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My guy ate the second night he was offered an f/t adult mouse. Both times I thawed the mouse in warm water. The first night I offered it to him at room tempeture. After reading the posts to my last set of q's I decided to warm the mouse in hot water for 15 mins. after it was thawed. Either he was feeling a little more settled in or a warm prey item was what he wanted. Now for a few more q's. My guy/gal is between 24"-26" what would be a good guesstamation as to the age of boa? Also, at that length how much should I be feeding and how often. I have about 400 mice in the freezer right now so that is what my Hog and col. will be recieving for a while, hopefully my brb will be helping them with this task soon. I have to get rid of a 200 or so before I have the room for rats, but they have some growing to do yet. I was planning on feeding all three snakes on sat. every sat. Is once every 7 days to often as I don't want a bunch of pinhead snakes? At what length would I want to introduce a second mouse to him? Do Hogs tend to be a little more active than a col? Now, on to sexing. What is a better means of sexing boas, popping or probing. Not that I feel I ready to try this, but I plan on bringing my hog to a petstore that deals alot with snakes. I just want to know what is the safest way to do this prior to handing my snake over to someone else. Well that is it for now, thanx to those who answered my last barage of q's and thanx for reading and answering this short novel worth of q's. Clint

Ok, let me take aq crack at some of these:
"My guy/gal is between 24"-26" what would be a good guesstamation as to the age of boa?"
- I would say that your Hog is a yearling. Probably born in early 2003.

"Also, at that length how much should I be feeding and how often."
- I feed my Hog once every 10 - 14 days, while skipping a feeding every fourth or fifth feeding. Each individual boa is different, this is just what works for me as I have been doing it for the past 6 or 7 years.

"Is once every 7 days to often as I don't want a bunch of pinhead snakes?"
- In my opinion, yes it is too much.

"At what length would I want to introduce a second mouse to him?"
- I wouldn't introduce a second mouse to him. I would just feed one prey item that is the appropriate size.

"Do Hogs tend to be a little more active than a col?"
- In my experience, not really. Maybe they are more active when being held, but overall I would have to say no. Again, I think that being 'active' depends on a bunch of different factors (such as feeding schedule, temps in cage, overall health, etc.).

"Now, on to sexing. What is a better means of sexing boas, popping or probing."
- I would say probing, but everyone has their own way of doing things.

Good luck with your new Hog and post pictures when you can!
Take care,
Eric

Hey Clint it sounds like your hog is at least 1 year old not more than 2.
Sexing is easy, you don't have to pop or probe.
What I do is really simple.
First take your thumb and rub it firmly but gently down his tail from its vent to the end of the tail.
While doing this if you feel a bump or two just past the vent while rubbing downward it is a male.
If you rub it and feel no movement inside the tail or any "bumps" as I like to call it it is a female.
If you have another boa to compare the tail length from the vent to the end of the tail, it also may help.
Males generally have longer tails, that feel sort of soft.
Females have a shorter tail and feel more firm.

The rubbing technique works like a charm , once you get it you will know, especially if its a male, you will feel the bump bump while gliding your thumb accross his bottom side of tail while helping to keep the preasure with your pointer finger.

Hope that helps.
Nick Gancarz
Boa's Ark c.b.r.