Reptile & Amphibian Forums

She is here! She was dropped off about 5 minutes to 10 this morning EDT. She is even more gorgeous in person than in any of the pictures. As for the pink... she has lots of pink thrown in throughout her body. Since I just received her, I don't have a reference to go by. Will have to wait until her next shed to compare I guess.

Now a question. The first boa I owned, I had gotten as a 3 week old neonate. She measured 23 inches long. She, in her first year if I remember correctly grew to over 3 1/2 to 4 foot long. I just measured the albino and she is roughly 28 inches long. She's very active so measuring her was tough. I used twine and just ran it along her back, from snout to the tip of her tail. The breeder said that she eats once a week and she is eating small to medium small mice.

Is this a normal size at this age? I think with my first one, I was feeding her adult mice when she reached 3 or 4 months old and on to small rats by 1 year old. I guess I was power feeding her, my male that I have, I kept to the breeder schedule and he is on the small side for a 3 year old Boa.

I just want to make sure that I am doing everything right, especially since she will be my breeder.

Pictures will be forthcoming a little later.

DJ

Once a week is fine, you may want to go with larger mice or small rats. Usually when a breeder has an animal for sale it is kept on a maintenance diet more then a growth diet. Craig

I just measured the male and he is roughly 41 inches long at close to three years old.

This male is the one I want to breed to my female in a couple years. If he stays on the smallish size will he still be okay to breed to her?

Small mature males make great breeders. All my adult males are in the 4ft. or less range, though two may get a little bigger. I feed those guys a medium rat every 3 weeks and they are solid muscle.

It depends on the individual keeper, I like to take my boas slow.

I personally move my boas to rats as soon as I recieve them. I know many breeders use mice... and I've heard a theory that young boas digest mice better but, I choose to feed the meatier rats.

I would reccomend feeding a young boa an appropiate sized rat (should leave a small lump) once a week. After my boas hit the 1 year mark I prefer to slow them down a bit and feed an appropiate sized rat every 10 to 14 days.

Your temps play a role in feeding schedules as well. If you are keeping real warm ambient temps (say... 85 ), which I wouldnt reccomend, your boas are going to digest quicker and be hungrier sooner. My temps peak at around 84 during mid day and drop to a peak low of 78 at night, with an average ambient temp of around 82. With those temps I believe my above feeding schedule is just about perfect.
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Take Care,

-Ryan Homsey

www.topnotchboas.com

When I said:

"...Your temps play a role in feeding schedules as well. If you are keeping real warm ambient temps (say... 85 ), which I wouldnt reccomend..."

There is supposed to be a plus sign after 85. I dont think 85 ambient is necessarily too high, although its pushing the high side in my opinion. Once you get up in the 87 - 90 range, thats just about to powerfeeding level... where they can successfully digest 3-5 day feeding schedules. Highly NOT reccomended.
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Take Care,

-Ryan Homsey

www.topnotchboas.com

I've seen it work on this forum before, but I can't get it to work either.

I like to give smaller meals for the first couple years of my boas lives.. I think it will cause less stress internally. Slowly raised snakes definitely will live longer and especially if you plan on breeding your snakes , the first couple years must be the most important ones..

I feed my boas once a week. I breed rats and usually prefer to feed my snakes rats... but, I have noticed in some of my 06 babys that they do have a harder time digesting them. I have an albino female that will puke up a rat everytime I try to feed her one. But she'll hold down a mouse just fine. I have another that will sometimes get a little constipated on the rats. So for those, I feed mice, and then no more constipation. I feel that a lot of it has to do with the internal natural make up of that individual animal. Feel it out and see what works best for you and your snake.