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Thread: First feeding

  1. #11
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    Nice boa.

    That boa could take a larger meal, however, in the title you said first feeding. If that boa is new to you I would feed about the same size meal every two weeks (no sooner but longer would be fine) for a few meals. After you have a few meals down up the size some. A Suriname boa of 4.5 feet would never have a meal sooner than every 2 weeks here and would go without food for at least 3 months during the cooler season.

    Over feeding will kill a suriname boa. Underfeeding is near impossible...5 meals a year would be under feeding for a boa that age but even that would probably cause no harm.

    Good luck.

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    dakski (08-28-2019),jmcrook (08-28-2019),Waterman (08-28-2019)

  3. #12
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    Re: First feeding

    Quote Originally Posted by bns View Post
    Nice boa.

    That boa could take a larger meal, however, in the title you said first feeding. If that boa is new to you I would feed about the same size meal every two weeks (no sooner but longer would be fine) for a few meals. After you have a few meals down up the size some. A Suriname boa of 4.5 feet would never have a meal sooner than every 2 weeks here and would go without food for at least 3 months during the cooler season.

    Over feeding will kill a suriname boa. Underfeeding is near impossible...5 meals a year would be under feeding for a boa that age but even that would probably cause no harm.

    Good luck.

    Thanks for the reply. I might pick up another small rat or 2 from a local pet store, if they have stock. This was the last one they had. Gonna have to wait and see what the small rats look like on here. I was planning on feeding every 3 weeks.

  4. #13
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    Re: First feeding

    I am going to echo the sentiment here.

    Less is more for Boas, especially BCC. All boas, but especially BCC, can get regurgitation syndrome if fed too large a meal. That is fatal. Also, an obese Boa is soon to be a dead boa.

    As mentioned previously, it's almost impossible to underfeed a boa. They have a very slow metabolism and also make the most of food given.

    I have a dwarf BCC who is eating weaned rats every other week and a 3 year old BI female, who is about 1,650G and 5FT and she's eating a medium rat (about 110G) every 3 weeks. Both are growing well, but not overly quickly.

    Once over 2-3 years old, I prefer smaller meals than they can take every 3-4 weeks. Go by width of the snake, but if it's a healthy boa, lean and muscular, AND still growing a lot, I feed no more than 10-11% of the weight of the snake if I move up a size, and average about 7% of the snakes weight before I even think of moving up.

    For example, medium rats barely make a dent in Behira now. However, she's maintaining her lean and muscular figure, and still grows after every meal. I won't move up to large rats for a long time, if ever, and only if she gets significantly larger. I'd rather feed a medium every 2-3 weeks as an adult, probably every 3, with maybe an occasional large rat, than feed her large rats every 4 weeks.

    Bigger than large rats and you deal with fat content issues with the rats, especially with jumbos. Boas do not handle fat as well as some other snakes. At the point, you would probably consider rabbits (small - appropriate sized of course).

    I digressed, but remember, less is more.

    Secondly, if she didn't strike, she might be adjusting, but I wouldn't count on that. Both my boas strike, anything and everything sometimes, anticipating a meal. My goal is to get the rat in so quickly on the tongs that they strike that first.

    Feliz, my dwarf BCC, strikes harder than any of my snakes, certainly by size, if not period (he's about 400G now).

    I would watch yourself until you know her routine when eating, and even then, never let your guard down.

  5. #14
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    Re: First feeding

    Quote Originally Posted by dakski View Post
    I am going to echo the sentiment here.

    Less is more for Boas, especially BCC. All boas, but especially BCC, can get regurgitation syndrome if fed too large a meal. That is fatal. Also, an obese Boa is soon to be a dead boa.

    As mentioned previously, it's almost impossible to underfeed a boa. They have a very slow metabolism and also make the most of food given.

    I have a dwarf BCC who is eating weaned rats every other week and a 3 year old BI female, who is about 1,650G and 5FT and she's eating a medium rat (about 110G) every 3 weeks. Both are growing well, but not overly quickly.

    Once over 2-3 years old, I prefer smaller meals than they can take every 3-4 weeks. Go by width of the snake, but if it's a healthy boa, lean and muscular, AND still growing a lot, I feed no more than 10-11% of the weight of the snake if I move up a size, and average about 7% of the snakes weight before I even think of moving up.

    For example, medium rats barely make a dent in Behira now. However, she's maintaining her lean and muscular figure, and still grows after every meal. I won't move up to large rats for a long time, if ever, and only if she gets significantly larger. I'd rather feed a medium every 2-3 weeks as an adult, probably every 3, with maybe an occasional large rat, than feed her large rats every 4 weeks.

    Bigger than large rats and you deal with fat content issues with the rats, especially with jumbos. Boas do not handle fat as well as some other snakes. At the point, you would probably consider rabbits (small - appropriate sized of course).

    I digressed, but remember, less is more.

    Secondly, if she didn't strike, she might be adjusting, but I wouldn't count on that. Both my boas strike, anything and everything sometimes, anticipating a meal. My goal is to get the rat in so quickly on the tongs that they strike that first.

    Feliz, my dwarf BCC, strikes harder than any of my snakes, certainly by size, if not period (he's about 400G now).

    I would watch yourself until you know her routine when eating, and even then, never let your guard down.
    nope. Never will I or could I let my guard down during feeding. I’m too use to the feeding response of a 13’ burm lol. I know some snakes take frozen that way, I just never had one do it lol

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    Re: First feeding

    @Waterman Please don't feed your boa too large of meals. Smaller is better. Id rather not see another boa die after 5 years because its too fat.

  8. #16
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    Re: First feeding

    Quote Originally Posted by sur3fir3 View Post
    @Waterman Please don't feed your boa too large of meals. Smaller is better. Id rather not see another boa die after 5 years because its too fat.
    Trust me. Not my goal. I know that this snake could take more, isn’t my first rodeo. I’ve had numerous in the past. Only reason I ask is the bcc thing. I’m not aiming for large meals. I’m aiming for slightly smaller than her biggest point. But this small rat looked about half the size, maybe less given the fur. I’m going to play it safe. When I get the medium rats I will compare and decide then. If I have to I’ll order a bag of small rats, it’s not a big deal to me.

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    jmcrook (08-29-2019)

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