Feeding while breeding

[Odd-sam]

Hello, this will be my first post under the boa section, so please, be gentle.

I have 2 boa c in my house, for i bought them 4 years ago and they have produced babies once (two years ago). I did not necessarily want them, but they just breed and i ended up with 10 babied and 11 slugs. Anyway, this season i have had an eye on them, so i know somethings going on. last time i got the babies on 19th of April, and my question is, can you feed the female normal sized meals during this time?

Last time i only had rats so the size was not a problem then, but now I've managed to find rabbits thats somewhat bigger than the rats. I normally feed her once every 2-3th week with a 1-1,5kg rabbit, can i still do this, or should i giver her smaller rats ~150-300g

[jbean7916]

Are you housing them together?

sent from my EVO

[Odd-sam]

Yes I am

[Evenstar]

Seperate them. You should never house 2 snakes together. They will compete for the same hotspot and hiding spot and simply over-stress each other. Boas do not need company - snakes aren't like most mammals that appreciate company. They will do fine, better even, if they are given the courtesy to live in seperate enclosures.

Also, the ONLY way to ensure these snakes won't breed is to seperate them.

Boas have also been known to eat other snakes, including other boas. This is a picture of what can happen when 2 snakes are kept together. These are ball pythons, but as I said, boas have the same propensity....


I'm not trying to belittle you - please understand, my concern is only for the snakes....

[Odd-sam]

I already know what can happen if you host multiply snakes together, unfortunately I'm housing them in a "display" terrarium, and i have no place nor heat sources enough to separate them. Still, these answers I'm getting is not really related to the question i asked.

[dart]

If they're just breeding, continue to feed them as you normally would. If the female becomes gravid, she'll more than likely go off feed until she gives birth. If she doesn't go off feed, but still shows signs of gravid then drop the size of her meals down and offer every 2-3 weeks. DO NOT feed large meals while they're gravid, especially during the last 6 weeks. It can cause premature labor. I would recommend not feeding her at all during the last 6 weeks.

[Odd-sam]

Ok, thx

[Mike41793]

Housing 2 snakes together is a no-no. You should think about finding a second enclosure soon. Tubs are very cheap so just setting up one of those for one or both of them would be easy and inexspensive.

[Jason Bowden]

Go with the rat every 3 to 4 weeks. IMO


That is what I do.