Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have a young Dumerils Boa, and I was wondering about the feeding schedule he should be on. All that is available to me is Mice, and small rats. Mice seem too small, and rats seem too big, so i go with the largest of the mice. I am trying to get him on F/T, but so far, no luck, so i stick with live. What i would like to know, seeing as thought i have to go with mice at the moment, How often and how much should i feed? I fed him on Monday, and he took it right away. Just to see, i dropped in another today, and he took it immediately. Seems like he is hungry all the time... should i stick to a weekly schedule, or should i modify due to the smaller prey item? Thanks for relies in advance..

Your first priority is to get the boa to take pre-killed food. If it is as willing to eat as you say it should be easy to get it to switch. Let it go hungry for a week and offer the pre-killed mouse or small rat in the evening with the lights low on the end of a good pair of tongs. Make sure the mouse or rat isn't cold. There is a technique to offering food to slow feeders that you have to work out for yourself as you see what happens but a good tip is don't just thrust the food onto the boa's nose, approach from the side and move it away before it actually touches the snake. Sometimes also you can wake-up a boa by gently prodding the tail before offering the food.

If that doesn't work, wait another two days and try again, I am sure that by the 2nd or 3rd try your boa will be taking pre-killed.

How much should you feed? That is a very complicated question but a good general answer is that small boas should get fed a meal big enough to make a little lump every week to ten days depending upon temps, prey-size and how fast they digest.
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Gus
A. Rentfro
RioBravoReptiles.com
www.riobravoreptiles.com

"Quality is not an accident. Perfectly healthy animals are a minimum requirement.. everything else is just salesmanship" gus

For Dumerils, I'd recommend feeding one prey item once every 7-10 days for the first few months to a year, then move it out to every 2 weeks (14 days) for the next year or two. As adults, they should only be fed every 3-4 weeks. Dumerils are prone to obesity and will quickly get fat when fed like the average redtail boa due to their slower metabolisms. They will eat like garbage disposals usually, once you get them acclimated. I found that by first switching them from live to prekilled before trying frozen thawed prey worked well. To kill the mouse, I simply drop it in a pillowcase and hit it overhand into a hard surface (hardwood floors, table top, countertop, etc.). It's a quick way to kill rodents and works well - at least it has for me.

If you're buying your rodents locally and want to switch to frozen thawed prey items, I'd recommend trying one of the online rodent suppliers. I've been really happy with Rodent Pro since I switched to them. They bulk package, rather than vacuum seal like some of the other companies, but I solved that by buying a good vacuum sealer (which I use for lots of other foods and not just the rats). WalMart carries both the sealer and the bags for them. I seal in portions that I use, making it real convenient for me on feeding day but still getting the bulk rate prices. Another nice thing about Rodent Pro is that there are no minimum orders. Mice-on-ice is another good company. I used them before Rodent Pro. They're a bit more expensive (not a whole lot) but do pre-vacuum seal their rodents but in their portion sizes, not yours. I've also heard good things about The Mouse Factory & Cajun Mice, but haven't used either of them.

Best of luck with your Dumerils. They're really wonderful snakes.

Raven

DO BEST WHEN FED LESS THAN MORE OFTEN. OVER FEEDING BOAS IS COMMON PRACTICE IN THE HOBBY TODAY, BUT A GOOD RULE OF THUMB. IS TO FEED YOUR BOAS AFTER THEY DEFICATE THEIR PREVIOUS MEAL. THIS WILL VARY FROM ANIMAL TO ANIMAL, BUT IF FED IN THIS MANNER THEY WILL LIVE MUCH LONGER AND REMAIN MUCH HEALTHIER.

I, too, have a Dum that is a finicky eater. I have been trying for a year to get her to take F/T or even a prekilled. She has never done it. She won't take rats either. Not even live ones. I have tried all the tricks... night feeding, tupperware box, lights on, lights off, bouncing it around the cage, waking her with the tail tap first, trying to irritate her with it, leaving her alone with it, chasing a live one with a freshly prekilled, and even eating one myself to show her that it is ok. Nothing, nada, zip, zilch, bubkus. Right now she is over feet long and eats 3 adult mice every two weeks, on average (really dictated by her). This, I believe, is my lot in life...to feed little tiny mice to an adult boa.

I believe the guy from ClassicDums has a 5 year old that eats only mice. Well, I just thought you would like to know you are not alone. When she was small, I fed much smaller meals than people told me I could. I would agree with the idea that less is more.