Darby arrived today!

A few pictures I took:
[IMG]https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...om/Bo3Ce9a.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...om/aJ2U53Q.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...om/eT4lhyP.jpg[/IMG]

He turn 2 on April 30 and I weighed him and he is 270 grams.
Anyone can guide me into size of prey and how often for a 2 year old BCI that weighs 270 grams? He's eating frozen rats from breeder.
Thanks

Congrats on your new snake! :) Cute name too.

Nice little pick up there looks well cute
Great name , I live in derby U.K. but pronounced Darby
Is he a dwarf (cay caulker )as he should be a lot bigger than than 270g at two years old , two of mine that turned two in April are 1100g and fed fortnight on small rats. They going to 3 weeks now they are two
But two of my others that was two in April are 800g and on large rat Weeners once a fortnight , but at the size of yours I would of thought either large mice or small rat weeners
Hope that helps


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Super cute!
just go by the girth for boas*. Based on the photos, I'd guess a weaned rat or rat pup would be a good size.
*feed something the same size around or just smaller than the thickest part of the body

Congrats on Darby. You’re in for a lot of fun. Boas Rock :partyon:

Thanks everyone, I'm super excited. I purchased him end of January and finally the weather cooperated with us.

Ricky, he's a ladder tail boa, here's the thread I started on January :https://ball-pythons.net/forums/show...nally-did-it!!
He doesn't weigh much, 2 years with the breeder... he has probably been fed very conservative.

Thanks April, I think I'm going to switch him over to Weaned rats on his next feeding.

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Originally Posted by Reinz

Congrats on Darby. You’re in for a lot of fun. Boas Rock :partyon:

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Boas do Rock!!!:gj: The few minutes I held him he was constantly moving up my arm. Super fun to handle. :D

Quote:

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Originally Posted by richardhind1972

Nice little pick up there looks well cute
Great name , I live in derby U.K. but pronounced Darby
Is he a dwarf (cay caulker )as he should be a lot bigger than than 270g at two years old , two of mine that turned two in April are 1100g and fed fortnight on small rats. They going to 3 weeks now they are two
But two of my others that was two in April are 800g and on large rat Weeners once a fortnight , but at the size of yours I would of thought either large mice or small rat weeners
Hope that helps


Sent from my iPod touch using Tapatalk

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agree with this big time...

what locality ?

seems small and underweight for the age... where is he from? Did you ask what and how he was fed?

seems slow and steady wins the race with boas

A slow grown boa is the best boa. Usually reaching adult size and maturity around 5-6 years (imo).
May seem small for the age to some but boas will reach their full potential.

I forgot to address the feeding schedule - I'd go every 2-3 weeks or so for a young boa. Once they get closer to 5' or I consider adult, I move them out to 4-6 weeks.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by AbsoluteApril

A slow grown boa is the best boa. Usually reaching adult size and maturity around 5-6 years (imo).
May seem small for the age to some but boas will reach their full potential.

I forgot to address the feeding schedule - I'd go every 2-3 weeks or so for a young boa. Once they get closer to 5' or I consider adult, I move them out to 4-6 weeks.

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I have a boa who isn’t a year yet... a few places I read weekly feedings until around the year mark then stretch... do you feel otherwise ?

There's no reason to stick to a strict schedule. I vary it. I do 7-10 days for about a year or so, sometimes letting it stretch to 2 weeks.
But I also don't feel BPs should be feeding every 3-5 days either but others do it and it's fine. I'm just in the 'slow grow' camp.
:)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by AbsoluteApril

There's no reason to stick to a strict schedule. I vary it. I do 7-10 days for about a year or so, sometimes letting it stretch to 2 weeks.
But I also don't feel BPs should be feeding every 3-5 days either but others do it and it's fine. I'm just in the 'slow grow' camp.
:)

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Thank you. This is helpful...

i feed my bps every 7-8 days. Like I said I was going to feed my dwarf caye boa every 7 or so for a year and start stretching. I also agree that slow is better. I also don’t want to feed massive items to soon to either species I think gradual slow step ups are best. IMO

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Phillydubs

I have a boa who isn’t a year yet... a few places I read weekly feedings until around the year mark then stretch... do you feel otherwise ?

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Everyone has little different feeding. I personally feed anything under a year old a mouse every 7-10 days. Amount of times depends on the size food. Then once they are over a year old, they go to mouse every 2 weeks until they are ready for weaned rats. Then they are on those every 2 weeks. Medium rats every 3 weeks and large rats every 4 weeks. And of course if you feed rabbits, it will be longer in between feedings and also in the winter, i feed less and summer i feed a little more. Also it's not an etched in stone rule of feeding days. Sometimes they wait a little longer, sometimes a little shorter.

For example i fed Pat a smaller than usual size food and made him wait 8 days. At the next feeding, he was so happy for food, he literally wiggled his tail like crazy all over the perch next to him and his body. So i slowly brought the FT mouse to his tail and he snatched it instantly lol.