Quote Originally Posted by Sauzo View Post
You do realize it is almost impossible to 'underfeed' a boa. You would have to literally feed him something crazy like a hopper mouse once every 6 months. And even then it would take a very long time before you noticed ill effects. Boas as well as most snakes are designed and actually do better with less food. I would bet that if you trimmed that boa down to small rats every 2-3 weeks, he would shed a few times fairly quickly and put on more length. I've noticed with all my boas that when I cut them back on food, they tend to grow more lol. Heck my BP went 6 months without food and still managed to poop, shed and grow during that time.

Shedding in one piece has nothing to do with how well the snake is being fed. And like I said before, you wont see the fat or damage until it has been done. the fat will build up around the liver and heart first which you obviously wont see. Then it will move outward and become rolls which you will see as well as fat lines along the top back of the snake. Where the spine is will be like the bottom of the Grand Canyon and on either side will be high peaks which are stored fat. The boa should have a fairly flat top or slight raised sides but not look like the Grand Canyon. Also you will see hips form around the vent area where it will look like someone glued a smaller tail onto the snake. And finally you will see pinhead where the head looks out of proportion to the body in that it appears too small.

But by the time you see this stuff, like I said, the damage will already be done. We have all made mistakes feeding our boas, me included but the difference is a lot of us listened to people who have kept them for years. Ask anyone who has kept boas for years and you will get pretty much the same response.....'less is more with boas' when it comes to food.
Today i fed him a live rat. I have choosen this rat because it looked optical smaller than the rats he ate before. I decided to weigh the rat for the first time before feeding it to him. I have never weighed the rats before. The rat weighed 284 grams which means a large rat. That also would mean that the rats he ate before were XL. Usually i feed him 24 hours after he poops. The longer i delay the feeding the more brutal his feeding response would become. Once i have fed him XL live rat 72 hours after he pooped and his feeding response was astonishing. What would happen if i cut his food to a small rat? That would make him more and more hungry. No doubt in my mind that large rats are the right size for him now and he can manage without any digestive problems what so ever. XL maybe were a bit too big. He is growing in age and size, so i will try to keep him on large rats as long as its possible.