Problem with my three year old Bci Leroy

[Dutti]

So we had our appointment with the second vet. I drove over an hour to see this Vet, because he has 30 years experience with birds and snakes. He is a specialist in Exotics. I drove past six other vets to get to him. The diagnosis was the same. No injury to the mouth. or bones. The lump is hard and does not move, so no infection. No treatment options available.

Injury most likely cosmetic only. My snake should not be in any pain, and will likely be unaffected by the lump. The lump may or may not heal, but if it does heal it will take a long time.

I should watch the injury to make sure there is no change. Otherwise he says Leroy is perfect.

Thanks for the help.

David

That,s good news. You know now that he is ok. Try to feed him rats instead of mice. Maybe he will refuse at first but he will eat at the end. Mice are too small for 3 year old BCI. Feed bigger size meal and less frequent. My 18 months old male BCI ate last time a live jumbo rat (411 grams). I,m telling you this so you can have an idea what BCI,s are capable of. I,m sure that your BCI can take medium rats.

[Sauzo]

That,s good news. You know now that he is ok. Try to feed him rats instead of mice. Maybe he will refuse at first but he will eat at the end. Mice are too small for 3 year old BCI. Feed bigger size meal and less frequent. My 18 months old male BCI ate last time a live jumbo rat (411 grams). I,m telling you this so you can have an idea what BCI,s are capable of. I,m sure that your BCI can take medium rats.

You dont want to feed a boa what it is 'capable' of. That is your problem lol. My 7'+ retic doesnt even eat jumbo rats that big. My 5 year old 6.5' female boa eats large rats which are like 200 grams every 3-4 weeks.

Your advice is bad advice and is a sure way to a short lived boa.

While i agree, mice are probably a bit small for a 3 year old BCI, i would personally try small rats. You want the food as thick as the snake. Problem though is if you have an already overweight snake, then the whole scale will be skewed and off since an overweight snake will be extra thick to begin with so you will thick it needs food that thick.

To give you an idea, my almost 6' sunglow girl is on medium rats every 3-4 weeks and she is almost 4 years old. My 5 year old 6,5' normal is on a large rat every 3-4 weeks like i said. My 15 month old suriname is on adult mice every 14 days. My 20 month old salmon male is on adult mice every 14 days too. My 16 month old Peruvian Longtail BCL male is on adumt mice every 14 days as well. Could they eat bigger? Of course. Everyone except the BCC would probably be fine with it. The BCC, it would be a toss up if she puked it up or not.

Again, dont listen to Dutti on his advice of feed what youe snake is capable of. And here are a few pics of my boas to give you an idea of how they look.


A boa should have good muscle tone on its sides. If you look at my sunglow, you can see her side muscles in the line on her side. My normal boa still seems a little chunky to me. Like i said, a boa should have muscular sides and be a nice squared bread loaf shape. Generally, they should be taller than they are thick. Actually here is a perfect example from a pic of my suriname.