The need to feed.

[Sauzo]

Lol same here, no rat or mouse goes to waste here. Heck my 4-5' sunglow girl ate an adult mouse. Granted I had to hold it for her with tongs since it was too small for her to hold but she was more than happy to gulp it down in like 1 gulp lol. I got 5 girls though so even if the little man thinks of ladies and skips food, I got 5 more mouths that will be more than happy to take the rodent lol.

[Neal]

Very nice, some good shots of the snake as well.

[CloudtheBoa]

lol And I thought my girl was food-oriented? You and Sauzo's boys really put her to shame. I think the most extreme reaction I got was when I gave her her first rabbit. I moved and she hit the glass with her mouth wide open. She likes her rats, but she'd never struck at me while eating a rat before. Rabbits make her nuts, though.

She's also really toned down on the feeding response, even for her. The 1 lb rabbit I gave her took a lot of convincing just to grab, she almost didn't even want to eat it, so now at 7'+ I've started toning down her meal sizes and may even space them out from 2 weeks to 3 weeks if she continues to be less interested in food. There was also a time I was feeding her multiple small and medium rats because I didn't have any of the next size up yet (she's been barreling up in sizes quickly), and although she would take the second rat, she was a lot less interested in it than the first.

After reading your guys' posts here, it seems my girl has an abnormally small feeding response, despite getting nothing more than a fuzzy mouse every 2 weeks the first 6 months of her life. lol

The only snake that consistently gives me troubles is my ball python, and he's been eating like a champ for a little over a year now. My eastern garter Demi refused his last two meals, but I think that's because the first one I gave him was on the onset of fall. He's refused one meal beginning of fall each fall I've had him. The second one was a mouse fuzzy, and he tried his hardest but didn't eat it. I actually found a mouse pink and I've got some earthworms so I'll try him again soon. The only other snake that has ever refused a meal was Cloud when I was feeding him rats 2-3 sizes too big but I stepped him down and since then never had a refusal. All my snakes are good eaters aside from that.

[bcr229]

She's also really toned down on the feeding response, even for her. The 1 lb rabbit I gave her took a lot of convincing just to grab, she almost didn't even want to eat it, so now at 7'+ I've started toning down her meal sizes and may even space them out from 2 weeks to 3 weeks if she continues to be less interested in food.

My female adults that size are fed every four weeks, the males every five weeks. They get a one pound rabbit, except for one female who absolutely will not hit a rabbit so she gets a one pound jumbo rat.

[CloudtheBoa]

My female adults that size are fed every four weeks, the males every five weeks. They get a one pound rabbit, except for one female who absolutely will not hit a rabbit so she gets a one pound jumbo rat.

My girl is a mainland not a dwarf, does that still hold true? I am pretty sure I want to space her feedings out though, just not sure about monthly quite yet.


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[Gio]

Good conversation here.

Keep it up.

I'm not sure this guy will ever seen anything larger than a large rat. I will mix in quail and very small rabbits but not until I'm fairly convinced he'll stay in has predicted small range.

Its nice to see various people chime in here as I don't want to feel isolated with this species. There are a lot of BP folks here,,,,,,,,obviously, and a lot of boa folks too. The giant pythons whether they be the true big ones or the smaller versions see to be a little more advanced and the number of keepers more select.

Keep the experiences and suggestions coming and I'll do the same!

[jmcrook]

Really looking forward to seeing your little one progress as he grows. So nice to have other SD keepers around to bounce ideas and suggestions off of. So much variation between different localities and bloodlines and morphs to keep conversations interesting and educationally informative for a long time to come. Thanks for sharing, Gio!


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[bcr229]

My girl is a mainland not a dwarf, does that still hold true? I am pretty sure I want to space her feedings out though, just not sure about monthly quite yet.

DOH! Never mind, I thought you were talking about a boa not a retic. Every 14 days is fine, and you may find her skipping a meal when she goes into shed.

[Sauzo]

Kind of off topic but does anyone with retics have a heavy sleeper lol? My boy sleeps like a rock. Tonight I went to go feed him. I lifted his hide and he was curled up sleeping I'm assuming as he didn't even move. I hung the rat over his head and he still didn't move. I tapped his body with it about 5 times before he finally woke up I'm assuming. He lifted his head, looked around and then flicked his tongue on the rat. After that all hell broke loose lol. He grabbed it, coiled it. Then started eating it shoulder first, got worked up, dragged it off the paper and around the cage a little, wrapped it up some, worked his head to the rats head and then started swallowing. After he was all done, I put his hide back in and he went behind it and is relaxing now. I'm just surprised how heavy he was sleeping haha. He definitely has personality too like the JCP except the JCP seems to not be happy unless I'm donating blood every once in a while lol.

[CloudtheBoa]

DOH! Never mind, I thought you were talking about a boa not a retic. Every 14 days is fine, and you may find her skipping a meal when she goes into shed.

Lol nope none of my (current) boa girls are anywhere near that big yet.

I'm probably still going to go to 3 weeks though considering how chunky she's gotten and her lowered feeding response. I'll give her a month or two and see if things change first. She's getting half pound rats and rabbits holy crap that's a big mouse, 1 lb rabbits seemed to be too much for her.

As an adult I 100% intend to feed her monthly but she's not an adult yet.


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