She's still fairly young and small but since I'm more familiar with my little sausages (AKA ball pythons) I'm not sure how to tell if my boa is getting fat, or at a good weight for growing. I know with some species of reptiles (and animals) you DO want to feed them as much as they can eat, because they'll convert the energy to growing, but boas apparently don't do that, they get fat instead?
I've only got this one, and I adore her, so I want her to grow healthy and hang out long enough to see me hit my midlife crisis in 20 years. I started wondering if she was getting fat when I noticed on her card today after weighing her that she's gained about 100 grams a month since I got her.
Anyway, here's some pictures of her. She's extremely strong for such a small snake (she's only about 3 feet), and her feeding schedule has been rather erratic - every 7-14 days, depending on when I pick up feeders, but usually she gets a very small rat every 10 days.
The pretty picture:
Her side while climbing - you can see the line of muscle going down
Stretched out:
HAI! (I was trying to get a picture of that U shape but right when I snapped the picture there was her nose!)
Thanks for any input!
~jenny
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"We call them dumb animals, and so they are, for they cannot tell us how they feel, but they do not suffer less because they have no words."
- Anna Sewell (1820-1878)
