Quote Originally Posted by Sauzo View Post
*Shakes head* The reason he didnt eat would most likely be because you ARE overfeeding him lol. A 411 gram rat every 2 weeks......even my retic doesnt eat that much in a sitting. I usually give him a large rat every 10 days which is about 250 grams or i give him a jumbo which is between 350 and 400 grams every 2 weeks. Now that is a 7+ foot python!!

And if you are referring to me saying boas are opportunistic feeders who will eat as much as given, then yes they will but you missed the part where i also added...'unless you stuff them like a turkey'. Any animal, opportunistic feeder or not has a breaking point on food.

And you are right in that the snakes body did not require more food after a 411 gram rat 2 weeks ago hahaha. The only snake i have that has eaten something that big my retic and he doesnt do that anymore as he has topped out in his growth and has thickened up so he is down to maintenance feeding like i said of a large to jumbo rat every 10-14 days. And none of my boas strike or anything. i can reach in and grab any of them any time and they are fine.

And all of my boas will eat any time i give them food. I have never had Rosey my 5+ year old 6.5 ft female ever refuse food in over 5 years. Have never had my almost 4 year old 6' sunglow female ever refuse food in in almost 4 years. In fact not a single one of my snakes has ever refused a meal except my BP during winter but she regulates her own intake and usually quits eating from about mid to end of Nov to around Apr or so.

I really dont know why i continue to even debate this topic with you as i will state with certainty that you have not kept boas long enough to know proper husbandry. Join any boa FB group and tell them you feed an 18 month old MALE bci a 400g rat every 2 weeks and they will run you outta the group lol.

I'm guessing this is your first and only boa which you have had for maybe a year? Nothing wrong with learning but dont give out bad info especially your feeding habits. You can ask ANY person who has had boas for years and they will tell you the same thing i have told you countless amounts of time...you are overfeeding. And the definition of overfeeding in your case is you are feeding the snake the maximum size food in a very short time period. Do you really think a boa in the wild is going to be eating a huge meal every 2 weeks like clockwork and not have to expend a single calorie of energy to acquire it? No. Boas in the wild expend LOTS of energy to find food and miss more food than they catch and in the winter, they go months WITHOUT food. Sometimes they will only eat maybe 4 times a year yet they do great in the wild.

Now we got our captive fat lazy sausages which dont have to expend an ounce of energy and some dont even have the cage space to expend energy if they wanted. Add to that, people feed them the max size item they can fit like clockwork on a schedule that they would NEVER encounter in the wild and then wonder why they would refuse food lol.

Again, not sure who is the bigger idiot, you for believing your nonsense or me for arguing the point with for the 100th time haha. Anyways, do what you want, it is your snake that will ultimately pay the price for your ignorance of their husbandry but dont pass that ignorance on to newer people who are trying to learn how to correctly keep boas or really any snake for that matter. None of them were designed by Mother Nature to eat as much as mammals or even lizards.
I,m not advising anyone to feed their boas like i do with my boa. First of all, i have only one boa and if i had more than one i would have done things differantly. When i got my boa i was a beginner. I had almost no knowledge of snakes. He was a month old baby. And i was learning while he was growing. If i was experienced maybe i would have done things differantly. What i,m doing requires a lot of attention and work. To begin with, live feeding is not easy. Its something that not everyone would find ok. The jumbo rat that i fed last time to my BCI bleeded heavily while he was constricted. Not everyone like to see that. The danger that the rat can bite is real if the snake is not used to live feeding. And everyone has to remember that overfeeding can get you at the end a very thick large heavy lazy boa 10+ feet long and 12 inches in diameter. That requires a very big enclosure and lots of food. And as it was mentioned, it will shortened the snake life and cause illnesses. Yes this is my only and first boa. Nobody should think that i,m an experienced guy.