Boa Feeding Question

[the_flaxseed]

Hey Everyone.

I recently got a 2 month old BCI Junglow morph and she's beautiful. She's my second snake (first being a banana ball python) and I just had a few questions about her feeding. I'm probably just overly concerned, but wanted to get some advice from you all.

So she was feeding on f/t adult mice in her enclosure every seven days with the breeder before I got her. I got her on the day before she would typically be fed. I waited 3 days to let her settle and tried to feed her outside her enclosure (just how I feed my snakes - they're on aspen and I don't want to risk her eating that), she was uninterested. I tried again two days later and cut the mouse's head to expose the brain (10 days after last feeding) and she struck and ate immediately. I then waited 2 days for digestion and started handling every other day for 15 minutes each day. Tried feeding her again with the same technique 8 days post feeding. Did not eat. Tried again 2 days after that and she struck at the mouse twice, but let it go and acted as if she was scared of it. Left the mouse in feed box for 10 minutes. She seemed uninterested and I gave up.

She is in a 33x16x16 enclosure with a hide on her hot and cold side. Temperatures are from 91-92 on the hot side and 79-81 on the cold side. Humidity is anywhere between 55-70. She looks very healthy and does not have mites, respiratory issues, and doesn't appear weak at all. Yet she stays in her hides all day and all night. I rarely, if ever, see her out.

Could it just be that she's stressed and I should stop handling her and continue to let her settle? Why might she be striking and letting go?

Thanks for any help. I know this is an easy issue to resolve and it has only been 11 days since her last meal. I just wanna get some feedback on why I might be having these difficulties. I've heard that most boas are very aggressive feeders.

[Zincubus]

If it was me I'd leave her be for 7 to 10 days before another feeding attempt - no handling- just change the water ... then I'd start feeding IN the viv just put a couple of pieces of card down over the substrate and offer over the card .
Feed in the evening and warm up the mouse / rat with a hairdryer ...


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[bcr229]

Feed in the enclosure. At some point she is going to be big enough where moving her means she will bite you - and since it's a food bite it's going to hurt and cause damage. You can put down a paper plate or piece of cardboard so she doesn't ingest substrate.

Also if she eats on a 10-day schedule then feed her on one. Boas have a slower metabolism than ball pythons and don't need to eat as often.

[Sauzo]

Feed in the cage. Your boa isnt eating probably because its scared when you remove it. Boas are not known to be picky eaters. They eat all sorts of stuff in the wild so a couple pieces of aspen or whatever wont hurt. If you are worried like i usually am with the small ones, just use a sheet of printer paper or a piece of newspaper or cardboard and lay that down before you offer them food.

Also an adult mouse for a 2 month old boa seems pretty large. All my boas when they were under a year old ate hopper mice. They dont graduate to adult mice until they are usually about 1.5 years old or so. If he is eating adult mice, i would push the feeding out to every 10-14 days. I feed anything on hoppers every 7 days. So up to 1 year old, every 7 days. 1-2 years old, every 10-14 days, 3+ years old, every 3-5 weeks. Size wise it would be hopper every 7 days, adult mice/weaned/small rats every 10-14 days with more days added for bigger sizes, medium rats and bigger, every 3-5 weeks with more days added for bigger sizes.

[Dutti]

Feed in the cage. Your boa isnt eating probably because its scared when you remove it. Boas are not known to be picky eaters. They eat all sorts of stuff in the wild so a couple pieces of aspen or whatever wont hurt. If you are worried like i usually am with the small ones, just use a sheet of printer paper or a piece of newspaper or cardboard and lay that down before you offer them food.

Also an adult mouse for a 2 month old boa seems pretty large. All my boas when they were under a year old ate hopper mice. They dont graduate to adult mice until they are usually about 1.5 years old or so. If he is eating adult mice, i would push the feeding out to every 10-14 days. I feed anything on hoppers every 7 days. So up to 1 year old, every 7 days. 1-2 years old, every 10-14 days, 3+ years old, every 3-5 weeks. Size wise it would be hopper every 7 days, adult mice/weaned/small rats every 10-14 days with more days added for bigger sizes, medium rats and bigger, every 3-5 weeks with more days added for bigger sizes.

To be honest i have never fed any of my snakes including my BCI anything less than an adult mice, even when my BCI was a month old. I feed live and its not allowed where i live to sell mice or rats if they are not weaned. So when my BCI was a month or two old, i used to buy for him the smallest adult mouce that i could find. I,m not contradicting what you are saying, just sharing a different experience

[dkatz4]

To echo what has been said, definitely feed in the viv. Right now the snake is probably confused and nervous having been handled for socialization, then handled again with the expectation to eat. going forward, as bcr said, you may be inviting severe feeding bites. Think of it in terms of simple conditioning, my boas experiance out of their enclosures/in my hands is that there is never ever food involved, and on feeding days I don't touch them at all, not before I feed them and obviously not after. I want them to think of handling as the opposite of eating.
But what you have heard is true, boas are voracious feeders and I'm sure yours just needs to settle in, give it a week without handling or feeding attempts, I'm sure it will be fine. Good luck!

[the_flaxseed]

Thank you all for the advice! Sorry for the late response, but I wanted to leave an update.

It turns out, and I feel stupid saying this, that Althea was actually in shed and I had missed the blue/cloudy phases, so it totally makes sense that she wasn't eating in either case. She's a new snake and her light coloring made it difficult for me to sense that she was in shed! I left her alone for about a week and came back to find her sitting next to her shed skin. I tried to feed her in the cage and she took it immediately. Issue solved!

I am switching to feeding in the cage from now on because what you are all saying makes perfect sense. About prey size though... I am feeding her hopper mice it turns out, but I am concerned because they don't leave much of a lump in her belly. She is about 24 inches long. For you boa owners, when do you usually switch to rats? Would you suggest increasing prey size?

[bcr229]

I would keep her on mice until she's eating small adults and then switch to rat fuzzies. If the mouse hopper is leaving a barely noticeable lump in her then it's a good size.