Babies in the wild, are eating frogs and lizards. Those are a baby Boas primary food source.
Once they have graduated to small mammals, sounds like all things should be the same as captivity! Wrong, comparing the captive bred rodents that are fed to our Boas to wild rodents
and wild mammals of appropriate size in the wild, is like comparing; " a N.B.L. team to a group meeting at Over Eaters
Anonymous. "

In the wild, not only do the Boas get more exercise, but even more importantly;" their prey is in great shape! "
Their prey is up and down in trees and always foraging and active
and eating " fruits and berries and nuts and other items that
along with exercise, contribute to a lean and muscular physique. "
In captivity, the prey is locked away in a box to be breeding
factories and raised on mostly high protein chow and have a fat
percentage that is much far greater.

In the end, all the empiricle data and observances that I have
made and talking to others and comprising other data, it stands
to an obvious conclusion; " these boas and do not do well digesting fat. "

Well, you are what you eat and that stands for Boas too.
Now, take a rabbit for instance. I can take a rabbit and
feed it to an adult Boa. Then, I can take two or three large
rats and feed them to another adult Boa. The two to three adult
rats will weigh far less than the rabbit and the Boas are being
housed with the exact same parameters and the Boa that ate the
rabbit, will defecate twice or better as fast, than the one that
ate the rats.
Common sense and does not take countless hours in a lab or a
" Masters Degree " to figure it out.

The rabbit weighs much more than the rats, BUT the rabbit has much less fat and the diet of the rabbit also contributes to
it being a lean animal " most rabbits are raised on alfalfa pellets. "

Rabbits have always shown to put more muscle and length on a
Boa vs. rats adding mass " or for better words, FAT. "
Now, is there a way to make the rats leaner? Sure there is.
You simply need to allow them more room and most importantly give them a diet that comes closer to what they are eating in
the wild.

I know breeders that breed their own rats and the rat chow is
one step away from being " Trail Mix. " You could literally
grab a handful and eat it yourself and his Boas are muscular
and look like they are plugged into a light socket!

I buy my rats, from someone who does the same as mentioned above.
So, fat prey and overfeeding are the contributers to a Boas early
life in captivity. To some, it is about raising them quick and making a buck. For others, they love the Boas and want them to live as long as possible. If you want them to live as long as possible, the answer to making that happen " as so many answers in life " are as plain at times as the nose on your face, common sense...........John J

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