Just got a new red tail boa male

[ballpythonluvr]

I just got a red tail male last week. He just shed and I am going to attempt to feed him a f/t medium rat tonight. He was previously eating live and I hope I can easily convert him to f/t. Does anyone have any tips on making the transition to f/t rats easy? I have heard that boas are garbage disposals and I am hoping that this is indeed true, lol. He is about six feet long and can handle a medium rat pretty easily judging by his girth. How often should I feed this guy? I don't want to over feed him. I know this is not quite like keeping a ball python at all. Any advice is appreciated. I will post pics once he has had a meal and has had time to digest.

[AbsoluteApril]

Boas normally won't hesitate to take f/t even if they've only had live before. Just make sure it's warm like you would do with a ball python. I highly suggest using feeding tongs.
A healthy adult boa is fine to eat one appropriate sized food item every 4-5 weeks. I judge based on girth, my boas that are 6' usually are on larges, but again it depends on their size.
Good luck with your new guy!

[ballpythonluvr]

Boas normally won't hesitate to take f/t even if they've only had live before. Just make sure it's warm like you would do with a ball python. I highly suggest using feeding tongs.
A healthy adult boa is fine to eat one appropriate sized food item every 4-5 weeks. I judge based on girth, my boas that are 6' usually are on larges, but again it depends on their size.
Good luck with your new guy!

Thanks so much for your response. I was thinking that perhaps maybe he could take a bigger prey item and I will do just that next time.

[Sauzo]

My 6.5' girl is on large rats and my 5.5' girl is on medium rats. Every 3-4 weeks in the summer, 4 weeks in winter.

[Tigerhawk]

Yes Boa's will eat just about anything. Yes do yourself a favor and get a set of feeding toungs. Let's just say they hit their food with bad intentions . There feeding response will get your attention.

[Dutti]

I just got a red tail male last week. He just shed and I am going to attempt to feed him a f/t medium rat tonight. He was previously eating live and I hope I can easily convert him to f/t. Does anyone have any tips on making the transition to f/t rats easy? I have heard that boas are garbage disposals and I am hoping that this is indeed true, lol. He is about six feet long and can handle a medium rat pretty easily judging by his girth. How often should I feed this guy? I don't want to over feed him. I know this is not quite like keeping a ball python at all. Any advice is appreciated. I will post pics once he has had a meal and has had time to digest.

Why would you want to turn him to frozen? give me one reason please

[ballpythonluvr]

Why would you want to turn him to frozen? give me one reason please

Well, actually I have two reasons. One being that buying live rats are expensive and I can buy frozen in bulk and also because I don't want to risk a live rat biting my snake.

[Dutti]

Well, actually I have two reasons. One being that buying live rats are expensive and I can buy frozen in bulk and also because I don't want to risk a live rat biting my snake.

About being expensive, its your thing. You know your budget and how much you want to spend. I can,t comment on that. But the other thing about the rat biting a Boa Constrictor which is raised on eating live, this is a myth to me. It can happen only if the owner made on of these mistakes: The snake don,t want to eat and you did not watch over and did not take the rat out. The size of the rat is too big compared with the snake. Or if you put the rat suddenly in the cage without letting the snake smell the air first to know what,s coming. Other than that, it won,t happen. Boa Constrictor is not a corn snake. Its one of the most powerful constrictors in the world

[Sauzo]

Why would you want to turn him to frozen? give me one reason please

The reasons are frozen have an almost zero chance of carrying internal parasites vs live who if you feed the snake, you should have a fecal done yearling to check to parasites.

Also frozen dont have a chance of injuring your snake if they grab it wrong, which will save you in a vet bill.

Frozen are much more readily available and easier to store.

Frozen are generally cheaper.