We have a winner!

[dakski]

@ Dakski- He's my first boa. I wanted another large critter and since I already have a few nice sized pythons I decided to take the boa challenge. I've seen so many beautiful boas on the forums and FB that I simply couldn't resist. They may not be as lengthy as my Olive, Bredli, or Coastal but their powerful heavy bodies are still quite impressive.
I've done a lot of reading and research but I love hearing from folks with hands on experience. I would like to hear how y'all feed and keep em. My impression is they're pretty straightforward. Hot spot of 88-90F. Ambients around 78-82. Cool side low-mid 70s. Are they hardy critters though? Can they handle colder temps in the winter? Do you all shut off their food in winter?
Speaking of food. I've read and heard that every 7-10 days is cool for the first 1-2 years and every 2-4 weeks thereafter is a pretty good feeding regiment for boas. Are any of you doing anything much different? Any other insights to share? I'm all ears.

El-Ziggy,

Welcome to Boa ownership; they are awesome snakes and tend to be pretty laid back when handled regularly and not expecting food.

Here are my temps:

Hot spot: 87-89, 88F average. It's a big hot spot. About 2X1' on the heat tape alone and around 86-87F even 1/2 a foot away from there more towards to middle of the 6X2' tank I have Behira in.

Ambient: 81-84F

Cool side: 78-81F.

I don't let anything get over 90F and I don't let anything get below about 78F.

Humidity is important. I keep it about 55-65% (or more in the summer - closer to 70-75%) and raise to 80%+ when in shed. Humidity should not drop below 55% for any extended period.

They are very hardy when given proper temps and humidity. BCI's tend to be a little more flexible with the humidity than the BCC's, from what I have read. An occasional drop or high humidity for some time doesn't seem to bother them.

Feeding: Slow grown is the way to go with Boa's. If grown too fast they can actually put on mass faster than their organs can handle and die very young. If obese when older, that also shortens life span significantly. Looks for mean and lean! In looks, not temperament.

Also, less is more with prey size as well. Some people say make a nice bulge, but not so much that's not gone in a 2 days. I usually aim for a small bulge that is definitely gone by day two.

I got Behira at 440G (a little over 1 year old) and she ate weaned rats at that point.

Mice and weaned rats = every 7-10 days (I did every 7 but nothing too big).

Small rats (Behira eats these now - 70-90G or so and she's 950G - she averages 80G rats nows - probably borderline small, but better than too big): 1 every 14 days.

Medium rats: 1 every 21 days.

Large rats: Every 3-4 weeks.

Anything larger than large - every 4 weeks+.

I do not plan to feed rabbits or anything too fatty (rabbits are generally not fatty, but hard to get for me, and larger rats can be very fatty). So I will likely feed Behira, if 7,000-9,000G, 1-2 Large to XL rats (nothing over 400G) every 3-5 weeks, depending on if I feed one or two.

Males are smaller and probably will never need more than a Large rat to an XL rat. Again, BCI's stay noticeably smaller than BCC's.

Finally, hook train!

Boa's can have very strong food responses. Not the end of the world when small, but can be a lot worse when bigger.

I started hook training Behira at about 550-600G and we haven't had an issue since. She took very well to it.

As always, a dream when out, but getting her out after rubbing her with the hook and her realizing there is no food coming, is much easier!

Anything else, feel free to ask or PM buddy.

David