What is worng with my Boa?

[Dutti]

Boas can take weeks to digest a meal especially a large rat for such a small snake.

Time it takes to swallow a meal means nothing. My suriname swallows her hopper mice in about 1-2 mins as well as all my other snakes except my retic who takes probably a couple mins longer but he eats XL guinea pigs.

All snakes are hungry. My boas are all coiled up ready for another meal after they finish the first. Doesnt mean they need it or its good for them.

And growth. Well you are piling food into him, of course he is going to grow. The problem is his organs are not designed to grow that fast so there is enormous stress being put on them. Imagine you working at 110% 24/7 for 10 years. Something would eventually give out.

My BCI who is 16 months old and 4,75 feet long digests a large rat and poop it out in about 10 days.
If it takes 1-2 minutes for your snakes to swallow their meals, to me this is an indication that the meal is small.
You said piling food into my BCI, i wouldn,t describe it this way. I would say that i,m not keeping him hungry like in the case of your snakes.
As i said and i will say it again, impossible now to reverse things and give him small rats in order to avoid feeding him multible prey items per feeding. The best thing i could do is to reduce the size a bit and space it up as much as i can.

[thebrowntroutdude]

My BCI who is 16 months old and 4,75 feet long digests a large rat and poop it out in about 10 days.
If it takes 1-2 minutes for your snakes to swallow their meals, to me this is an indication that the meal is small.
You said piling food into my BCI, i wouldn,t describe it this way. I would say that i,m not keeping him hungry like in the case of your snakes.
As i said and i will say it again, impossible now to reverse things and give him small rats in order to avoid feeding him multible prey items per feeding. The best thing i could do is to reduce the size a bit and space it up as much as i can.

First off, you named this thread "what is wrong with my boa" all anybody is trying to is tell you. Secondly I'm somewhat confused why you think you couldn't go back to small rats. Snakes, even when accustom to larger prey items, will go back to eating small things. They do this all the time in the wild.(infact a big prey item is the exception, not the rule) For example, anacondas are known to swallow very very large food items(like a deer for goodness sake!), however, in between they normally prey on smaller birds or mammals. A big meal is a MAJOR score for a snake! They might get one only once a year in the wild, and they take a long time to digest it(sometimes months!). Snakes are opportunistic, their instincts tell them to captiolize on any meal they find. Snakes are always "hungry", a wild snake cannot afford to pass up a meal because it doesn't know when the next one will come. Since snakes in captivity retain this instinct, they will still be "looking for food" even after you feed them. In captivity we feed snakes more average sized meals because it is what they normally get in the wild, and it's what their bodies are designed to handle.(you don't want to be feeding them Thanksgiving every single meal!) By feeding them smaller foods on an appropriate feeding schedule you will find your snake improves. Anytime a normally docile snake hisses it's a big deal! Also what is "too you" too short a time for a snake to feed may not be what is actually an appropriate time. The time it takes to swallow doesn't particularly deal with the appropriateness of the prey size as it varies widly by snake. I really hope your boa grows big and strong, boas are incredibly awesome animals,(Next on my wish list!) and I think by following some of the tips on this thread you will help that happen.
Good luck!

[Sauzo]

My BCI who is 16 months old and 4,75 feet long digests a large rat and poop it out in about 10 days.
If it takes 1-2 minutes for your snakes to swallow their meals, to me this is an indication that the meal is small.
You said piling food into my BCI, i wouldn,t describe it this way. I would say that i,m not keeping him hungry like in the case of your snakes.
As i said and i will say it again, impossible now to reverse things and give him small rats in order to avoid feeding him multible prey items per feeding. The best thing i could do is to reduce the size a bit and space it up as much as i can.

Well with boas, you are better off with smaller meals. You dont want to feed them so big of prey, they go into food coma. You are lucky you have a BCI. If you did this feeding schedule to a BCC, it would most like puke all the time and die. BCI are much for forgiving on prey size. And you are right, I feed on the smaller side on purpose. Even after eating her large rat, my 5 year old 6.5' BCI girl is still happy to cruise around. Like i said, i dont 'weigh' them down with huge meals.

You are piling food into your snake. Like mentioned , snakes are opportunistic feeders so they rarely will pass up a meal unless they are stuffed. A large rat for a 4.5' snake is piling food into it n matter how you want to view it. Even my retic didnt eat that big of food at that size. And i think you are missing the point, snakes are ALWAYS hungry unless you are giving them so much food, they physically cant fit anymore into them. This is fine once in a while. But doing this every 2 weeks is just making their digestive system work overtime. Like i've said, you can say 'its fine' but in 10 years or so is when you will see the real damage which will probably result in a dead snake from a heart attack or liver failure.

And of course you can downsize their food. Not sure where you got the idea it's impossible to switch sizes to smaller. In the wild, snakes dont eat a large rat every 2 rats lol. They eat what they can catch. Might be a tiny meal in 1 month or a large meal in 3 months. Snakes are designed to go a LONG time without food. It is nearly impossible to starve a boa but very easy to overfeed one. How do you think people that 'inherit' overweight boas slim them down. They downsize the food and extend the intake. This can take a year or more though as boas have slow metabolisms so losing weight isnt a fast process with them.

And like i said, a while ago, you are getting the correct info from all these people but you choose to argue the fact and do it 'your way'. You seem to be one of those that needs to actually learn first hand and lose a snake from overfeeding before you realize the effect it has. Sad to say but it seems true.

[Sunnieskys]

Obviously, the OP is NOT going to listen at this point. The experienced people know absolutely nothing and he knows all about his toddler snake. I really wish I could take your snakes away. All I see is is you wanting attention and arguing at this point. Your narcissistic nature is astounding! You are killing your snake! Plain and simple!

[Dutti]

Obviously, the OP is NOT going to listen at this point. The experienced people know absolutely nothing and he knows all about his toddler snake. I really wish I could take your snakes away. All I see is is you wanting attention and arguing at this point. Your narcissistic nature is astounding! You are killing your snake! Plain and simple!

Wanting attention? Are we using our real names to say that? Not a clever thing to suggest as nobody i guess uses his real identity in this forum. We are just exchanging information, some might find that beneficial. This is one of the purposes why this forum exists.

[Kira]

Wanting attention? Are we using our real names to say that? Not a clever thing to suggest as nobody i guess uses his real identity in this forum. We are just exchanging information, some might find that beneficial. This is one of the purposes why this forum exists.

Exactly! This forum is for helping people, yet you seem to have shot down every piece of advice that the members have given you. What's the point of making a thread if you refuse to listen to solid advice from experienced people?

Also I have seen people post for attention- not putting a real name has nothing to do with it.

[Dutti]

Well with boas, you are better off with smaller meals. You dont want to feed them so big of prey, they go into food coma. You are lucky you have a BCI. If you did this feeding schedule to a BCC, it would most like puke all the time and die. BCI are much for forgiving on prey size. And you are right, I feed on the smaller side on purpose.

And of course you can downsize their food. Not sure where you got the idea it's impossible to switch sizes to smaller. In the wild, snakes dont eat a large rat every 2 rats lol. They eat what they can catch. Might be a tiny meal in 1 month or a large meal in 3 months. Snakes are designed to go a LONG time without food. It is nearly impossible to starve a boa but very easy to overfeed one. How do you think people that 'inherit' overweight boas slim them down. They downsize the food and extend the intake. This can take a year or more though as boas have slow metabolisms so losing weight isnt a fast process with them.

And like i said, a while ago, you are getting the correct info from all these people but you choose to argue the fact and do it 'your way'. You seem to be one of those that needs to actually learn first hand and lose a snake from overfeeding before you realize the effect it has. Sad to say but it seems true.

I know that I'm generous in giving food. That's why I don't own green anaconda, Burmese or retic. I didn't want to end up having a snake that is over 20 feet long. For the reasons you mentioned I don't have a BCC.
Ok, even by your estimation giving my snake 10 years to live under the current feeding schedule, means I have time to adjust things and change them, even if I didn't do it right away. I'm listening and benefiting from all the suggestions and I'm sure that I will do the right thing at the end.

[Dutti]

Exactly! This forum is for helping people, yet you seem to have shot down every piece of advice that the members have given you. What's the point of making a thread if you refuse to listen to solid advice from experienced people?

Also I have seen people post for attention- not putting a real name has nothing to do with it.

When I posted this thread my snake was sick, I didn't know that he was constipated at that time and I was not sure what to do, that is why I posted this thread. You can read the beginning of it again. I didn't know that it's going to draw lots of replies. The advice that i wanted is how to solve the immediate problem of my snake. I'm not one of those people who post for attention. I post when I need help or I want to know something. Never had the idea to have attention! Again, I have listened and benefited from the advices and I'm sure I will do the right thing at the end.

[MissterDog]

I know that I'm generous in giving food. That's why I don't own green anaconda, Burmese or retic. I didn't want to end up having a snake that is over 20 feet long. For the reasons you mentioned I don't have a BCC.
Ok, even by your estimation giving my snake 10 years to live under the current feeding schedule, means I have time to adjust things and change them, even if I didn't do it right away. I'm listening and benefiting from all the suggestions and I'm sure that I will do the right thing at the end.

Considering how defensive and insistent you were in your previous posts, I think it's fair for everyone involved in this thread to be skeptical. For someone who says they have listened and benefited from everyone, it's odd that you've made such a fuss when challenged and fell back on excuses. As for doing the right thing in the end, when will that be? Hopefully sooner than 10 years?

Nip things at the bud. The more you convince yourself it's ok to take your time the more you're letting the health risks develop. I think you're approaching this too casually.

[Dutti]

Considering how defensive and insistent you were in your previous posts, I think it's fair for everyone involved in this thread to be skeptical. For someone who says they have listened and benefited from everyone, it's odd that you've made such a fuss when challenged and fell back on excuses. As for doing the right thing in the end, when will that be? Hopefully sooner than 10 years?

Nip things at the bud. The more you convince yourself it's ok to take your time the more you're letting the health risks develop. I think you're approaching this too casually.

I have now a feeding plan for the future. I won,t be harming my BCI. No way! If I did I would be harming myself. I have to do a balancing act in which he gets all the vitamins and the right food necessary for him to grow and be a healthy beautiful strong adult Boa and not overfeeding him.