything from its last meal before feeding again. The book I recommended has great feeding advice. The author doesn't even feed his boas over the winter. I don't either. They have been hardwired over several million years to go without for for long periods. Their bodies have adapted and are designed for just that. Any BC receiving captive bred prey is already getting more fat than a wild BC. Any BC eating on a set and frequent schedule is also getting more food and fat than its wild cousins.

Captivity generally doesn't assist a boa in staying lean and muscular unless we are vigilant about restricting calories and making them exercise.

As a matter of fact, if you want your BC to be an interesting display snake, let it get hungry, and move around the cage for a while.

Some folks always say their BC sits coiled in a corned and never moves. Usually these snakes are over fed and have become lazy. Boas can be rather active when challenged to find food.

No matter what the outside of your snake looks like, I will wager if you continue to feed as is, the snake will end up with fatty liver disease. It is very common and cuts lives short. The internal organs can be riddled with fat deposits that you don't see on the outside.

Gus Rentfro (Boa Expert) has had female BCs that have bred and given perfect litters at 30 years old! Why do you think that is? It's because he knows the key to raising a long lived BC is proper feeding and paying close attention to conditions.

Buy and read the book I told you about. Also if you are noticing a theme here, like everybody in this thread saying feed less, consider it good advice.

It is almost impossible to underfeed a BC but rather easy to overfeed one.

Your RHP in the cage you are using could be centered (front to back depth) and placed about an inch or 2 away from either the right or left side of the cage.

There are a few options on probe placement. I have my probe on the cool side and set the thermostat for the cool side temp. Because of the setup, my cool side is about 10 degrees less than my hot side. So 80 cool and 90-91 hot.

Others have a different way to do it and seem to be equally successful.

That's all I have for now.

Bottom line is DO NOT overfeed your snake no matter how exciting it is to watch. Boas are not retics, or colubrids with fast metabolisms.

They require less and less is more for boas.

To make things a bit easier.

Listen closely to this interview between two of the best in the business.

http://www.herpnation.com/2016/03/03/nms19-030316/