Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi guys.
I took in a pair of rescue Surinams two days ago. They're fine aside from dehydration and being pretty damned skinny. They are both adults, I would assume in the 6-8 year old range. The female is about 7 feet, and I would guess she only weighs 10 pounds or so.

I know BCC can be more sensitive to overfeeding, so what is a good suggested schedule for weight gain without compromising their health any further?

The female looks large enough to eat large rats, the male would take medium/large. I can get weights tomorrow if that would help.

Thanks!

From experience, I have found that it is better to error with smaller food size than larger with BCC and especially with Surinams. Being rescues and underweight they probably have not received proper care for some time and their digestive systems might not handle lots of food at this time. I would feed each boa a moderate size rat and if all goes well repeat in 10 days. If digestion and defecation goes well after a few feedings you could try feeding every seven days until the desired weight is on and than go back to a 10 day or even a two week feeding schedule. This is how I would approach this. Some of the highly experienced BCC breeders on this forum may have more advice. Good luck with these boas. Bill
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...three years ago it was just another snake cult...
The Retic is King.
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There's some good advice in there for sure.

Personally, I would feed them on a 10-18 day schedule (basically, shoot for 14 days and if you get to it sooner or later, it's cool).

I'd feed smaller rats than they can take for the first few meals just to ensure that their digestive systems aren't out of whack (no regurge and normal poops are what you're looking for). Then, after 4-5 meals, step them up to rodents that are equal to their girth.

After 6 months on this regimen (based on your weight description), they'll be robust, healthy animals again and then you can taper the feeding schedule.

Prior to that however, I'd be soaking those animals every other day for about 15 minutes. Not only will they absorb some of the water, they'll drink it too. As with people, dehydration is worse than a lack of food so you'll want to address that first. Keep soaking them on this schedule for about 2 weeks (more if you think it's necessary).

I'll tell you why I recommend the feeding schedule above. After gravid female BCC deliver their babies, I'll feed them a normal sized meal every 14-21 days and in 12 months, they're ready to breed again. And these are animals that are 6-7' long and had a pre-breeding weight of 10-14 lbs and a post-breeding weight of 4-6 lbs (MUCH skinnier than what you're reporting). The reason I space out the feedings like that as opposed to cramming as many meals into them as I can is because muscle is much more important than fat to a captive boa and shoving a meal down their throat every 7 days simply packs on fat, and not muscle. Fat boas die MUCH sooner than lean, healthy boas (fatty liver disease, hearts encased in fat, etc.).

So, take it easy with the feedings and in no time, they'll be in tip top shape.

jb
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What's written above is purely my opinion. In fact, MOST of what you read on the internet is someone's opinion. Don't take it too seriously

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