BCI feeding questions

[yankeeslover]

Good afternoon. I had a couple questions on feeding my young BCI. I have read some say to feed once per week, and others say every two weeks. What's the general thoughts on this?
Also, right now he is eating F/T hopper mouse, if I want to switch to rats what would be comparable size rats to hopper mice? Only place for me to get rats is online. Also, can I continue the mice until he is larger than switch? I thaught I read that mice at that size have more nutritional value than comparable size rats, not sure if true.. thank you

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[AbsoluteApril]

Baby boas are okay to feed every 7-10 days. I start spacing it out to 2 weeks once they are up to weaned/small rats and then 3-5 weeks once on larger food. I don't follow a set schedule though.
Since your little one is only on hopper mice, once a week should be fine and yes, you can keep feeding the appropriate size mouse or switch to similar size rats, either works fine. Hopper mouse is close to rat fuzzy size. Most online suppliers will show a basic weight for the different sizes, so that's good way to judge the various sizes. For feeding boas, I feed something that is no larger than the thickest part of the body and personally err on the smaller size.
I hope this helps a little. Good luck with your new little one!

[Bogertophis]

Mice or rats, the nutritional value is virtually equal. What is NOT equal is a young rodent versus a more mature rodent, which has more nutrients due to having larger bones, more developed muscles, & hair.

When snakes are young, they're growing fast & also usually eating young rodents (that "fit"), which are more digestible, so it's best to feed a snake (under 6 mos. of age)roughly once a week. I'm just generalizing* here: as a snake grows, they are fed slightly larger (ie. older) rodents, which take a little longer to digest, so for that reason, we lengthen the time between meals. *Most young adult snakes (6 mos. to a year) do best being fed every 10 days (sorry if that doesn't fit your calendar as well), and after that, adult snakes are fed about every 2 weeks. (*Again, with adjustments made for health variations, such as breeding.) Snakes grow their whole life, but slow down in later years; at that point many can be fed about every 2.5 to 3 weeks, but always with the individual in mind; just like people, over-eating is bad for their health, so pay attention to their body condition & feed accordingly, rather than a "one size fit's all" formula.

Mice & rats smell & taste different. While some snakes object greatly to switching, it's unlikely that your BCI will much care either way...just feed what "fits"- a rodent that is as big around or slightly less than the widest part of your snake's mid-body, that's how I judge, though many here actually weigh their rodents, as do most pro suppliers.

For now, you're fine to feed mice, but at some point it becomes inconvenient to feed larger snakes on mice, simply because in order to give them enough food, you have to feed them multiple rodents. Your BCI is unlikely to care & will happily eat more than one mouse per meal, but keep in mind, the method of "switching" to rats is for those keeping picky snakes like BPs, that are more likely to refuse more than one item at a time. Sometimes you're lucky if they take even one, lol. The only thing about forever feeding a BCI on mice is that it's harder for you to judge when you're over-feeding (the method of comparing prey size to the snake's mid-body is irrelevant when feeding a multiple number of mice).

[CloudtheBoa]

I do 10-14 days starting out, and don't switch until they can take a weaned rat with a small bulge at most - for the two I raised like this they made the switch at about 1.5-2 years old and 3'. I skip jumbo mice due to fat content, and weaned rats are slightly bigger than jumbo mice anyways, so they sit on large mice for a long time before I offer the first weaned rat. Weaneds are also a decently large meal at this point in time, so for a few feedings I'm bouncing back and forth between weaned rats and large mice to kinda balance out the extra food they're getting.


For the first year, I noticed comparable growth feeding my boas hopper or small mice every 10-14 days as I saw in my first boa eating rats from the get-go every 5 days (yes yes I've learned better since thanks to this forum), and other keepers feeding mice/rats every 7 days. Once on weaned rats, the more heavily fed snakes seem to outstrip them, but I prefer a slower, steadier growth as it means a better body tone in the long run.

I also shake things up with day old chicks and quail for young ones, and rabbits/chickens/quail for the adults. They only eat once a month, plus winters off food for non-breeding adults.