Doing some boa research. Would appreciate help!

[dakski]

This brings up another question I forgot to ask initially.
What are your recommended feeding schedules for a BCI to avoid obesity? Based on what research I've done, it seems like it can be very easy to overfeed a boa, as their metabolisms are so slow.

I feel like this varies sometimes from keeper to keeper but judging from the videos and caresheets I've read they all generally seem to agree on the following:

• Babies - mice every 7 days
• Juveniles (1 year old-ish) - small rats every 2 weeks
• 2-4 years old - medium rats every 3 weeks
• 5 years old - large rats every 4 weeks
• Seniors (7+ foot) - jumbo rats every 5-6 weeks

Please feel free to give as much feedback as possible because this is something I want to get right.

Few things. First, yes a female BI will take a long time to get to full size if fed properly. However, males can have the same personality, and they are all different. I would go with a boa you really like, male or female. You might also want to get a yearling so it's established and you will have a better sense of their personality.

When I bought Behira, I asked the breeder for his calmest, most docile, animal that ate well. I ended up with Behira and have no regrets. She was just over a year when I got her. I did the same thing with Feliz.

Also, as mentioned, locale Boas can be much smaller, but do not always have the personality of their bigger cousins. My dwarf BCC, Feliz, is a boa known for being gentle and docile. He was also a little older as he was a holdback, so I knew he was a sweetheart before I got him.

I can recommend breeders who will ship, or might be local to you, or relatively local. Either way, I have breeders I trust implicitly. I am sure others here do as well.

Finally, hook training, as discussed is probably the best way to prevent food response, and even other, bites.

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/show...=hook+training

I put the thread above together for people learning to hook train.

Regarding feeding.

I would do the following:

• Babies - mice every 7 days
• Juveniles - 2 years - rat pups, then weaned rats weekly. Small rats every two weeks, if appropriate size. Never big enough to leave a big lump.
• 3 to adulthood (or sooner if big enough) - medium rats every 3 weeks

Can you go to large rats. Yes. There is a big debate on this.

First, larger rats have more fat. Secondly, Boas are incredibly efficient and any animal metabolizes smaller meals better.

I plan to feed Behira medium rats for life. She will still get big - but not huge and obese. You can dictate size and health. Yes, if your boa looks emaciated, you can either feed more frequently, or a slightly larger meal. However, from what I've been told by breeders, that won't happen. You can have a happy and healthy female BI at 6-7FT and 8-12 pounds getting the most out of medium rats for life. It's different if you adopt a large boa, but still, once they stop growing, they will make use of all that medium rat (if that - they probably only need some of it if fed regularly).

It is very easy overfeed a boa, or any snake, in captivity. It is much harder to get them to trim down. Boas in particular have very slow metabolisms, but as with most snakes, less is more, especially with Boas.