Feeding Question

[CloudtheBoa]

4 months and on small rats???? You sure she's 4 months? Even for a yearling boa that's rather large, but at 4 months is insane. At 4 months she should still be small enough for mouse hoppers - pinky rats are the equivalent.

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[CloudtheBoa]

I mean if she's a fast grower maybe small adult mice at most at that age, they generally weigh 13-18 grams unless the supplier is way off the standard. Small rats should be 45-80 grams, again, unless their smalls are way off.


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[Gio]

So now I'm wondering if I'm overfeeding Persephone...
She's almost 4 months old and I feed her 1 small rat every friday. I had learned from my 1st rtb that if they are not hungry, they won't eat. I'm now seeing that they are more like puppies and will continually eat? I hope I'm feeding her right. She starts to track on Thursday and the second she gets into position at feeding time it's over... Last week my boyfriend didn't know I had Fed her already and put a mouse in her cage that was meant for Hades (cali. Kingsnake) and she just ignored it, couldn't care less about it. I got it out and fed the king... So maybe she's like my last one?
.... Just would like reassurance she's eating okay or correction if the majority believes she's over fed...

I'd drop it to every 10-14 days.

You will not "stunt" the growth of a boa by feeding conservatively. They are easily over fed and practically impossible to underfeed.

Every 10 days is a nice "schedule" but I'm not a firm believer in schedules.

As I've said before. Never feed until your boa is completely empty. Wait until it is active and hunting for food. A younger snake will eat, digest and eliminate faster than an older snake.

Larger prey items require longer intervals. You can mix things up and if you do go larger wait longer and then feed smaller. In nature there is no consistency. In captivity we control everything. Because the prey we feed is fattier than the natural prey we need to dial back. Because the conditions we keep are always ideal, we need to remember the whole eat/digest and eat again cycle is accelerated.

Studying some biology about the animal you keep will assist you with understanding all of this.

There is a complexity about this, but this is not rocket science either. Once you start to observe and learn the behavior of your specific animal, you will automatically recognize the signs.

The key is not to get caught up in the urge to feed your snake all of the time.

It is VERY hard to resist. I know this because I have a royal python that sometimes will only eat 3 times in a year.

Guess what?????? That snake will probably live 30 or more years because it is self regulating it's diet.

Boas tend to always eat so just remember to resist the urge and you will be doing your BC a favor.


I also just realized this is a 4 month old snake.

4 months and on small rats???? You sure she's 4 months? Even for a yearling boa that's rather large, but at 4 months is insane. At 4 months she should still be small enough for mouse hoppers - pinky rats are the equivalent.

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I would not feed small rats until a year old.

I know of BCC or now BC keepers that will not feed Surinam boas anything but mice for the first year.

[Sauzo]

So now I'm wondering if I'm overfeeding Persephone...
She's almost 4 months old and I feed her 1 small rat every friday. I had learned from my 1st rtb that if they are not hungry, they won't eat. I'm now seeing that they are more like puppies and will continually eat? I hope I'm feeding her right. She starts to track on Thursday and the second she gets into position at feeding time it's over... Last week my boyfriend didn't know I had Fed her already and put a mouse in her cage that was meant for Hades (cali. Kingsnake) and she just ignored it, couldn't care less about it. I got it out and fed the king... So maybe she's like my last one?
.... Just would like reassurance she's eating okay or correction if the majority believes she's over fed...

I would feed her once every 7-10 days until she is a year old. Then from 1-2 years old, I would feed every 2-3 weeks. Then from 3 years on, every 3 weeks to 1 month. It depends on the snake. Some eat more and do fine, some don't. Also males generally eat less and go longer without food where as females eat more and get fed sooner. Rosey my 6'+ girl just about tears her cage down if she has to wait over 3 weeks for food. Same with Vicky. If she isn't fed every 2-3 weeks, she goes bananas and will pretty much attack anything that moves lol.

As for size, a small rat for a 4 month old is way too big. I'm surprised she got it down and didn't puke it up. Rosey who is 3+ years old and 6'+ eats large rats and small rabbits. Vicky who is 4' and just over 2 years old eats small medium rats. At 4 months old, they were eating hopper mice and crawler rats( basically a fuzzy rat). Basically I didn't switch them over for a long time. I don't remember exactly when but you will know. When they have trouble constricting the food and can inhale it in about 1 min, and the food doesn't leave a small lump, then its time to upsize it.

Boas will always eat if they are healthy. Easiest way to know something is wrong is if your boa refuses a meal lol. Rosey hasn't refused a meal in over 3 years. Heck she has only refused 1 meal ever and Vicky has never refused a meal. She even sometimes tries to hit the front of the cage as I walk by with a rat for the BP and other boa. When they smell rats or rabbits, everyone goes on high alert and windshield wipes the front of the cages, whether they just finished a meal or are waiting for their turn. My poor beardie is in shock during this whole affair lol.

[bcr229]

Easiest way to know something is wrong is if your boa refuses a meal lol.

On very rare occasions I've had adult males miss a feeding or three because they were looking for a girlfriend.

But yeah, typically they're garbage disposals.

[Stehfahknee]

Um.... yes... my 12 month old boas are on a smallish rat weanling and eat every 2 weeks. Unless by chance these are really super small "small rats", as not all suppliers use the same standard.

And boas will happily eat themselves to death.

Okay, I'm going to try to switch her to frozen this friday, I was always told once a week until a year then go to every other week? The rats are about twice the size of a small adult mouse... she herself is about 2 feet right now in size...

[Stehfahknee]

I would feed her once every 7-10 days until she is a year old. Then from 1-2 years old, I would feed every 2-3 weeks. Then from 3 years on, every 3 weeks to 1 month. It depends on the snake. Some eat more and do fine, some don't. Also males generally eat less and go longer without food where as females eat more and get fed sooner. Rosey my 6'+ girl just about tears her cage down if she has to wait over 3 weeks for food. Same with Vicky. If she isn't fed every 2-3 weeks, she goes bananas and will pretty much attack anything that moves lol.

As for size, a small rat for a 4 month old is way too big. I'm surprised she got it down and didn't puke it up. Rosey who is 3+ years old and 6'+ eats large rats and small rabbits. Vicky who is 4' and just over 2 years old eats small medium rats. At 4 months old, they were eating hopper mice and crawler rats( basically a fuzzy rat). Basically I didn't switch them over for a long time. I don't remember exactly when but you will know. When they have trouble constricting the food and can inhale it in about 1 min, and the food doesn't leave a small lump, then its time to upsize

Yeah that's why I up sized from the adult mouse to small rat, I put it in her cage, turned to feed the kingsnake and her mouse was gone. Couldn't even tell she ate... and she
Was PISSED lol. When I went to the shop the next size up from the adult mouse was a small rat. Do you know of a frozen in between size? I'll try that if there is one.

[CloudtheBoa]

Okay, I'm going to try to switch her to frozen this friday, I was always told once a week until a year then go to every other week? The rats are about twice the size of a small adult mouse... she herself is about 2 feet right now in size...

How...how big are your small rats? I'm picturing the average 46-80 gram small rat but that would be almost as big as the snake itself...At 2' mine might have been 100 grams at most so that's 46-80% of a 100 grams boa's weight. That's not even physically possible so I'm thinking either your small rats are exceptionally small or your boa is exceptionally large for it's age and isn't actually 2'.

At 2' chances are you shouldn't be feeding feeders over 15-20 grams. Honestly hoppers are probably appropriate and they're usually 7-12 grams. Weaned/small adult mice seem a bit large 13-18 grams if your boa is indeed 2'.

As Gio said I'd stick to mice, and I wouldn't switch to rats until it's eating jumbo mice. At 2' there's no way she's big enough. My sunglow is less than half a foot away from 3' (she's grown some so she could be inches away), and she's only just now been switched to weaned rats (the size under smalls).

Do you have any pictures of the snake, especially with some size reference?

Generally yes that's sufficient but even boas under a year can thrive on a 14 day schedule. If it were me, I'd definitely space the feedings out to 14 days if your boa is indeed 4 months and happens to be large enough for small rats.


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