I wrote that it looked like she had been fed more than I would feed her, not neccessarily a lot or too much.



I don't try to breed Hog is. boas until age 3-1/2 and over about 42" in size. Now you have a 4' Hog that is likely quite a bit younger than that. Is that a tragic crime? No... But for myself only and in my experience it is not the best practice to push a boa up to so-called breeding size and then attempt breeding trials. Rather, we see the age and size requirements as a unified process. So we feed to achieve the right size at the right age. And the feeding schedules and size of prey items are calculated from many factors, including sex, age, captive conditions and others.



You have to decide how big you want the boa to be and whether you are going to attempt breeding or whatever and then work a feeding program to achieve that. Once in ten days is a good schedule but if you are feeding fuzzy mice that would be too little, in contrast a jumbo rat would be too much for a boa of that size.



I hope you don't see my advice as evasive or cynical! I'm only trying to impart the notion that only the owner who sees exactly how the animal is kept and knows what they want to do with it can answer those When and How Much questions..



People who say the keeping or breeding of boas is simple are obviously kidding or they haven't a clue what a perfectly healthy boa looks and acts like, (also they are insulting a lot of people who had to work at it, regardless of the reason). On the other hand it is not inordinately hard and gets easier the more you observe and learn.



Good luck with that pretty boa...
-----
Gus

A. Rentfro

RioBravoReptiles.com



"Quality is not an accident. Perfectly healthy animals are a minimum requirement.. everything else is just salesmanship" gus

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