What is worng with my Boa?

[Dutti]

The snake was dehydrated lol. It doesnt take a rocket scientist to figure that out. If he has been constipated multiple times now, you need to figure out your husbandry. None of my snakes have ever been constipated since i have had them in over 5 years. Even my old BP which i had for 10 years never got constipated.

Not sure why the vet wouldnt talk to you about it. My vet takes note on everything when i bring a new snake to her. It's like 100 questions about husbandry, feeding, temps, history, everything. But my vet is pretty awesome. She saved Allies life when Allie accidently ingested some Provent-A-Mite. She did try and bite the vet a few times when she felt better lol. The vet called me and told me i think Allie is ready to go home now as she took a couple shots at me lol.

Anyways, like i said, constipation is from humidity issues or the snake ate something that was entirely too big and couldnt be digested like a bunch of paper towels, wash cloth or something else like that. A few pieces of coco husk or a pinch of ground up coco husk would not create that kind of blockage.

Also good that the vet got the poop out. I bet it was like uncorking a bottle of shaken champagne lol.

He is a truly a great highly educated vet and treating reptilies is one of his specialities. His clinic is always full and he does not charge much. If you ask him he will answer you, but he does not have the time to ask you questions. I am very happy with the outcome. And as you have described it, it was like uncorking a bottle of shaken champagne, and the poop did fly in the air before hitting the ground..lol

[Dutti]

Personally, I have been keeping and breeding boas (normally around 100 boas in the collection up until this past year), and my humidity is in the low 60s. I have never had a constipation issue, and here is why... I feed my boas appropriately. If you are feeding your 15 month old boas large rats, your are putting massive physiological stress on that animal. This, will ultimately result in constipation and very likely death prematurely for that animal. Boas are not built to eat at that rate, but they will if offered. I highly doubt soil was an issue early on either, as remarkably boas and their relatives have been living in the wild, on soil, for millions of years. No boa I have ever caught in the wild looks like a boa from most collections in captivity. Overfeeding is very likely the issue here.

My feeding schedule for adult boas is simple. I do not feed from November through to March. I then feed adult females once every two to three weeks, and males once every three to four weeks. I feed subadult females every 2 weeks and males every 2 to 3. Neonates are feed every 7 to 10 days or so, depending on sex.

Warren

I know that the large rats he is eating are big for a boa in his age. But he digest such a large rat and poop it out in about 9 days. This is his size of food. Even if Boas in his age are eating small rats. What could have contributed to the constipation is that he ate the rat and went immediately into shedding. Maybe the water in his body was used for the shedding process and not enough water to digest the meal left. Its not that after every large rat he eats he gets constipated. This is only the second time in his life. Next time if he gets constipated i will take him to the vet immediately.

[AbsoluteApril]

Multiple users have addressed your overfeeding of this boa in multiple threads. Warren Booth is one of the highly knowledgeable people in the boa community. I hope one of these days you're more willing to trust in some of the advise you have been given.

[Dutti]

Multiple users have addressed your overfeeding of this boa in multiple threads. Warren Booth is one of the highly knowledgeable people in the boa community. I hope one of these days you're more willing to trust in some of the advise you have been given.

I,m a caring person, not reckless. I thank everybody for their valuable advices. I,m not trying to powerfeed my BCI. I care about him a lot. But i,m doing it my way. i write down everything regarding his feeding and shedding, also watching closely his growth rate. If i notice that anything is not normal i will adjust things. The last time he ate was on the 24th of July. And i,m going to offer him food again next week. And it will be a medium rat this time.

[wowmattsays]

I,m a caring person, not reckless. If i notice that anything is not normal i will adjust things.

Is this a joke? You said that the boa has now had digestive issues twice, and you continue to do things your way? It seems to me that "your way" is clearly the inappropriate and dangerous way, and refusing to acknowledge that is reckless to say the least. You are responsible for a life, and jeopardizing his health to do things your way is irresponsible and dangerous.



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[L.West]

How many people go by the 10% of the body weight to determine the size of the feeder.

I am currently debating this - I fed my 1,600 gram boa an 80 gram rat the other night but he never seems satisfied. When I did the math on the 10% of body weight it seemed like a huge rat was in order.

What do you all suggest.

I've been feeding once every two weeks currently. He is about 2.5 or 3 years old.

Thanks

[bcr229]

How many people go by the 10% of the body weight to determine the size of the feeder.

I am currently debating this - I fed my 1,600 gram boa an 80 gram rat the other night but he never seems satisfied. When I did the math on the 10% of body weight it seemed like a huge rat was in order.

What do you all suggest.

I've been feeding once every two weeks currently. He is about 2.5 or 3 years old.

Thanks

That guideline really only works for young ball pythons, once they're adults then can eat small/med rats for life and be fine.

My adult boas get a rat or young rabbit 50-75% of their girth at the widest point, with no or very minimal lump observed after the snake eats. Young boas get a feeder that barely leaves a lump. If the feeder is a bird like chicken or quail I'll go up to the snake's body width but that's because birds are a lot less dense.

For young boas I take their age in years, add 1, and that's the weekly feeding interval. So, under a year they get fed every 7-10 days, at a year every two weeks, at 2 years every three weeks, etc. Once they're adults I feed every 4-6 weeks depending on body condition and whether I expect to pair them that season or not.

FWIW I lost a six year old hypo female last week that was power-fed before I got her (I found out after I bought her). I had a full necro along with tissue samples tested for virii and those came back clean - got those results this morning - but her heart and liver were a mess per the vet. Basically she was a ticking time bomb and her liver finally failed.

[dylan815]

You ever get the 'lazy lines' on your big boas from that low of humidity? The vertical creases from them coiling up. I noticed when I kept my humidity around 60% a long time ago, my bigger girls would get those lines. Then when I up'd the humidity to 70-80%, they quit getting them.

And that's just about like my feeding schedule except I don't cool down and 'winterize' my boas. They live in an eternal summer but do get fed less in the winter. I usually do anything on mice every 7-10 days. Then once they hit about 1.5-2 years old, they go to weaned/small rats every 2 weeks. Medium rats every 3-4 weeks. Larges every 3-4 weeks. Rabbits every 4-5 weeks. And males getting the farther end of the feeding scale.

I also generally feed on the smaller side overall for everyone except my retic who isn't happy unless his food is big. Heck my 1.1 year old suriname and 1.2 year old Longicauda are still on hopper mice.

"lazy lines"? Could you explain further, I cant quite picture what these look like.

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You ever get the 'lazy lines' on your big boas from that low of humidity? The vertical creases from them coiling up. I noticed when I kept my humidity around 60% a long time ago, my bigger girls would get those lines. Then when I up'd the humidity to 70-80%, they quit getting them.

And that's just about like my feeding schedule except I don't cool down and 'winterize' my boas. They live in an eternal summer but do get fed less in the winter. I usually do anything on mice every 7-10 days. Then once they hit about 1.5-2 years old, they go to weaned/small rats every 2 weeks. Medium rats every 3-4 weeks. Larges every 3-4 weeks. Rabbits every 4-5 weeks. And males getting the farther end of the feeding scale.

I also generally feed on the smaller side overall for everyone except my retic who isn't happy unless his food is big. Heck my 1.1 year old suriname and 1.2 year old Longicauda are still on hopper mice.

"lazy lines"? Could you explain further, I cant quite picture what these look like.

[Sauzo]

"lazy lines"? Could you explain further, I cant quite picture what these look like.

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"lazy lines"? Could you explain further, I cant quite picture what these look like.

"lazy lines" are those vertical creases you see on boas sometimes when they curl up. Basically where it creases, their scales crease. It's not from fat and i only see on bigger boas. My big girls used to get them when i kept the humidity around 60%. Once i raised the humidity to around 70%, i quit seeing them.

[dylan815]

thank you, I have seen these a few times on my big boy dexter. I will make sure that the humidity is up!