David EATS Goliath! (video)

[Sauzo]

i just read the article and thread, both very interesting. Let me throw this at you (and everyone else): My understanding is that my boa is at an age of major growth (almost 2 years old) and that 10 - 14 days between relatively big meals (right around the size of the mid body) is healthy up until sexual maturity is reached (5 years or so), at which point 3 weeks to a month between meals is sufficient. What do we think? Also, regarding the metabolic processes involved with digestion - is there any correlation in time between deification and preparedness for the next meal? Irwin poops 7 days after a meal like clockwork, this seems like a good thing (as Scatman said, "Ya' gotta keep regular if you want to be happy!") but i really dont know.
And let me ask a newbie question, how the hell can i tell if my snake is hungry? I am slowly learning his communication cues, at this point all i can really read is "I am pissed off" and "I am not pissed off". OK OK, in all seriousness, i do feel like i am getting a feel for his subtler moods, but hunger is tricky.

Up to you. Some say its fine, some say its not. I fed all my gals every 7-10 days until a year old. Then I switched them to every 2-3 weeks until 2 years old. Then after 2 years, I do 3-4 weeks. It also depends on food size too. I try and vary their foods, the sizes and the amount of time for feeding. Like my big girl Rosey gets rabbits and rats and when I find a local quail guy, probably quail in the diet too. Sometimes she gets a small rabbit, sometimes a medium rat, other times a weaned rabbit. Then I also vary her time, sometimes 3 weeks for the smaller prey and 4 weeks for larger prey. Same with Vicky, she gets large mice, weaned rats, small rats and when she is large enough, weaned rabbits. Going by pooping isn't that accurate imo as Rosey poops pretty much every 3 weeks but Vicky only poops likes once a month is not longer and she is the younger and smaller snake. I'm floored your boa poops every 7 days. Heck even Dottie the BP only poops like once every 2 weeks and shes a python who have faster metabolism than boas.

You can stick to every 2 weeks with a huge meal but I would be ready to back off quick if you see him putting on weight especially if you see "boa hips" forming. They will be fat deposits back by the vent, looks kind of like someone cut the snake at the vent and glued on a thinner tail, kind of like bottlenecked down in size. Don't confuse that with "sausage butt" though as that just means you possibly run the risk of getting a brown hotdog gift .

The problem with feeding too often is you wont see fatty liver until the snake is dead and if you have a necropsy done. The breeder I got Vicky from, we talked awhile before I bought her and we talked about out first snakes and he told me his birst boa he got died after 10 years because he overfed it. He said it died from a heart attack and it was 10 years old. He feeds all his babies every 14 days. Now i'm guesing part of that is a small snake is easier to sell than a larger snake and also it cuts down on his cost but the other part is i'm sure he wants to start people off with a healthy snake and not one that is already loaded with fat and possibly starting to suffer from fatty liver.

Bottom line, it is much easier to fatten a boa up if needed than trying to get a fat boa skinnier. Plus an underweight boa assuming its not completely emaciated and dehydrated will be in better condition than a completely obese boa who will probably already have liver damage not to mention heart and lung issues probably too.