feeding weight

[scooter11]

hey guys. so with all my boas and my previous balls, i have always eyeballed the girth as an indicator or what size rat to feed. i just read something about the 15% rule. so my question is kind of simple, do you guys use this for just the juvis, or do you stick to this rule with your breeders as well? thanks guys

[C&H Exotic Morphs]

hey guys. so with all my boas and my previous balls, i have always eyeballed the girth as an indicator or what size rat to feed. i just read something about the 15% rule. so my question is kind of simple, do you guys use this for just the juvis, or do you stick to this rule with your breeders as well? thanks guys

The 10-15% guideline is just for hatchlings and juvies.
For the most part we max our males out at 1 small(75-90 gram) rat once a week. But we have a couple bigger(1300+ gram) males that will occasionally get a medium.
And our females at 1 medium(120-140 gram) rat once a week.
Feeding these sizes has worked great for us. Good growth rates for both sexes and great recovery after breeding season.

[scooter11]

Yea, that's what I had figured it was just neos and juvis. So your breeder females don't ever get up to large rats? What do your female breeders plateau their weight at?

[C&H Exotic Morphs]

We haven't had any of our females plateau weight wise. Our biggest girls are in the 2500-2800 gram range currently and still growing great.
Even just eating 1 medium every week they are still getting 4-500+ grams of food every month. So I don't see any reason for them to stop growing and gaining weight.

[don15681]

the 15% weight rule is for new breeders or keepers as a guideline. doesn't take long to look at the snake and be able to tell what size rodent is the proper size to feed.

[scooter11]

Thanks for the replies guys. I appreciate the responses. I've mainly had boas for the last twelve years, but my first snake was a male normal I kept as a pet. Before I gave him up I had him on large rats and he took them down no problem. Is that too much? I never had a scale but I'd say he feel in the 2000 gram range, maybe.