Reptile & Amphibian Forums

what is better to feed boas, mice or rats? i've heard its good to get them off mice as soon as possible. let me now. thanks

Boas that get large should be started with pinky rats or switched to rats ASAP.
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Jared Douglas

Rats are not better food, they are MORE food. Weigh a mouse and a mouse-sized rat, the rat weighs more. So saying they are more nutritious is not entirely correct. The only real difference is fat-content, small pre-weaned rats are higher in fats, just like pre-weaned mice. The amount of nutrition a boa gets from meals (measured in growth) is also a factor of how frequently it is fed, temperatures, overall health and who knows what else.

Feeding schedules and prey-size for your boa have to take in to account the size and weight of your boa and how you want to manage the animal. In many collections, boas are treated like a 4H project, keepers try to see how large and how fast they can be grown. Like the blue-ribbon pig. That might not be your goal.

No feeding schedule that anyone recommends is going to be the very best one for your boa. You have to work that out both from ideas others give you and from observing your boa and how it acts and grows.

The size, health and longevity of your boa is partly genetics, but largely also how it is kept and fed.

Gus

NP
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Jared Douglas