What Do You Feed Your Adults

I know the standard is guinea pigs, rabbits, and large rats. But what else is on the menu for you guys?

Just curious as to what other options there are.

Could use birds too, my bigger snakes get quail and chicken sometimes.

Just rats here although in the past I fed a couple rabbits here and there and probably will again once I move as there is a good source there.
Otherwise, that's it. I know they will readily take poultry (turkey legs/chicken) but it will make for a possibly runny poo so just be aware.
Not sure what other options there would be, especially of anything readily available and affordable.
They do just fine on rats for life.

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Originally Posted by AbsoluteApril

Just rats here although in the past I fed a couple rabbits here and there and probably will again once I move as there is a good source there.
Otherwise, that's it. I know they will readily take poultry (turkey legs/chicken) but it will make for a possibly runny poo so just be aware.
Not sure what other options there would be, especially of anything readily available and affordable.
They do just fine on rats for life.

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This makes me feel better. I am sure she'll eat anything I throw in her cage but I've only ever fed mine mice and rats.

Just rats here.

Guinea Pigs are not good for boas. They are fatty. Same with piglets. For my boas, i feed them quails, rats and rabbits.

Rats work fine for me. I've fed a couple smaller rabbits before just to try it but that's it. stay away from guinea pigs if you wanna keep your boa for a long time

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Originally Posted by Sauzo

Guinea Pigs are not good for boas. They are fatty. Same with piglets. For my boas, i feed them quails, rats and rabbits.

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100% Agree with this.

The standard is NOT Guinea Pigs.

Way too much fat in them.

Stick with the prey items Sauzo posted and also avoid XL rats. If you need to go bigger than XL rat, move to a rabbit of the equivalent weight.

More muscle, more bone, less fat.

My adults are on either a 1# rabbit or occasionally quail if my local supplier has them available. They eat once every 4-6 weeks.

Guinea pigs and rats over XL go to the pythons, though they'll also take rabbits, quail, and chickens.

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Originally Posted by bcr229

My adults are on either a 1# rabbit or occasionally quail if my local supplier has them available. They eat once every 4-6 weeks.

Guinea pigs and rats over XL go to the pythons, though they'll also take rabbits, quail, and chickens.

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That's a great schedule IMO!

Those boas will live very long lives.

Didn't know that about the GP's. I see people feeding them all the time so I thought it was normal. Good to know cause we had SP's as pets once and that would feel kind of weird to do that.

Just wondering if there's a perfect prey item for Red Tail Boas, what's their most common prey in the wild that they evolved on over thousands of years? Like toads for Eastern Hognose, African Rats for Ball Pythons, etc.

Good point about guinea pigs! Those are not good for boas as mentioned. I do feed XL rats but nothing bigger than that due to fat content.

In the wild, they primarily eat rodents. There is quite a large variety of rodents in South America.

They eat howler monkies too. https://www.livescience.com/39172-bo...er-monkey.html

If your boa is a locality, check the area that it comes from.

The island species often rely heavily on migrant populations of birds. Avian prey is more than likely taken during those periods. You can find excellent photos and videos of certain boa species, not necessarily or always boa constrictors, take bats.

Boa constrictors will eat iguana and native squirrels plus a host of other prey. Wild prey is active and lean. Not like our fat captive raised prey.

The list is long and probably varies depending on many factors.

In captivity, variety is good. Quail, rats, and rabbits are good choices.

There are some very long lived, healthy boas in the hobby. If you see somebody with a boa they raised up from a baby to over 20 years or more, you may want to pay attention to their practices!

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Originally Posted by Sauzo

They eat howler monkies too. https://www.livescience.com/39172-bo...er-monkey.html

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awesome link/pics! that has to be an XL boa to be chomping ~13 pound monkey... I'm doing the math and figuring if that's 20% of her bodyweight we are talking a 65 pound boa... up in a tree!

"without moving for more than a month" then 76 minutes of constricting - I love this primal jungle stuff; makes me wanna get 1

and supposedly only 6'
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMPNZq09gEo

that's not even 1/2 of the max size... .. .

I generally go with rats, I occasionally will feed chicks when the farm store orders too many and I can get them for 50¢ because of pecking. I just raise them until they're at the weight I want and then co2 and freeze.

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