Dumerils Boa feeding schedules?

[redshepherd]

How often should I be feeding Vigil? I'm getting very mixed answers from people in the Dumeril's Boa group on facebook. Some say that Dums have much slower metabolisms than ball pythons, and only need to be fed ONE weaned rat once every 2 weeks, even for a Dum as small as mine... which sounds like very little to me. Some say one small rat every week.

I've just been feeding her a weaned rat every 8 days...

I haven't weighed Vigil yet, but she is a little less than 3 feet long.

size reference

[bcr229]

I have four dums, an adult male and 1.2 yearlings. The yearlings are fed every 10 days and will be pushed out to every 14 days at the end of this year. They get feeder rats that are just slightly smaller than they are at their widest point and leave a minimal lump.

The adult male is fed every 14 days but he gets a one-pound rabbit that is about 3/4 of his thickness.

Dums run cooler than BCI's or BP's, 75-85*F, so they need more time to digest their meals. Feeding every 10-14 days should be fine.

Dums are ground boas and ambush predators - in the wild they burrow underground with just their nose poking out waiting for prey to wander by. I like to see hunting behavior for 3-4 days prior to feeding day.

[redshepherd]

I have four dums, an adult male and 1.2 yearlings. The yearlings are fed every 10 days and will be pushed out to every 14 days at the end of this year. They get feeder rats that are just slightly smaller than they are at their widest point and leave a minimal lump.

The adult male is fed every 14 days but he gets a one-pound rabbit that is about 3/4 of his thickness.

Dums run cooler than BCI's or BP's, 75-85*F, so they need more time to digest their meals. Feeding every 10-14 days should be fine.

Dums are ground boas and ambush predators - in the wild they burrow underground with just their nose poking out waiting for prey to wander by. I like to see hunting behavior for 3-4 days prior to feeding day.

Good info, thank you! Wow, they really do eat pretty infrequently... I suppose for mine, it would also be every 10~11 days or so.

My dum is almost always burrowed under the substrate with just a nose poking out though.

[bcr229]

My dum is almost always burrowed under the substrate with just a nose poking out though.

So are mine, the difference is while they are still digesting they will be hiding over on the warm side.