going to get my first boa!!!!

[erebus45]

Boas grow slow. For example my big girl is about 4 years old and she is about 6.5'. I've had about 3.5 years and got her at about 18". My sunglow is about 2.5 years old and almost 5'. I've had her a little over 2 years and when I got her, she was about 2'.

As for feeding, I feed anything up to 1 year old once a week. 1-3 years old every 2 weeks. 3+ years, depending on the snake and if its male or female, anywhere from 2-4 weeks, males being on the 4 week schedule. Some people actually fast them for a few months in the winter. I usually just stretch out their feeding by about a week or feed smaller prey but I feed year round. As for size, you want to make sure its about the same thickness as the thickest part of the snake. A little bigger is fine for BI but you want to keep it close. I never bothered to weigh the food. I just eyeball how thick they are and give them food.

Also some people say start on rats asap. I disagree. I would keep your boa on mice until its large enough for weaned rats and higher. Baby rats are just milkbags imo as they don't have fully developed muscles, organs and are filled with mothers milk which isn't great for boas. Switching boas over to rats from mice is pretty easy for most of them so I wouldn't worry.

Also feed in the cage. Don't fall for the wives tale that they get aggressive when fed in cage. That's BS. If you are worried about a baby eating substrate, just have a piece of newspaper, printer paper or paper plate handy and when you dangle the prey for the snake with tongs, when the snake grabs the prey, just hold it with the tongs and place the plate or paper down on top of the substrate under the snake who is coiled on the prey and then lay em all down on the paper. After the snake eats and crawls off into its hide or wherever, then just take the paper out and you are done.

wow that answered every question i had... thank you very much