How do you feed your bci?

I've been reading about keeping boas, I'm considering eventually getting one, & I've noticed their feeding habits seem to be more aggressive than that of my pythons. I was wondering how yous do it? If you feed in their enclosure, what kind of substrate do you use? Tell me all about it.

Frozen thawed, I feed in the enclosure as I see no benefit to feeding outside of it. And I'm using aspen right now.
Mine eats every single time I offer.

X2 she never refuses. Most feeding nights shstarts coming out of her enclosure as soon as I crack the top open.

Why rats of course. LOL Seriously, in the enclosure, cypress mulch.

My boa takes f/t med. rat off of tongs from within her enclosure - she is kept on paper. Never misses a meal.

I have a bcc/bci cross and a hog island. Both are still less than a year old so they're pretty small, but both are some of the best eaters in my collection. Never miss a meal and will quite often accept the leftovers from my picky balls. They take small rats off of tongs once a week.

I feed all of mine in their enclosures every 10 days. I use feed tongs, and everyone of my snakes are hook trained. If you feed them frozen/thawed, some boas can be picky about the temperature of the prey. If it isn't warm enough, they will just leave the prey. I use a blow dryer to heat my f/t's up to about 99F...

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More aggressive than your pythons?? Isn't that a carpet around your neck? My carpets are much more aggressive feeders than my boas. That being said, my boas are all puppies and are fed in the cage on paper towels. Babies are fed live every 7 days, adults F/T every 10-14.

My young BCI is fed live every seven days. She's a lot slower to strike food than any of my pythons, but she never ever misses a meal. She's on Cypress. (:

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Originally Posted by l.west

my boa takes f/t med. Rat off of tongs from within her enclosure - she is kept on paper. Never misses a meal.

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x2

My four BCIs are all on F/T and on paper towel substrate. Most will take off tongs fine, but they will take it if I leave the feeder in with them as well (just leaving it on the floor of their tubs). My younger ones are fed once a week, my larger one who's on medium rats is every 10 days until he gets on larges - then he'll be cut back a bit to avoid obesity.

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Originally Posted by dart

More aggressive than your pythons?? Isn't that a carpet around your neck? My carpets are much more aggressive feeders than my boas. That being said, my boas are all puppies and are fed in the cage on paper towels. Babies are fed live every 7 days, adults F/T every 10-14.

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Haha, yes, that is a carpet around my neck. Her response to the f.t mice hitting the floor is swift, but she has never struck. Seems she knows she's been spoilt her whole life and moves straight into the constrict & swallow :P Moves quickly but docile as a lamb.

Anyway thanks guys for your responses, it has been helpful. I suppose what I've been most concerned with is the issue of substrate impaction. Had a bad experience with my BP's very first feeding, he's actually on reptile carpet now until he gets off the live food. Anyway, I cover my carpet python's substrate with paper towels a few hours before feed time, she's on coco husk. The first time I fed her I was pretty nervous, but she doesn't seem to remember which day the food comes so I haven't had any issues with that. Just wondering if it may be different with a boa.

^ If you're worried and if your new boa will take feeders if you leave them in with it you can always put down a paper towel/paper plate for the snake to feed off of. Just an idea.

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Originally Posted by Daybreaker

^ If you're worried and if your new boa will take feeders if you leave them in with it you can always put down a paper towel/paper plate for the snake to feed off of. Just an idea.

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I suggest you don't use paper towel, there is a risk that the snake may swallow it with the rat.

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Right now I have 5 different BCi's. I feed them all in their enclosure. They are eating machines. They never miss a meal even in shed. They are all kept on newsprint. I have not had any problems with cage aggression. I do hook train all my boas. It seems to let them know when it is time to be handled and not time to eat.

I have 3 boas and my Argentine is the most aggressive feeder I've ever seen. :O

Even so, all of them are fed in their enclosures. I've never had an issue handling any of them - even my Argentine. I simply touch them lightly but confidently along the back for a moment before scooping them up. They are all puppy-dog tame but have amazing feed responses. :gj:

I use aspen as substrate since they like bury themselves, but they've never ingested more than a tiny piece so I'm not too worried about impaction or the like. I do moniter them all carefully until they've completely swallowed their prey.

I also feed F/T. I always use tongs with my Argentine, but I've tail fed the Colombians and no problem. They'll also take it if I just drop it in with them, but I don't like to do that on the aspen.

Incidentally, here's a good substrate - www.cageliners.net. I use this under the aspen. I've used just this and that's truly what I prefer - this is a wonderful product! But I started using the aspen when I discovered by accident how much they like to tunnel through it and bury themselves. :D

I feed my 5foot BCI in her enclosure which has Aspen sani-chips as a substrate. She currently eats medium f/t rats eagerly.

I have two BCIs and two Hog Island Boas and I love them. I feed all four of them in their enclosures and I have never had an issue with any of them. My BCIs have hides that they like and when I want to take them out I lift the hide from the back and them I scope them up from behind. My female BCI is my favorite snake of all time. I feed her f/t once a week. She's currently eating small rats. She is the friendliest snake I have ever meet. She is the first snake I think of when I want to show a snake to a kid. Sadly someone always wants to to squeeze her tail. :rolleyes:

My BCIs are still in 40 breeders so I just open the top. With my female I will lower the rat to her by the tail and she will grab it and with my male I just drop it in. Both of them are on cypress mulch. My Hog Islands are on paper towels and eat f/t hopper mice off of feeding tongs.

I have some boa's that will strike the cage while thinking they are getting fed next. They can hit it pretty hard. Most have good feeding responses from my experiences. They are good eaters.

I have aspen in my cages and newspaper on top.

I use to use paper towels but I stopped because one day after feeding, I caught one of my boa's attacking and coiling up the paper towels. This can happen and if they swallow it, they can die. It has happened before.

It can happen with newspaper also but not as likely and the blood doesn't soak into it the same way and it has a different feel than paper towels.

Star

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Originally Posted by Daybreaker

My four BCIs are all on F/T and on paper towel substrate. Most will take off tongs fine, but they will take it if I leave the feeder in with them as well (just leaving it on the floor of their tubs). My younger ones are fed once a week, my larger one who's on medium rats is every 10 days until he gets on larges - then he'll be cut back a bit to avoid obesity.

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Spot on with what I do with the exception my girl(Hog Island), shes on double shredded cypress. Boas unlike balls can become obese rather easily if overfed.

I like to put on a blindfold and dangle the rat by it's tail from my teeth while sticking my head in the cage. It gives me a real rush. :D:D:D

Seriously though, I always feed in the cage, I've never seen any benefit to moving the snake to a feeding tub. A good set of 12" or longer hemostats is in my opinion, required equipment for any snake keeper, it will greatly reduce feeding accidents. I've probably tried every substrate known to man at one time or another and I always keep coming back to newspaper. I order rolls of unprinted newspaper from www.uline.com

Good Luck, boas are great A good 2' X 4' cage will make a lifetime home for any but the largest females.

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Originally Posted by MarkS

I like to put on a blindfold and dangle the rat by it's tail from my teeth while sticking my head in the cage. It gives me a real rush.

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all this time I thought I was the only one......lol