Attacked it!

[nick654377]

Well im used to my dumerils feeding responce. Just opens her mouth no strikes and down the hatch. Well im glad i bought feeding tongs. That bcc struck with vengeance and made small work of the 45g weened rat. Just glad he ate. He is going to be a fun one to calm down and seeing how he is at 3 and a half feet kinda makes me wonder if my dumerils is a little on the plump side. O well just glad he ate for the first try.

[Evenstar]

What did I tell you???

[Annarose15]

Pics or it didn't happen

[nick654377]

i will get pics next time. i wasnt expecting him to take it today but he did to my surprise.

I cannot believe how much irridessence he has to him too. its crazy. but now he is in his hide for a few days.

there was no food lump with a 45g weened rat. should i step him up to 60g small rats? or keep him on the weened for a while?

[Evenstar]

I would keep him on the weaned rats. Smaller is always better with boas and especially for BCCs. Its better that the prey item does not leave a lump. A slow-grown boa is healthier.

[nick654377]

Alright. Im going to get better pictures of him this week. To me he looks too skinny. You can see his spine very very easy.

So should i drop my dumerils prey size down to rat fuzzies or keep her on the weened? The weened leave a pretty good lump in her.

[BLM94]

Dumerils are naturally slightly heavier than their BCC/BCI relatives, but should also be slow-grown. The meal shouldn't leave a noticeable bulge once down; boas have slower metabolisms than pythons and are more prone to obesity

[Evenstar]

Dumerils are naturally slightly heavier than their BCC/BCI relatives, but should also be slow-grown. The meal shouldn't leave a noticeable bulge once down; boas have slower metabolisms than pythons and are more prone to obesity

Exactly. Dums tend to do ok on slightly larger prey items. You might try alternating sizes each week with the Dum (feed a weaned rat one week, then a fuzzy the next and so on).

BCCs and BCIs are very slendar, and should be, especially as babies. Seeing the "spine" is actually not as bad as it sounds. If you can post another pic of El Diablo (told you that was his official name now, lol... ), we can tell you if he's underweight. But even if he IS, that does not mean you should feed him larger prey or any more often!!

I can't be any more clear than this: Feed him 1 rat that does not leave a noticable lump in his belly, or only a very slight lump, once every 10 days.

"It is a practical impossibility to underfeed a normal healthy boa kept in the proper conditions. Many people find it entirely effortless to overfeed theirs! The single most frequently identifiable factor in premature death, poor fertility and other problems with captive boas, especially red-tails, is obesity resulting from over feeding." ~ Gus Rentfro, Rio Bravo Reptiles and breeder of multiple BCC and BCI localities for over 30 years.

[nick654377]

im still going to stick with the weened rats for both of them. im going to feed every 10 days as oppsed to 7. I have to get feeders today so i am going to see what the larger weened look like 50-60g. the ones im using now like i said are 40-45. so i may grab one large one for next feeding and see what that looks like.


and a pointer to those using f.t use a hair dryer. i switched over from heating in a bag with hot water to a hair dryer and it is a night and day difference. and alot easier at that too!