feeding my hoggie

okay, so i wonder if i'm feeding drake the best way for him. after reading the thread about how gerry feeds his boas. :snake:

view thread here

he's about 3 1/2 ft long :taz: (maybe closer to 3 ft - we aren't absolutely sure). when we got him he was quite thin and so we began feeding him two mice once a week. these last two feedings we've only given him one mouse (changing to f/t and the snakes haven't been eating well because of it)...

so... should i continue with feeding him one mouse a week. i don't know how old he was when we purchased him on april 21, 2006 but i do know he was born in 2005 (to the best of my belief anyway). i think he was being fed one mouse - once a month when we got him.

if drake needs rats instead... what size should i feed him over the next year?

honestly, size is important to me... and if we can assist drake to stay smaller (as he is a hog x and i don't want the cross to take over in the :eek: size department) and yet keep him very healthy at the same time... to me that's a win win situation.

[started my own thread cause i didn't want to hijack gerrys] :sunny:

oh and here's a pic of drake:

http://www.timelessspirit.com/images...drakejun06.jpg

Sounds and looks like mice are too small. You can feed him a prey item that is even with or slightly larger around than mid section. Prob weaned rats or small rats at this point.

oh okay... so in that case do i still feed once a week and when should i begin to feed only twice a month? sorry... i'm completely confused about this and i'm still on my first cup of coffee and well... you know how it is jamie LOL

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Originally Posted by recycling goddess

oh okay... so in that case do i still feed once a week and when should i begin to feed only twice a month? sorry... i'm completely confused about this and i'm still on my first cup of coffee and well... you know how it is jamie LOL

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No problem! Keep on feeding once per week. I feed my Hoggie a small rat once a week, every week (with a week off twice a year or so). No need to drop back to every 2 weeks with a Hog. People tend to do that with the bigger boas...

i have boas that are just a tid bit smaller than that on small rats once a week. once he hits that 4 ft mark and is big enaugh for mediums i would cut him back to every 14. days. if you dont want him to get monsterious i would not go past a medium every 14 days. your boa will live longer and be healthier for it. he should top out at about 5ft. but if you feed a large every 14 he will hit about 6ft and still be healthy.
matt

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Originally Posted by fish21

i have boas that are just a tid bit smaller than that on small rats once a week. once he hits that 4 ft mark and is big enaugh for mediums i would cut him back to every 14. days. if you dont want him to get monsterious i would not go past a medium every 14 days. your boa will live longer and be healthier for it. he should top out at about 5ft. but if you feed a large every 14 he will hit about 6ft and still be healthy.
matt

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She can also feed a small every week for the rest of his life. Odds are he wont get bigger than 5 ft.

matt,

are they hogs?

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Originally Posted by recycling goddess

matt,

are they hogs?

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Big diffference between a Hog Island that will get to around 4ft-5ft and a Salmon or Albino that can get to 8ft-10ft and 40lbs. They get fed completely differently in my opinion.

ah see that's my confusion... and now it's cleared up.

the difference really is clear!

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Originally Posted by recycling goddess

ah see that's my confusion... and now it's cleared up.

the difference really is clear!

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Ahh no big deal! I definitely advocate spacing out the feeding for the big Boas. As I mentioned I feed my 8ft 35lb girl every 2 weeks or so. Sometimes 3 weeks, sometimes 10 days depending on the size of the previous meal and my gauging of her hunger. With the Hoggie, he eats every week guaranteed at this point (he is an 03). As he gets older I might increase the number of skipped meals each year.

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Originally Posted by recycling goddess

okay, so i wonder if i'm feeding drake the best way for him. after reading the thread about how gerry feeds his boas. :snake:

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Fyi, Gerry is a woman...=)

so so sorry i forgot that he was a hog. so i would think that a small once a week would be fine.
matt

so sorry gerry... ;)

no problem matt ;)

thanks cassandra!!!!

Lol...No offense taken. :D


Actually my husband is named Gerry and most of my friends call me Gerry as well; short for Geraldine. Two houses down the street live a couple named Sam and Samantha, both go by Sam. :giggle:

We both use the same email address linked to Ssscales and all the forums. Helps us out in answering emails promptly since either he is checking emails or I am most of the time. This way no email or PM is missed or goes for too long without a reply. Either he gets to them or I do, but one or both of us are always online either at work or home throughout the day.

He rarely, if ever comes on BP.net.
He's a boa guy 100%, not really into Ball Pythons at all. :sigh2:

Hogs don't get that large in the 1st place. Females will usually top off at 5.5ft-6ft and males at 5ft-5.5ft max and being more slender than the females. They won't get much larger on average no matter the feeding, but will become susceptible to become obese if over fed.