Okay about feeding my Colombian Red Tail...

[Sauzo]

And notice how that rat is a lot thicker than your boa. The rule of thumb for feeding boas is the prey should be as thick as the thickest part of the snake or slightly less. So it should leave no lump to a very very slight lump. And in the video, that rat is way too big. Thats like the size rat my 6.5' female eats every 3-4 weeks.

I'm honestly not here to argue the feeding of boas. People will either listen or they wont. If they wont, then they will learn from their own mistakes in about 10 years. The breeder for my sunglow overfed his first boa when he was young and it died at 10 years old from a heart attack. He learned from his mistakes as he breeds BCCs now more and has kind of gotten out of BCI morphs. And a BCC fed something big would for sure puke it up. Keep feeding your male like that and we can talk in 10 years

My advice is join the boa FB pages like Boa Constrictor Keepers, Boa Constrictor JB, Pure-Locality-Boas, Boa Constrictor Constrictor and others and ask around there for what everyones feeding schedules are. You will get the same answer i have given.

Anyways good luck.

[Sauzo]

Lol and don't even get me started on a 15 month old that's 4.5' long eating XL rats isn't the perfect example of power feeding. And after relooking at your video, that rat doesn't look like a XL to me, looks more like a large rat which is still too much. An XL rat is almost a foot long and about 300-350g. Larges are about 8" and 250g.

And overfeeding doesn't only mean feeding it lots of food, it also means feeding it the largest food it can take as often as it will take it which is pretty much your case.

[Aerries]

Well, I'm glad I have all this info! Thank you all for this input! I'll definitely feed conservatively and the right size....I want my boy living 40+ years


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[Zincubus]

I took a video of that feeding. You can watch it and see the size of the rat yourself

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hEM8dguV3po

You need to put that video behind a spoiler !!!

I did not want to see that !!


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[MasonC2K]

The consensus is to feel slow. Different people do have different ideas on what that means. Especially since not everyone has access to every size of prey. So adjustments are made. So not everyone will give you the same answer exactly. You basically don't feed it like a python for the reasons stated.

The only times my boa has refused food was when she was deep in shed. Otherwise she'd probably eat every day.

[Dutti]

And overfeeding doesn't only mean feeding it lots of food, it also means feeding it the largest food it can take as often as it will take it which is pretty much your case.

No sir, this is not the largest food my male can take. I can assure you that he is capable of swallowing a much larger prey than that rat in the video. I give him his average size food, not too big and not too small. After eating he won't remain hungry and he starts moving as he usually does after less than 24 hours or maximum 36 to 48 hours after eating.

[Zincubus]

Any chance of a mod putting the LIVE feeding video behind a SPOILER or a WARNING tab ?

[GoingPostal]

Feeding xl rats to a boa barely over a year and claiming you don't overfeed is perfect lol, I just love how oblivious people can be. My 6', 5 year old male boa gets large prey a couple times per year, usually he eats mediums with 3-4 weeks in between meals. I just bumped my 2 year old dumerils boa about 4' up to small rats every three weeks. Save money on rodents and extend your snakes lifespan, feed conservatively.

[MasonC2K]

Any chance of a mod putting the LIVE feeding video behind a SPOILER or a WARNING tab ?

Umm...you have to actively click on it to watch the video. It's not like it auto launches and plays for you.

[Gio]

I'll reiterate what I said in my first post. Or better yet just reread it.

If some people want to ignore Gus Rentfro's advice that's fine. He is a world authority on boa constrictors. He has successfully produced a perfect litter of babies that were mothered by a 30 year old boa. You rarely if ever see a 30 year old boa let alone one capable of producing babies. Gus and Vin Russo are close friends. Vin wrote the mentioned book

A 10 year old boa is not old.

Folks that have 20 plus year old boas however may be doing something correctly.
Read the book, study the species and learn the biology of the animal.

Most captive snakes are over fed.

In the wild it's feast and famine. In captivity it's about moderation, seasonality prey size and type.

Captive prey is fat compared to wild prey.

Think reptiles and their millions of years of successful evolution.