Feeding concern

I have a 6 foot boa that lately has become so aggressive at feeding time. He is just so wild when I try to feed him. I mean like striking the glass as I approached with the rat on tongs. It's like he goes freakin nuts.

Is this normal?? Should I maybe feed more often. I currently feed one rat every 10-12 days.

You should post a photo of him, my guess is that he is underfed. I would feed every 5 days, maybe increase the size of the rodent until he gets up to a good weight and chills out, then cut back again. How old is he? If he is still young he may need more food too until he gets a bit of age on him.

He is 2 years old. About 1800 grams I think. He currently eats approx. 65 gram rat every 10-12 days. I was warned not to over feed him. I guess I could start weekly feeding for him.

I will post a pic of him shortly.

Boas can be highly responsive to food and quite a few of mine strike the cage front on feeding day (and one strikes anytime he sees a shadow which is super annoying). I wouldn't really worry about it. The only thing that can sometimes happen if they strike badly, they can catch a tooth on a lip, normally I'll (with help) open their mouth to fix it for them, however this doesn't happen very often thank goodness. I wish there was a magic trick to get them to knock it off.

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Originally Posted by cchardwick

I would feed every 5 days

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No, please do not do that. Boas should not eat that often.

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Originally Posted by L.West

He is 2 years old. About 1800 grams I think. He currently eats approx. 65 gram rat every 10-12 days. I was warned not to over feed him. I guess I could start weekly feeding for him.

I will post a pic of him shortly.

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Underfeeding is also bad. Did anyone warn you of that? I would suggest that you continue feeding him every 10-12 days and increase the size of the rat. 65 grams rat is obviously small for a 6 foot 2 years old boa. At least the rat should be double that size, or even treble.

For boas, use the girth rule. Feed a prey item no larger than the thickest part of the body.

Before seeing actual pictures of the animal in question, I would say this is normal behavior....


Boas are EXTREMELY food responsive and it can trigger fast in an animal that has a better sense of smell or knows feeding time is approaching. I've never had one refuse a meal to put it lightly....and I've had hundreds of boas in my hands over the years.

At six feet long and two years old, I would be feeding a sizable rat every two weeks. I agree though, at six feet long, a 65 gram rat seems small for his size. A medium rat seems far more appropriate to me but I would need to see pictures of the animal. Considering my longer feeding schedule I will actually feed prey somewhat larger than the girth, but everyone does things differently. Of course, if you feed more often a smaller prey item it more appropriate.


Post a picture of your animal with a dollar bill next to his body so that we can judge how big his girth is.

I'm trying to post a pic but photobucket is not cooperating- ugh

Try Tinypic

Here is his pic

http://i302.photobucket.com/albums/n...psziexpath.jpg

He is wrapped around my leg

I'm not quite sure how big your leg is, but judging on what I'm seeing I believe you should have no issues whatsoever in bumping him up to medium rats. That girth looks sizable enough to handle mediums.

Try a medium once every two weeks and see how he responds. That's the feeding schedule I, personally, would use.

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Originally Posted by KevinK

Before seeing actual pictures of the animal in question, I would say this is normal behavior....


Boas are EXTREMELY food responsive and it can trigger fast in an animal that has a better sense of smell or knows feeding time is approaching. I've never had one refuse a meal to put it lightly....and I've had hundreds of boas in my hands over the years.

At six feet long and two years old, I would be feeding a sizable rat every two weeks. I agree though, at six feet long, a 65 gram rat seems small for his size. A medium rat seems far more appropriate to me but I would need to see pictures of the animal. Considering my longer feeding schedule I will actually feed prey somewhat larger than the girth, but everyone does things differently. Of course, if you feed more often a smaller prey item it more appropriate.


Post a picture of your animal with a dollar bill next to his body so that we can judge how big his girth is.

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Thank you for agreeing with me. Some people here care more about who gives them the information rather than the information itself. I actually don,t care about the people themselves, i give advices and replies because i care about the snakes that they own

At 2 years old I feed smalls every 3-4 weeks. Mediums would be 4-5 weeks for my guys. Boas always get excited about food it seems. Not as bad as the Retics but still!

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Originally Posted by chip07

At 2 years old I feed smalls every 3-4 weeks. Mediums would be 4-5 weeks for my guys. Boas always get excited about food it seems. Not as bad as the Retics but still!

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This is underfeeding to me

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Originally Posted by Dutti

This is underfeeding to me

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I’ve read the threads on how you feed your boa, so color me unsurprised you find a feeding schedule for slow grown boas underfeeding.

For the OP. These animals don’t eat that much out in the wild and their systems aren’t meant for a ridiculous amount of food. The animals we feed them in captivity are fat compared to the lean animals they tend to find as food in the wild. Then, the inactivity of captivity compared to the wild. And you get animals that are insanely overfed by people. I am on the very conservative end but you can see they are still growing steadily and are all muscle. I fed this way for my first boa and she’s hit 8ft and hopefully isn’t even at half her lifespan yet at 14 years old.

I don’t need nor want an 8ft boa in 2 years that will die before it’s anywhere close to 20. I’ll have 8ft boas in 10 years that will live much longer. Plus, my females are being bred and I want them to have a decent chance of surviving the whole thing. An overtaxed system from overfeeding and growing too fast is not the way to have that happen. They are easily on their way to being ready for breeding at 4-5 years old on a slow schedule.

These are my two year olds. The smaller dark ones are Tarahumara locality boas but are still 2 years old. I usually use cocohusk but I had a bad order that molded up just getting it wet overnight. Debating on aspen again with a humidifier in the room instead but I’m undecided so far.
https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...om/mK79uYN.jpg
https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...om/x7w3q9K.jpg
https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...om/w8aFBBV.jpg

I feed my 6.5' female a large rat every 3-4 weeks.

If you are looking for an overall schedule though. What i have used for years is when on mice, every 7-10 days. Then once on weaned/small rats, every 2 weeks. Medium rats every 3 weeks-4 weeks. Large rats every 3-5 weeks.

I dont feed jumbos to anything unless they are over 8' and usually in that case, i just feed rabbits. Rabbits are much more dense so for those you can go 6 weeks easily.

You can also do quail too. I know Vicky loves quails. Rosey is kind of special ed when it comes to them and she cant grasp the whole wings concept so i usually just give her rabbits or rats.

Stay away from guinea pigs and piglets as those are fine for pythons but they are too fatty for boas.

And to Dutti, you should be the last person giving feeding schedule advice lol. You got a 18 month old BCI that is eating large rats and 4.5' long. You are the poster child for over feeding lol.

And to answer your question, all boas are hungry 24/7 unless you are stuffing them like a turkey. My suriname girl tags the glass at night if she is out and about hunting and you walk by. And all of them will coil in the 'S' and at the front of the cage if its night and you do fast movements past their cage. Boas are opportunistic feeders so they wont pass up a meal and are pretty much ready for a meal 24/7 like I said, unless you are feeding them so much they cant fit more. And with their slow metabolism, its going to form fat around their heart and liver and then they die.

This behavior on feeding day is perfectly normal for Boas. If only Ball Pythons would have a feeding response like Boas on every feeding day... :( But, only feeding a 65 gram rat every 10 to 12 days at 6'/2 years old Boa is way under feeding in my opinion. My 2 year old male is somewhere between 5' - 5 1/2' and he has been getting a medium rat every 7 days. I don't go by rat weight, but the medium size rats i've been feeding are around 115 - 120 grams. As April suggested, I use the girth rule for all of my snakes. This 2 year old boy of mine could easily be eating large rats at his size (he has a couple of times), but i'm keeping him on mediums for awhile longer, as he is starting to get a little chunky. When he gets switched over to large rats I will probably only feed him every 14 days. I will take some updated pictures of him later to share with you for comparison...

Thanks to you all for your help. I actually rechecked on his age - I was mistaken - he is actually 3 years old now and 1400 grams. He was 2 when I got him. I will move him up to a f/t medium rat every two weeks and see how he does.

I have always been told that it is next to impossible to underfeed a captive Boa. Less is more with them. I think my boy looks really good and lean/muscles.

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Originally Posted by Aedryan Methyus

This behavior on feeding day is perfectly normal for Boas. If only Ball Pythons would have a feeding response like Boas on every feeding day... :( But, only feeding a 65 gram rat every 10 to 12 days at 6'/2 years old Boa is way under feeding in my opinion. My 2 year old male is somewhere between 5' - 5 1/2' and he has been getting a medium rat every 7 days. I don't go by rat weight, but the medium size rats i've been feeding are around 115 - 120 grams. As April suggested, I use the girth rule for all of my snakes. This 2 year old boy of mine could easily be eating large rats at his size (he has a couple of times), but i'm keeping him on mediums for awhile longer, as he is starting to get a little chunky. When he gets switched over to large rats I will probably only feed him every 14 days. I will take some updated pictures of him later to share with you for comparison...

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It is almost impossible to 'underfeed' a boa. They are designed to go months without with no ill effect and actually it can have good effects.

With that said, if the boa is 6.5', it should be on large rats which are about 180-200g every 3-4 weeks. My almost 6' sunglow is on a medium rat every 3-4 weeks.

And your boa is chunky because you are over feeding it. A medium rat ever week is WAY too much. Heck like I mentioned above, the last time my boas get weekly feedings is when they are on hopper or small adult mice. Once they are on anything larger in mice, they go to every 10 days and I've been told by some that is even a little too much but it has worked fine for me as you can see from all the boa threads of my boas I got up.

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Originally Posted by L.West

Thanks to you all for your help. I actually rechecked on his age - I was mistaken - he is actually 3 years old now and 1400 grams. He was 2 when I got him. I will move him up to a f/t medium rat every two weeks and see how he does.

I have always been told that it is next to impossible to underfeed a captive Boa. Less is more with them. I think my boy looks really good and lean/muscles.

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Post a pic of him. I don't weigh my big boas but Rosey is over 5 years old and at her last vet check, she weighed in at 12.7 lbs and 6.5'

I would definitely start with a medium or large medium and see how he looks after eating it. Remember though, boas are always hungry assuming they are healthy. You want to see something worse, buy a baby retic. They don't stop eating until they are about a year old, or at least Caesar didn't stop pushing and charging me for food until he hit a year old lol.

I am feeding my year and a half(5 foot and 2036 grams)male BCI currently a live large rat(about 300 gramm) every two weeks on average. I didn,t suggest to anybody to do the same. I didn,t suggest to "L.west" that he should feed the same as i do, although his Boa is 3 years old and 6 foot. What i told him is that 65 grams rat is too small and suggested to double the size of the rat or even treble it. Here is my boy relaxing. https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...om/2crvwg9.jpg

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Originally Posted by Sauzo

It is almost impossible to 'underfeed' a boa. They are designed to go months without with no ill effect and actually it can have good effects.

With that said, if the boa is 6.5', it should be on large rats which are about 180-200g every 3-4 weeks. My almost 6' sunglow is on a medium rat every 3-4 weeks.

And your boa is chunky because you are over feeding it. A medium rat ever week is WAY too much. Heck like I mentioned above, the last time my boas get weekly feedings is when they are on hopper or small adult mice. Once they are on anything larger in mice, they go to every 10 days and I've been told by some that is even a little too much but it has worked fine for me as you can see from all the boa threads of my boas I got up.

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This boy of mine is only between 5' and 5 1/2', but I agree I could probably cut him back to a medium rat every 14 days at this point just to lean him back down a bit even though he is plenty large enough to be eating large rats. He is still bread shaped. He just has a little extra pudge is all... When my daughter gets home I will get a current weight on him and have her take some pictures with me holding him to share with you guys. He just emptied out today, but he is looking a little fatter than usual right now, because he ate a HUGE rat last week that someone else wouldn't eat, so he got passed by one feeding day yesterday...

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Originally Posted by Aedryan Methyus

This boy of mine is only between 5' and 5 1/2', but I agree I could probably cut him back to a medium rat every 14 days at this point just to lean him back down a bit even though he is plenty large enough to be eating large rats. He is still bread shaped. He just has a little extra pudge is all... When my daughter gets home I will get a current weight on him and have her take some pictures with me holding him to share with you guys. He just emptied out today, but he is looking a little fatter than usual right now, because he ate a HUGE rat last week that someone else wouldn't eat, so he got passed by one feeding day yesterday...

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Yeah, i would for sure feed him mediums at the largest if he's only 5-5.5'. Thats what i feed my almost 6' sunglow girl. A medium rat every 3-4 weeks. Usually in winter, i tend to extend out their feeding but i dont 'winterize' them like some others do and cut out the food and lower the temps for about 3-4 months. My snakes all live in an eternal summer but like i said, i do cut their food intake which usually leads them to grow more, go figure lol.

Males can be put more on a maintenance schedule and most people i've seen feed adult males every 4-6 weeks. Females get a little more.

My little salmon het sharp snowglow boy was getting kind of chunky too on his weekly mouse. I cut him back to an adult mouse every 10 days and now he's up to a small weaned rat every 14 days.
https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...53d83459_h.jpg

And a pic of him when i got him to show his tail. I love how bright it is. And it hasnt dulled at all in almost a year.
https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...7e563261_h.jpg

I posted a few updated photos of my buddy - Simon in his own thread if anyone would like to see more, but here is one with regards to his size/feeding schedule, etc...

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...11-14-17-1.jpg

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Originally Posted by Aedryan Methyus

I posted a few updated photos of my buddy - Simon in his own thread if anyone would like to see more, but here is one with regards to his size/feeding schedule, etc...

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...11-14-17-1.jpg

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Your snake looks to be way more thick than my boy. My snake seems to be longer though. I have decided to give my boy a medium rat every 12 days and see how he does with that schedule.

I think your boy will do great on mediums. This boy of mine is probably just starting to be slightly overweight, so i'm going to cut him back to 1 medium every 14 days for awhile and see how he does. I will feel awful passing him up on feeding day every other week, but it's for his own good... lol

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Originally Posted by Dutti

I am feeding my year and a half(5 foot and 2036 grams)male BCI currently a live large rat(about 300 gramm) every two weeks on average. I didn,t suggest to anybody to do the same. I didn,t suggest to "L.west" that he should feed the same as i do, although his Boa is 3 years old and 6 foot. What i told him is that 65 grams rat is too small and suggested to double the size of the rat or even treble it. Here is my boy relaxing. https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...om/2crvwg9.jpg

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I fed him today a live jumbo rat(411 grams). Surely it was not my attention to feed him a jumbo rat. The shop where i buy the live rats from had only this one available so i took it. He can now eat the biggest rat alive