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A friend of mine had paired up a pair of guyanan boas for breeding the female is around 8 foot and the male around 6 foot they have been together on and off for a few months , both where last fed a month or so ago , there has been plenty of couting action between them , my friend went away for the weekend and when she came back home found out the female had eaten the male , to say this was a total shock doent even come close

any help and information will be greatly received , a few quiestions i would like to ask though is

a : how common is this ?
b : who has experienced this happening to them ?
c : if this has happened to you , have you bred the female in subsiquent years with other males and have there been any problems then ?

My friend is really paronoid now that this will happen again as she will be breeding her albino and sunglow in the next year or so and you can see that this has put her off the idea , so im trying to find out what i can on the subject and also to try and put her mind at rest

please help out if you can

Kev

I have never had this happen to myself. I have bred dozens of boas with no problems.....I have not even heard of this with adults, Im interested in hearing from others that may have.

I have never had that happen except at feeding time and only had that happen once when I was a newbie a long long time ago. I have had a few pairs set up for a few years and never ever had that happen. I have had three males that were "smooshed" by the much bigger females though. Each time the male was pasted against the back wall completely deflated. Maybe just too stupid to crawl out for a breath and just died. I don't know. But never had one disapear from being eaten. Not yet...
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Never had been offered food for about a month , thats what makes it so strange in my eyes

thanks for the info Jeff

These accounts of males being "smooshed" are even more alarming to me than the reports of freak cannibalism.

Can I ask, had the females in question been trying to aggressively shake the male off in the days before the incident?

Just playing devil's advocate here...
Are they sure the female ate the male?
She'd be really bloated and huge if she ate a 6' snake...
Maybe he escaped?

Sorry to hear it!
I've never experienced anything like that myself.
I know other people have posted pics and stories of baby boas housed together where one ate the other, but usually the bao that was ate is regurged and the one that ate it dies.
-April

she would be very oddly bloated, with painful looking bumps all over, and she would likely regurge it soon after, and possibly pass away from the experience.

Unless she was MASSIVE.
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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

she does look like that ,but she had a much much bigger girth and body mass than the male did

Ive not personally seen the female ( as its a 2 hour drive to where she is ), but she has been discribed as very bloated and lumpy ( which seems to be the case when ive seen pictures of young boas thats eaten cage mates ), the first thing she thought was he had escaped but checking the enclosure has made sure he didnt escape , ive got my fingers crossed she dosnt regurge ,although he was 6 foot he was quite slender as well

as of last night she has still held the male down which will be 4 days since it was discovered , hopefully if she can hold him down another day or so it will be past the regurge stage

GET A PICTURE!!! That would be so fine a husbandry documentation.
jsc

I keep my snakes in colonies, ie... the snow colony, the albino colony, the caramel colony, ect. Snakes are kept in groups of up to twelve. I have never had any fighting or cannibalism. I do keep them well fed. I am really impressed by how much time they do spend piled up together, seeming to like one another's company.The cages are 5 X 6 feet, and 5 X 10 feet. They wouldn't even have to be touching one another if they desired, as there are different levels and I keep large flower pots in the cages for them to curl up in when they want to be alone. If it happened that the breeding pair in the post ate one another,it had to be a freak accident.

thanks for your input , to me it seems more and more likely that this is a freak accident like you say

I have never heard of intentional cannibalism with boa constrictors, only accidental occurrences. However, for comparison sake, Rivas has documented several cases in the wild on cannibalism of male green anacondas by large female greens. These were intentional cases of cannibalism and not accidental. Whether this ever occurs in wild populations of boa constrictors appears to be unknown at this time, as no cases have been documented that I am aware of.

Kelly

I have heard of captive adult Green Anacondas eating adult Boa c.ssp. when housed together. Pers. conv. -- original owner of the "Snake Farm" in New Braunfels, back in the 80's. Can't recall the man's name at the moment.
Never heard of Boa constrictor ssp's canibalizing one another in captivity. Possible feeding accident only thing that comes to mind.
There is documentation of Boid females (Green Anacondas)consuming slugs and what not, post parturition.
jsc

as said before its been a month since they was last fed so dont see how it can be a feeding incidenet
thanks for the info anyway

Don't be niaeve to the fact that something triggered a feeding response in the Female. It doesn't matter when they had been fed last. Certain movements will trigger it, as I have witnessed this in my collection. So "Feeding Accident" no, but "Prey Drive" accident yes.

My snakes know when I'm feeding them, maybe others were fed and the female sensed food in the area!
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Thanks,

Dave Colling

www.rainbows-r-us-reptiles.com

0.1 Wife (WC and still very fiesty)
0.2 kids (CBB, a big part of our selective breeding program)

LOL, to many snakes to list, last count:
24.36 BRB
19.19 BCI
And those are only the breeders

lots.lots.lots feeder mice and rats

thanks

I saw a post on a website somewhere in Europe where a keeper had a Ball python and a Boa in the same cage. One day the boa ate the Ball python. They posted photos and it was messy ! Can't remember all the facts but I don't think it was a feeding accident either.

If I can find the link I'll post it.

I've also seen photos of a baby boa that ate another baby before. Thats one however I believe was a feeding mistake.
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www.johnberryreptiles.com
www.designermorphs.com - the most complete guide to boa & python mutations, morphs and hybrids

The account of the boa-eats-ball incident can be found at this link, complete with gruesome shots.

http://www.boa-constrictors.com/com/News/News.htm

I've got a male in with my big female at the moment, and I must say, this story keeps me up nights.

I just read that entire page. VERY interesting!!! Several articles, not just the Boa eating the Ball Python.
First article reminds me of my first experience with Boa constrictors. I was in Junior High. Bought a baby boa for $3. That's what they cost back then. My parents weren't real keen on me keeping a snake like that yet, so I took it to school and kept it in the science lab. Another kid brought in a wild mouse for it to eat. Left them together overnight. Same result as on that Boa constrictor page, exactly. I guess I learned that lesson back in 1965. Much harder lesson for the snake, unfortunately.
The best article in my mind is the last one. Very appropriate -- regarding giant snakes; the digestion of large food items. Something we've been discussing quite a bit lately. Be sure to read that last one.
Thanks for the link Connor.
jsc

Correct spelling - Conners. My bad.
jsc

No problem, friend!

It is a good link - like you I was fascinated by the info on the digestive process of large snakes.

this. If he sees this maybe he'll post that pic again.

I believe it was he that had posted pics of one baby boa constrictor having eaten another.

If I remember correctly, they were 2 babies he had produced and housed together, and it wasn't a feeding accident, meaning, during feeding.

To ad to the other post, 'feeding response' accidents can happen at anytime.

Boas are naturally solitary animals, and being used to being alone, that night she may have just seen a movement that seemed out of the norm, and reacted... struck and wrapped.

The fact that the male likely struggled gave the female more of that 'feeding response', making it seem more like her prey was struggling, giving her more reason to 'finish the job', so to speak.

At this point, I guess you can just be on the lookout for large, strange poop! 8)

Hope she makes it ok! (literally and figuratively...lol 8)

Take care, 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 coppied the links to his pics last time he posted them, thought they were important to post up for those talking about housing together.

As I remember it, they were seperated, each fed a mouse and then put back together. Then one ended up eating the other one so it actually ate two mice and a sibling. The "winner" also died.

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Thanks,

Dave Colling

www.rainbows-r-us-reptiles.com

0.1 Wife (WC and still very fiesty)
0.2 kids (CBB, a big part of our selective breeding program)

LOL, to many snakes to list, last count:
24.36 BRB
19.19 BCI
And those are only the breeders

lots.lots.lots feeder mice and rats

I just recently had a female attack and injure a male after being introduce for breeding. Xrays revealed that he has several broken ribs . These two were off feed for at least a month, and she is a virgin. I think his movement may have caused her to strike and wrap him up in thinking he was food. I think long periods of time without food will increase their chances of attacking another - not just the smell of food.

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I'm just the snake room janitor

WOW! This is all so cool. Who'd a thunk it?
jsc

You made a comment earlier in this thread on anacondas sometimes eating slugs. In all of our breedings with green anacondas, the females always eat any slugs, or unfertilized ova, that are present within minutes of having completed parturition. There has never been an exception with our females. Additionally, I have never seen them bother any of the neonates however.

Kelly

Brazilian rainbow Boas. Maybe not always but very often and if so right away. Many smaller litters found with no slugs, wonder why?
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Thanks,

Dave Colling

www.rainbows-r-us-reptiles.com

0.1 Wife (WC and still very fiesty)
0.2 kids (CBB, a big part of our selective breeding program)

LOL, to many snakes to list, last count:
24.36 BRB
19.19 BCI
And those are only the breeders

lots.lots.lots feeder mice and rats

I've always felt the two were very closly related for some reason.
jsc