First feeding

[Waterman]

She didn’t strike it, which is weird...from my experience anyways. Laid it there and covered the cage and she ate it. I’m thinking she’s ready to move up to medium rats. My first Suriname, and I know you don’t want to push them. Let me know what you guys think. This one was the size of a small rat from rodent pro.


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[Gio]

Beautiful boa constrictor you have there.

I would not feed more than large mice for the first year, although I don't know the age of your snake.

Suri boas grow slow and there is nothing wrong with keeping them on mice for their first year.

JMcrook and Sauzo are a couple of guys here with some of the most beautiful Pokigron, Suri boas on the board.

They will echo the Gus Rentfro and Vin Russo feeding guidelines that I have followed with my locality boa.

[Waterman]

Beautiful boa constrictor you have there.

I would not feed more than large mice for the first year, although I don't know the age of your snake.

Suri boas grow slow and there is nothing wrong with keeping them on mice for their first year.

JMcrook and Sauzo are a couple of guys here with some of the most beautiful Pokigron, Suri boas on the board.

They will echo the Gus Rentfro and Vin Russo feeding guidelines that I have followed with my locality boa.

im not sure of the age either. She’s around 4 footish. The rat in the pics is the size of a rodent pro.com small rat. On the smaller side of it. But it barely left a lump. It seemed small. I know the general guidelines, I’ve had plenty of snakes before, just not the localities like this. Just want to make sure I don’t push it too much. I’ve read you typically want to feed a little smaller prey times to the Surinames.

[jmcrook]

If it left a bump I’d say that’s plenty big enough for now. You don’t generally want to feed anything larger than the snakes widest girth with BC. And once they’re fully grown they don’t even need anything as big around as they are, maybe like 3/4 their girth.

Stick with the small rats for a bit and see how she does. You’ll honestly have a hard time underfeeding a boa but it’s seemingly pretty easy to overfeed them.

My Pokigron Suri is about 250grams, 2.5’ or so and just shy of 1.5yrs and will be graduating to large mice for the time next week. He only eats every 10days currently but I’ll probably push him out to 12-14 days as prey size increases.

I portioned out my last feeder order of 50 large mice by size so I can incrementally increase prey size for both my Suriname and my Argentine Boa. The large mice ranged in weight from 18-30grams in the bag I got from cold blooded cafe. Once they’re through those mice they’ve got weaned rats waiting in the freezer.


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[Waterman]

If it left a bump I’d say that’s plenty big enough for now. You don’t generally want to feed anything larger than the snakes widest girth with BC. And once they’re fully grown they don’t even need anything as big around as they are, maybe like 3/4 their girth.

Stick with the small rats for a bit and see how she does. You’ll honestly have a hard time underfeeding a boa but it’s seemingly pretty easy to overfeed them.

My Pokigron Suri is about 250grams, 2.5’ or so and just shy of 1.5yrs and will be graduating to large mice for the time next week. He only eats every 10days currently but I’ll probably push him out to 12-14 days as prey size increases.

I portioned out my last feeder order of 50 large mice by size so I can incrementally increase prey size for both my Suriname and my Argentine Boa. The large mice ranged in weight from 18-30grams in the bag I got from cold blooded cafe. Once they’re through those mice they’ve got weaned rats waiting in the freezer.


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I was thinking of getting one bag of small rats and a bag of medium. But the small rat she ate today just looked so small. The lump is like...idk if it is a lump or if I only see it because I know it should be there lol. I mean it looks like the small rat was half the size of her girth. And I don’t want to buy a bag of 20 just to figure out in a few feedings that their way too small. I don’t have another snake to feed them too so they would be wasted. Ultimately I’m going to do what’s best for the snake, it looks like she could take mediums, but I’m new to the BCCs so I want to make sure

[jmcrook]

I was thinking of getting one bag of small rats and a bag of medium. But the small rat she ate today just looked so small. The lump is like...idk if it is a lump or if I only see it because I know it should be there lol. I mean it looks like the small rat was half the size of her girth. And I don’t want to buy a bag of 20 just to figure out in a few feedings that their way too small. I don’t have another snake to feed them too so they would be wasted. Ultimately I’m going to do what’s best for the snake, it looks like she could take mediums, but I’m new to the BCCs so I want to make sure

Do you have a reptile/pet store near where you could buy a small and a medium and take them home to compare to your animal? If in doubt better to err on the side of too small than too large with BC.

If smalls are really that much thinner than your boa you could feed two every two weeks or so in the event that you get a bag and they seem undersized. I did the same when I was moving my Suriname from hoppers to small mice. Gave him two hoppers every 10 days until I ran out and then moved to smalls at the same interval.

I know what you mean about seeing a bump because you know there’s a rat in there hah! Small mice I’m pretty sure don’t leave a bump in either of my boas anymore, but I still feel like I see it. Luckily the lower end of my bag of large mice is only slightly larger than what I’ve been feeding for a while. Will make it easier to stair step their way up to larger prey.


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[sur3fir3]

I was thinking of getting one bag of small rats and a bag of medium. But the small rat she ate today just looked so small. The lump is like...idk if it is a lump or if I only see it because I know it should be there lol. I mean it looks like the small rat was half the size of her girth. And I don’t want to buy a bag of 20 just to figure out in a few feedings that their way too small. I don’t have another snake to feed them too so they would be wasted. Ultimately I’m going to do what’s best for the snake, it looks like she could take mediums, but I’m new to the BCCs so I want to make sure

It is best to slow grow boas. It is better to have it too small than too big. I was told you should not see the lump from feeding on boas. and after one year feed every 2 weeks.

[Skyrivers]

It is best to slow grow boas. It is better to have it too small than too big. I was told you should not see the lump from feeding on boas. and after one year feed every 2 weeks.

I agree. I have a 3 year old hypo BCI that is right at 3 1/2 feet and still slender and he eats one medium rat every 14 days and he will refuse if offered weekly. He has been on the 14 day feeding schedule for the 7 months I have had him. Named him coffee... such an active boy.

[EL-Ziggy]

I'll echo what's already been said by others. Take it slow with boas. I was keeping colubrids and pythons before getting into boas and the slower/lighter feeding schedule was an adjustment for me. I was used to feeding young snakes every 5-7 days. My 2 y/o BI was 207g when I got him as yearling last July. He's right at 900g now. He could easily eat a medium rat but I only feed him a small rat every 10-14 days and he looks great. My female was 96g when I got her as a hatchling last August. She's 350g at the moment. She gets a weaned rat or a chick every 10-14 days also.

[Waterman]

I ordered medium rats from rodent pro. When they get here I’ll see what they look like. Tired of playing the guessing game haha. If they look big, I’ll get some smalls and stay on those for a while.