The need to feed.

[CloudtheBoa]

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 mice, 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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Also I don't feed in shed anyways so that's not a worry.


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[Sauzo]

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.

Well Kris also told me my guy will eat ANYTHING. He said, hes not picky and likes to eat. I heard females have a stronger feeding response than males. That's kind of weird. But as long as your girl is healthy, then everything is probably fine. You girl sounds like my BP. She eats but its not with gusto like everyone except the JCP. To get the JCP to eat, I generally have to tap her on the body with the mouse and then all hell breaks loose as she goes gung ho on the mouse lol.

[CloudtheBoa]

Well Kris also told me my guy will eat ANYTHING. He said, hes not picky and likes to eat. I heard females have a stronger feeding response than males. That's kind of weird. But as long as your girl is healthy, then everything is probably fine. You girl sounds like my BP. She eats but its not with gusto like everyone except the JCP. To get the JCP to eat, I generally have to tap her on the body with the mouse and then all hell breaks loose as she goes gung ho on the mouse lol.

Yeah that's just how she acts lately and I think it's because she's getting too much food. She's really chunky right now and I gave her a couple 1 lb rabbits. I'm putting that back down to 1/2 lb rats and rabbits and I'll see if anything changes. If it doesn't then 3 weeks it is.

She's always had a fairly low feeding response for a retic. Although her feeding response is way higher than all my snakes except the eastern garter, it's not as crazy as the SDs here. Lol. She never strikes without food in front of her (unless it's a rabbit), normally just strike and coil I have to drop the food, and she eats it slow and calmly. The eastern garter will strike at anything that moves and launch himself several feet in the air the latch onto my fingers if I'm not fast enough giving him his pinks.


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[Gio]

I need to clarify the size. I have been saying 2 feet or just over for my dude, but he is actually right at 3 feet.

Funny how the one I want to stay small I've underestimated the size and the ones I've wanted to reach bigger sizes have been overestimated at their younger ages until I grab the tape.

I measured Wallace today at a flighty, 3 feet long.

At 10 months our female royal python was 27" long.

At 9 months my male boa constrictor was 3 and a half feet long.

At 13 months the female carpet python was 3 feet long.

All are fairly similar sizes at the same age. I'm expecting Wallace to top out as the largest although the carpet is still getting long and staying lean so I'm wondering if she'll be near where her 10' mother is at when grown.