Is it time for bigger food

[CloudtheBoa]

Anything could be likely, some snakes do sometimes go through periods where their feeding response skyrockets. He definitely doesn't look underfed.

I have heard of instances where people put boas on a diet after being overfed and they turned kinda nasty and had an increase in feeding response. It can take several months but they can return to normal later on. Not everybody updates on their snakes once they put them on a diet but the ones that have generally say they had calmed down after awhile. Again, it could take some months but it's best for his health. Whether you try bumping him up to mediums or not is up to you but I stand by my opinion there's no need at his current size.


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[CloudtheBoa]

I imagine it must be a sort of pain response because when a boa is overfed the fat travels to the liver. Putting them on a diet rather than withholding food can reverse the fat build up in the liver, and I can imagine that doesn't feel too lovely.


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[dkatz4]

That's an interesting though, well I guess I'll let discretion be the better part of husbandry and stick to smalls. Incidentally, he's been a great joy to handle lately, and I usually stretch his feeding out a bit longer than 2 weeks. It's just the hunger behavior convinced me to feed right away a few weeks ago and most recently I actually wanted to get him fed sooner rather than later b/c he's due to start a shed cycle in about 2 weeks and he always abstains from eating and pooping during the entire time so I wanted to get another meal in and out of him before the cycle starts.

[Sauzo]

Snakes go through growth spurts where they want to eat a lot and grow fast. Other times, they slow way down. There is nothing wrong with stepping up the size as long as its within reason. Like I said, a noticeable lump I find acceptable but something that looks like it ate a football and has to be rolled onto the hot spot would be a bad idea. I kind of can read my boas and know when they are hungry as they pace and push and are very active. This usually happens around the 2 week mark. I couldn't go a month as they would break down their cages and probably try and eat me Also remember, females generally will eat more than males. Most of the people I've talked to as well as the Boaphile feed their males once a month but females get fed every 2-3 weeks. I do generally lean on the smaller side as like I said, I feed every 2-3 weeks so usually my 6-7' girl gets a large rat with a small rabbit thrown in every few feedings. My 5' sunglow gets a full sized medium rat every 2 weeks. The BP is scared of medium rats lol so she gets a small every 2 weeks and the carpet and baby dumerils get a small adult mouse and mouse hopper respectively every week.

Like I said before, give a medium a shot. Cant hurt to ask the feed store to let you check out their small mediums or to pick the smallest medium and then check it out and see if it looks about as thick as your boa. If they all look too big, then stick to smalls and try and find large smalls.

Lol the only ones that wont eat in shed are my carpet and the BP. Everyone else fine with eating while shedding. Heck I bet they would eat while pooping if I had a rat handy the few times I've caught them dropped a deuce lol.

[CloudtheBoa]

My babies aren't old enough for monthly feedings all the time, but I plan on spacing my yearlings' feedings out to 4 weeks over this winter to get them ready to be fasted next winter. My boa Cloud went from eating largish meals weekly straight to smaller meals every 4 weeks without any trouble, he never shows signs of hunger unless I'm thawing out food or it's his feeding day. Even during his 90 day fast he doesn't act all that different. Sometimes he'll get a little excited, but he appears to mostly just be in breeding mode rather than hungry, since he starts leaving plugs more often and just being active without showing any hunting behavior (tracking me when I go by, posturing to strike if food is nearby, etc). He would eat if I let him I just think it's healthier for them not to eat during the winter.

I feed all my boas small meals spaced out, and the only one that shows hunger behavior is my little anery motley, but all he really does is come out and stare at me during the last few days of his 10 days, doesn't strike or anything.

Definitely doesn't hurt to at least try a really small medium, but I really would avoid large meals.

All my snakes, regardless of species, and the fact I feed them so conservatively, begin to start refusing food in shed as they get older. Even the retic isn't all that enthused generally, and my normally voracious eastern garter (he will fly through the air to latch onto my finger even though I'm pretty much feeding him as much as he can eat) turns down food during a shed cycle. You must be lucky Sauzo. Lol

(My bp doesn't shy away from mediums but he does start refusing food after he eats a couple in a row, even if I space them out to every 3 weeks. If I feed them for too long he only eats every 2 months.)


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[Reinz]

In my experience of only seven snakes I find feeding pretty much individualized. I highly encourage experimentation with a common sense approach. That's how we learn and add to our and everyone's knowledge base. You have to remember that these snakes are living creatures, thus everything is not written in stone.

While I do believe that the smallest or adequate meal spread over longer periods is best, this does not hold true for all snakes. I want to make it clear that my snakes are pets and handled at various times. I believe that adds to the feeding equation. For example if you only handle at cage cleaning time and or infrequently you don't care if the snake is in feed mode more often and tracks you. On the other hand, when mine start acting this way I feed them right away even though it is early, or I feed larger meals. This way I can handle them in a few days without fear of being bitten. Like most folks here, I keep a detailed log on feeding.

Now of course you need to factor in the sex of the snake, is it still visibly growing, time of year, and breeding.

My small boa, 5.5 -6 feet has the girth of a Coke can at her largest part. I was feeding her 2 mediums every two weeks. Then she started started tracking and getting food aggressive. I went to a large every 3-4 weeks which worked for a while at preventing aggression. But then I had to go to a Jumbo Rat every 3-4 weeks which works fantastic! But the last 2-3 feedings I backed her down to a large to see if it would suffice and it did!

Elenore, the small girl tracking me.

To show that I am not nuts, My big Boa, 7ft and the girth of a 1/2 gal of milk, and square shaped, was being fed 2 Jumbos every 1-2 wks before I got him. I immediately cut that meal in half and doubled the time between feedings. He has not shown any aggression in almost a year.

Punch, the big'un getting some exercise.

My adult BP was at just one Med a month. Then she got insanely cage aggressive. I've fed her as much as 4 mediums, to a large and medium, all the way to Jumbo! Yes, a Jumbo is considered hieracy by the community, but that keeps her calm. She won't get overfed because she goes on feeding strike each winter AND always has.

Elvira nice and calm on bigger meals spread out.


Dkatz4, if your snake were mine, a pet that is handled frequently, I would try a medium rat or two smalls and see if that changes his behavior. Of course spread the time between feedings as well. At 2.33 years old, he is still growing moderately, and the nutrition will be used. If he refuses or regurges (which I doubt), then you know that he not ready yet.

Also, if his tail starts to get flabby and losing shape, then back off.

[Sauzo]

BOA HIPS!!!!!....starts humming Sir Mixalot big butts.....

[dkatz4]

Do you all find that hunger behavior is associated with handling bites? Not food mistakes, but out of the cage normal handling unprovoked striking? I have always "hook" trained him even though up until now he's never actually shown any sort of food response when I open the cage I still boop gently with a paper towel tube before handling – this worked last week and the other day when he actually was acting hungry and I took him out anyway. So I guess I have a 100% success rate so far but with only two trials I'm not exactly ready to publish. So far Irwin has been the tamest and most passive pet I've ever had, reptilian or otherwise – but as I mentioned, it has been just over half a year so there may be aspects of his "personality" that I have not experienced yet.

[Artemisace]

Do you all find that hunger behavior is associated with handling bites? Not food mistakes, but out of the cage normal handling unprovoked striking? I have always "hook" trained him even though up until now he's never actually shown any sort of food response when I open the cage I still boop gently with a paper towel tube before handling – this worked last week and the other day when he actually was acting hungry and I took him out anyway. So I guess I have a 100% success rate so far but with only two trials I'm not exactly ready to publish. So far Irwin has been the tamest and most passive pet I've ever had, reptilian or otherwise – but as I mentioned, it has been just over half a year so there may be aspects of his "personality" that I have not experienced yet.

As far as bites "associated" with hunger behavior, I've only ever had that happen with my larger snakes. I took a hit from my anaconda because she could smell food and decided my thumb looked like a rat. Not gonna lie it hurt, a lot, she has an incredibly strong bite. Other than that I've never been bitten in a situation like that, I have a couple snakes that are just jerks and bite me every now and then. My male banana being the biggest culprit of the this, the pretty little butt face. But the boas have never bitten me, given I haven't had them for as long, but in my experience so far, bites like that tend to happen early if they are going to happen. Hook training is a good thing because it gets them used to a pattern, with my tiger retic I used to have I would tap on his cage when I was going to clean or handle him and not when I was going to feed him. He learned that routine incredibly quick and I never had any issues with him. I would still try him on a medium and see if that calms him down a bit, they go through growth spurts from time to time and during that period they use phenomenal amounts of energy. My big female pastel ball python is going through one right now and is just decimating large rats every week. I might move her to a large and a small just to satisfy her because she's getting somewhat cage aggressive, we are also moving towards breeding season so that could be part of it as well and both my girls turn into bottomless pits for at least the next two months.

My point though is exactly what several others have said, there is no harm in giving it a shot. I'm not going to tell you to get a large and feed it to him because that wouldn't be a good idea based on the size of him I can see in those pictures. But go get a smaller medium and see how he looks after eating it and go from there.

[Sauzo]

Do you all find that hunger behavior is associated with handling bites? Not food mistakes, but out of the cage normal handling unprovoked striking? I have always "hook" trained him even though up until now he's never actually shown any sort of food response when I open the cage I still boop gently with a paper towel tube before handling – this worked last week and the other day when he actually was acting hungry and I took him out anyway. So I guess I have a 100% success rate so far but with only two trials I'm not exactly ready to publish. So far Irwin has been the tamest and most passive pet I've ever had, reptilian or otherwise – but as I mentioned, it has been just over half a year so there may be aspects of his "personality" that I have not experienced yet.

Only time I've gotten a food related bite was when I was being stupid and handled rats and then tried to reach into my sunglows cage to move her hide she was partially on to make room to feed her. Long story short, snakes can spin around 180 degrees with their neck faster than a human can move their hand out of the way lol. She let go though pretty quick when it didn't taste like a rat. Otherwise if my snakes don't smell food, I can open the doors and reach straight in and grab them. They perk up when the door is opened and start looking around but I'm not sure that is hunger response or just the response to see whats going on.

Me personally I never used hooks. Even my holy terror jungle carpet who struck at anything when I got her, after 3 or 4 bites I got her now to where when she is in doubt, I just put my hand by her face and she sniffs it, knows its me and then just more or less becomes a spazz instead of biting. Now I'm working on unspazzing her which she has good days and bad days. So much feisty and personality in her lol. Most boas are pretty mellow or at least the ones I've seen are. Dumerils are even more so. My little 2 month old dumerils curled up and fell asleep on my hand for about 1.5 hours while I laid in bed watching tv. And this only after 2 weeks of having her lol.

The only snakes I've really heard of being careful around for extra strong feeding responses are retics and burm but then again those snakes get big and I really wouldn't want to get tagged by one of them. I would seriously consider a hook for those guys lol.

Out of the cages, I've never had any of my snakes strike except my carpet who has tried to bite the tv before. She is a bit high strung atm though as I'm still working with her. Everyone else just wants to explore when they come out.