Advice on feeding new hog island boa baby! :)

[KodiakFox]

I have only owned ball pythons before, this is my first baby boa! I love her!! The place I got her from was not sure of her hatch date (but is trying to find out for me), but sounds like she is about 10 months old. She has been on hopper mice once a week, and is 130g. I think I over fed her so far, I switched her to 20g mice. I would like her to be on rats. Should she stay on hoppers for a few more months? Is it a weight ratio? I know over feeding boas is an issue (NOT for ball pythons lol!). I want to keep her healthy! It would be great if I could put her on 20 g or so rats. Please advise, thanks

[John1982]

I have only owned ball pythons before, this is my first baby boa! I love her!! The place I got her from was not sure of her hatch date (but is trying to find out for me), but sounds like she is about 10 months old. She has been on hopper mice once a week, and is 130g. I think I over fed her so far, I switched her to 20g mice. I would like her to be on rats. Should she stay on hoppers for a few more months? Is it a weight ratio? I know over feeding boas is an issue (NOT for ball pythons lol!). I want to keep her healthy! It would be great if I could put her on 20 g or so rats. Please advise, thanks

You can overfeed any snake, even ball pythons. There are just too many factors involved(fat/protein ratio in prey, temperatures, activity level, metabolism, etc) to be able to accurately peg down a specific, one size fits all, feeding regimen. The feed by weight chart is more a guideline than anything. You can certainly feed her 20g rats at her current size. Just pay attention to her body type as she's growing and don't be scared to feed less, or more, to maintain that healthy shape.

[Sauzo]

I keep all my boas on mice until they are large enough for weaned rats. Switching a boa over to rats is as easy as dangling a rat in front of their face.

Generally my boas will be on mice until they are about 1.5 years old. You want the food item to leave little to no lump in them.

The guideline i use is up to 1 year old or on mice, once every 7-10 days. Once on weaned/small rats, every 2 weeks. Once on medium rats, every 3 weeks. Once on large rats, every 4-5 weeks.

And boas will always act hungry. All my boas act like they never get fed even though i tend to feed on the more frequent side of the scale lol.

Oh and to answer your question, judging by the size of the snake in your hand, he could probably go up to small adult mice. My 3' TH snowglow boy is on adult mice. My 2' suriname is on 12g hoppers still but i feed her conservatively as she is a BCC. BCI can take a little larger here and there with no adverse effects. Just eyeball his thickest part and then eyeball the thickest part of the food which is generall the rear hips and make the call.

[KodiakFox]

Awesome, thank you both!