Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Here is my female proven adult dumerils boa feeding on a super jumbo rat. She currently has a huge appetite after losing weight from breeding and i cant get rats big enough for her often enough. Would feeding her a small/medium rabbit once in a while help her get back in shape/grow more than a jumbo rat would?
I really would prefer to try and get her big again over the winter rather than breed her again even though she might be in shape again by nex month. At 5 yrs she is still very young and i want to give her a chance to grow since she has lost of breeding years ahead of her.

greedy,greedy!

I would stick with the rats. She likes them, and from what I could see in the pics, they seem to be the perfect size for her. I have a couple Dumerils that should EASILY take rabbits, size wise, but they refuse them all the time. Well, I don't even try anymore, LOL, but when I did, they always refused them. If you really want to try one, it wouldn't hurt at all, but having no plans on breeding her this season, you have plenty of time. Keep the rats flowing, and she should be back up to size in no time. By the way, she is beautiful! Take care

Paul

Thanks for replying Paul, I might get hold of one just to see how she go's. She takes her rats off the floor heated up and never strikes at all just finds the head and eats them. As much as her first clutch might tempt me to breed her again even if she has better weight than last year i have heard of dums growth being stopped by too much breeding early on and i would rather rest her and get her optimum for next year. Have you ever tried to breed twice in a row after a first breeding? Would like to hear how others have got on.

I've bred a few females two years in a row, then given the third off. As far as I can remember, I've never bred a first time female two years in a row. I breed most my females every other year though anyway, just to be on the safe side. This isn't too bad when you have a number of females because you can produce litters every year without stressing your females. I'd want to keep that one you have around for as long as I could, she's a looker! As far as stunting growth, I haven't pushed them, so can't really say. However, I have had females that had growth spurts AFTER giving birth. Let us know how the rabbits go for you. I wish a few of my females would take them. Take care!

Paul