Reptile & Amphibian Forums

hey,

i got a couple of adult suri's not to long ago (about 2 months) and the previous owner had them on a bi-weekly feeding schedule the female is 6 ft and weighs about 18lbs, the male is smalled about 5 ft and weighs probably only 10lbs. the female gets 1 jumbo rat and the male 1 large rat. Is this a correct feeding schedule i was thinking about moving the female up to something the next size up which is a small rabbit if im correct? and feeding them every 10days would this have any negative side effects??

any help is greatly appreciated

give you a more indepth response, but to give you the jist of it, they were on a road to an early death.

BCC are not like BCI, different physiology, different feeding, etc. They cannot take as large a prey item and they are more sensitive to this.

For example, a baby colombian may be able to take a rat pinky every 4-5 days, while a baby bcc would likely regurge the first time from this schedule, and likely not eat again soon after, possibly leading to its demise.

Try to remember, in the wild, they can go 30-120 days between meals without a hitch; as a matter of fact, it's more the norm.

I think the male should probably be getting something like a medium rat every 14 days or so, and the female should be good with a large rat every 14 days or so.

Just because they came in big/fat doesn't mean one should maintain this detrimental schedule.

There are many reasons why this is harmful to the snake.

I would slow it down quite a bit. I'm sure others would aggree.

Best Wishes, Joe
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Thanks and take care - Joe Rollo
'Tis not the stongest of the species that will eventually survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change' Charles Darwin

I would say the rule is when it passes fur, its time to eat again

I wouldn't change the feeding schedule or prey size just yet. You're not going to starve them on that schedule. Feeding them larger prey more often can cause digestive problems. Better off being more conservative I would wait a while and then increase EITHER the prey size or the feeding schedule but not both at the same time. BCC's are different from BCI's in that they need to be brought up more slowly. Hope this helps you out.----RON

I should add that when a say "a while" I mean quite a while before you increase anything. Both animals need to grow a bit first before you change anything. Again, conservative is always better. Even BCC's that don't develop digestive problems but are fed too much have a much shorter life span.

I feed my rat eaters every 2 weeks and the rabbit eaters once a month.

I would leave that schedule as is. If your six footer is 18 lbs she is quite healthy and a 10 lb male is more than enough. BCC will get larger but it is best that it takes time.

What exactly would make you want to step them up in prey size? What is the goal? Just wondering.
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I agree.

I've had my Suris on the same schedule (when not breeding) as the previous owner did. Once every two weeks... though I stepped DOWN the feeders from 2-3 xlg rats to one colossal for the female and one xlg for the male, since both were over 7.5 feet at supposedly 3 years of age before I got them, which seems too fast for BCC growth.

I don't understand the rush to feed bigger and bigger things... several smaller prey items seem less stressful (or stretching so to speak). Why risk regurgitation? Two weeks seems to be the perfect interval for adult BCC.

It's worse to have an overly fatty snake than one that's on the lean side (granted, I'm not saying emaciation is better than fat). Snakes should be muscular and sleek, but not tubes of lard.
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Lauren Madar - OphidiaGems.com | CageMakers
1.1 Ball Python, 1.0 Hog Island Boa, 1.1 Hypo BCI, 1.1 Surinam BCC, 1.1 Saharan Sand Boa

I dont have any goals in terms of how big they get i was just making sure that they arent on something that is to small to be consisdered a decent meal

With BCC you don't need to see a big lump for it to be a decent meal. Just keep the prey animal arond the same girth as the thickness of the snake and it will be fine on a 2-3 week schedule as an adult.
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