Overweight Dumerils Boa

Hey guys!

So I have a year and a half old dumerils boa female. Shes in a 4 foot https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...4e75cf3cbc.jpgpvc cage temps 75 to 78 cold side 85 hot side. When i purchased her at 6 moths old the breeder said she was very large compared to her bros/sisters when born and continued to grow. I measured her the best i could during her last shed 3 weeks ago and she was about 41 to 43 inches long. She eats sheds and poops just fine. I only feed her once a week. She eats frozen rats from perfect prey. She currently eats one small rat every week. Idk if she is getting overweight cause she has rolls when coiled and when stretched out and moving shes tipsy lol or if this is normal for a dumerils boa?? Should i increase feedings to every two weeks? I would appreciate your thoughts. Thanks!

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Really nice dumeril, I love there markings,normally people only post about there dumeril not eating lol.
my boas that are on small rats only get fed fortnightly these are two next month so similar age .when there two I will space to 3week feeds on the appropriate size food and once there three they will go to monthly feeds from there on .my 9 year old boa on large rats who’s six foot looks nice and healthy on these feedings
If you carry on feeding weekly on that size food you will definitely make her overweight so I would space it out from 10-14 days so not to shorten her lifespan by being overweight


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Wow she’s a big girl at a year and a half!! Agreed with Richard that you’re lucky you can get her to eat weekly ;) Also agreed that a small rat a week is too much food. I’d switch to a 14-day feeding schedule for sure. Lovely animal, though!

Wow, beautiful attack sausage you got there. Lol

I'd prolly go with monthly or at most every 3rd week untill she slims down a tad.

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Originally Posted by richardhind1972

Really nice dumeril, I love there markings,normally people only post about there dumeril not eating lol.
my boas that are on small rats only get fed fortnightly these are two next month so similar age .when there two I will space to 3week feeds on the appropriate size food and once there three they will go to monthly feeds from there on .my 9 year old boa on large rats who’s six foot looks nice and healthy on these feedings
If you carry on feeding weekly on that size food you will definitely make her overweight so I would space it out from 10-14 days so not to shorten her lifespan by being overweight


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Awesome! Thank you for your reply. Do you think she is overweight right now or only if I keep feeding every week? I know I was a little nervous when I first got her cause through my research I read everywhere they had feeding issues. I must be lucky cause shes a garbage pale! I will space out to every two weeks. This is my first dumerils/boa and their feeding frequency is a-lot different then balls. I appreciate your reply.


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Thank you all for the kind words she is my pride and joy. I am currently hand building a new pvc adult enclosure for her as we speak. They have such awesome personalities, she just loves to hang on my lap and chill.

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Originally Posted by Mstuppiello921

Thank you all for the kind words she is my pride and joy. I am currently hand building a new pvc adult enclosure for her as we speak. They have such awesome personalities, she just loves to hang on my lap and chill.

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...5738387462.jpg


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NAAAAA!! Your Dumeril look good and love that encloser you are building. To bad you are not up my way because I would pay you to build me 2 of those... Thanks for sharing!

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Originally Posted by Jus1More

NAAAAA!! Your Dumeril look good and love that encloser you are building. To bad you are not up my way because I would pay you to build me 2 of those... Thanks for sharing!

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Thank you and to bad, I would have loved to make you a couple. Ive built them for a couple of people so far. Building them is therapeutic for me so I don’t even charge for them, I just ask for people to supply the materials.


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She is beautiful! Dumeril’s boas have slower metabolisms than BPs, and feeding one her age every 2 weeks would be appropriate. She is a little chunky, but if you spread out her feedings to every two weeks, she will be fine.

I had a huge female who was also a garbage disposal and would eat any time, and more than one at a time given the chance. Now I have a little male who is TINY. He is small even compared to my female when she was a baby. Kind of a runt. He’s a cutie though. Luckily for me I’ve never had a Dum that wouldn’t eat, but the new guy gets freaked out if his food moves, so he likes me to just lay it down next to him and leave him be to eat it. Funny guy. The female used to come flying out to catch hers. :P

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Originally Posted by WarriorPrincess90

She is beautiful! Dumeril’s boas have slower metabolisms than BPs, and feeding one her age every 2 weeks would be appropriate. She is a little chunky, but if you spread out her feedings to every two weeks, she will be fine.

I had a huge female who was also a garbage disposal and would eat any time, and more than one at a time given the chance. Now I have a little male who is TINY. He is small even compared to my female when she was a baby. Kind of a runt. He’s a cutie though. Luckily for me I’ve never had a Dum that wouldn’t eat, but the new guy gets freaked out if his food moves, so he likes me to just lay it down next to him and leave him be to eat it. Funny guy. The female used to come flying out to catch hers. :P

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Thank you, I am definitely going to up her to, two weeks after all the great advice. Tonight was suppose to be feeding night so its perfect timing to wait till next week. And you should share a picture of your male, Id love to see him. And yes thats exactly how she is....idk how many times shes smashed her face on the plexiglass cause i wasn’t fast enough with the rat lol. Her feeding response is amazing and she hits hard!


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Boas have fairly slow metabolisms anyway, and Dums even slower than most because they run at cooler temperatures. Weekly feedings for a yearling is way too often, back it down to at least every two weeks and you could cut back to every three weeks after her second birthday.

Dums are heavy-bodied snakes but they should still have a square shape and they are very strong, muscular snakes; think of them as the bulldogs of the snake world. After she eats give her four days to digest then get her out for exercise every day, and you should see her trim up.

Yes, Dums have slow metabolisms even for boas! I have one about the same age as yours and, even as a baby, she would never take food more frequently than every 10-14 days. Now, at 1.5 years, she takes down a rat pup every 3 weeks or so and still went off feed for at least 2 months over the winter. I got another snake just to dispose of her cast-offs! 🙄 Your girl will trim up with a little exercise and less frequent feeding. She’s beautiful and I’m glad you enjoy your lap snake! She will love her new enclosure. Great work!

I cant thank everyone enough for your advice and expertise. All I want is the best for her and her to be healthy and long lived. Im so glad I reached out to you guys, before I accidentally did any harm to her long term health, for your thoughts. I will space out to every 2 weeks and after 3-4 days digestion,exercise everyday. Ill post pictures of her after she slims out a bit.


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So guys I wanted to give an update on Kahleesi after about 5 weeks of spacing her food out and getting her a good amount of exercise. She def. seems like she lost some of her roundness/pudginess and there is a defined line down her back now. She no longer wobbles when she is moving stretched out and when shes out with me she moves around and explores a-lot more! She just had a fresh shed 2 days ago and is empty in these pics. She just turned 1.5 years old.


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Oh yeah, she's a nice sleek killing machine now. Lol

Beautiful and perfect.

She’s looking great


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