Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i have a 3ft female suri rtb and was woundering which feeding pattern would you guys recomend, 2 small mice every other week and 1 mouse on the between weeks, 1 small mouse every week, or a small mouse every 5 days? i have been feeding 1 small mouse a week but she seems to be growing very very slowly i've had her for about 4-5 months now and dont really see much difference in size since i got her. she is healthy and not too skinny. here is a pic of her just for kicks
thanks
zack



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1.0.0 Brazilian Rainbow Boa
1.0.0 Yellow Anaconda
0.1.0 Suriname Red Tail Boa
1.0.0 Guyana Red Tail Boa
0.0.1 Eastern Hognose
1.0.0 Cat

she would be getting small rats weekly,or a med.every 10 days.

small rats are way too big for her, she's max 3ft right now and a small mouse shows a little on her, i would like to get her eatting rat crawlers or fuzzies but i dont have access to them right now and i have 50 small mice left
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1.0.0 Brazilian Rainbow Boa
1.0.0 Yellow Anaconda
0.1.0 Suriname Red Tail Boa
1.0.0 Guyana Red Tail Boa
0.0.1 Eastern Hognose
1.0.0 Cat

MAN YOU NEED TO FEED THAT SNAKE WHAT IT NEEDS!!!! MEDIUM RATS! SHE IS UNDER WEIGHT FROM WHAT I CAN SEE! VERY THIN.

PLEASE!
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1.1 Royal pythons (Ball Pythons)
0.1 Columbian Boa Constrictor
1.0 Guyana Boa Constrictor
1.0 Bearded Dragon

For starters i can't beleive you are feeding a 3' boa, mice, let alone small mice. This snake needs to be on small/medium rats at a minimum. The reason you don't see her growing is because you are grossly under feeding her. I have a 4' boa and she is on an x-large rat about every 10-14 days. What some people who are fairly new to snakes don't understand is that they can eat prey items alot wider than their heads and necks. I also have a juvanile boa at 2' and he's on med/large mice every week. Once you start to feed her larger pray her growth rate will MASSIVLY improve.

Good luck.

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1.0 Royal python - Maximus
0.1 Red tial Boa - Pheonix
0.0.1 Bearded Dragon

you are overfeeding your Boa if it is 4ft. and eating X-Large rats.

I recently sold a mature (4 year old) male Colombian Anerythristic that was 6ft. 3in. and in perfect health. I had him for a year and a half. He was very lean and super strong, not an ounce of fat on him. He ate a LARGE rat every 3-4 WEEKS.
If you want to say he was underfed, please do some research, Boas are no Burmese Pythons and CAN NOT handle large amount of food. This male is not breeding the customer's Albino het Anerythristic (Snow) and doing a great job. If he were a fat slob he wouldn't be moving.

Boas that are overfed, as you describe, will not live long lives. Please visit www.riobravoreptiles.com and email Gus. At the rate you are going, your boas will never breed (if they do they won't produce babies) and they probably won't live any longer than 5-7years. For refference Gus had his 18 year old WC Cay Caulker male breed and father a PERFECT litter this year. In fact Gus always produces PERFECT litters, and has successfully bred his WC Belem Brazilian female the last 6 years (I believe) with perfect results. If you still don't believe me about the feeding issue, he flat out said his Paraguanera Venezualan female ate 9 times all year, and produced a PERFECT litter.

Only TWO of my YEARLING imperator are eating weanling/small rats, and they are 4 ft. The other YEARLINGS are 3ft. and eating ONE rat pup a week. My TWO YEAR OLD Bolivian amarali female is JUST NOW eating a weanling rat every week. If I had fed her like you do your animals, she would have been dead long ago.

Sorry for the rant, but please do your animals a favor and educate your self in their proper care.

.. please find some other way to get your point across other than quoting (and mis-quoting) Gus..

Yes, I believe many Boas are overfed and people should concentrate on how much a Boa needs to be fed.. not simply following a pre-planned schedule of feeding... but in the end it is going to be up to the owner to decide how much to feed... The owner is the guy who knows what he (or she) is trying to accomplish and they see how the animal is progressing in person under the conditions they are providing.

I admire your desire to help and your passion for the animals.. go get 'em, tiger. Leave me out, I'll pick my own fights.

Thank you!

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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

Sorry, I will leave the quotes out. I am finding out this the hard way, lol. No harm ment, just an honest attempt at education.

Take care.

They might regurge, and that is one nasty, messy problem.

I would go with a regular sized mouse every week. True red tails grow much slower than regular boas.

I am glad someone else with a senseable head posted. If you read the above post, the guy is feeding his 4ft. boa x-large rats weekly! He is killing them.

Explain to me the part where i said weekly! i said every 10-14 days, 10 being the minimum and i only ever feed her when she comes out from hiding to 'hunt', this to me is the correct way. If a snake can eat and x-large rat then why deprive them of it and every 2 weeks is hardly too much. If a 4' boa were in the wild and something the size of and x-large rat walked by i somehow beleive it would take it! so i struggle to see how i'm 'KILLING' my snake.

I really cant beleive someone would feed a 3' boa small mice. DISGRACEFUL!

I have it on very good authority from MANY different sources that the correct way and sizes to feed my boas are correct.
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1.1 Royal pythons (Ball Pythons)
0.1 Columbian Boa Constrictor
1.0 Guyana Boa Constrictor
1.0 Bearded Dragon

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I appologize for the error in frequency. However the size is a SERIOUS danger to your boa.
I notice you have two boas, a male Guyanan BCC, and a female Colombian BCI (please spell Colombia correctly they are not from Ohio).
I myself have a collection of 17 Boas, of various subspecies, locales, and high end morphs. I also get my care information from experience and from the most successful people in the business (not success in money but in results, look at Gus).
Please do your animals a favor and research some information.
I have a 66% het Blood male I got last year from Tom Burke. After two months of weekly feedings on fuzzy rats, I moved him up to a rat pup, and fed him every three weeks. He continued to grow well, and at 10 months of age was a little over two feet and produceing sperm plugs. An 18 month old overfed male isn't at all able to breed, but this 10 month old well fed male was. I however will wait until he is two years of age and 3.5 ft.

I am not trying to critisize (sp?) you, but am trying to help you better care for your boas.

Listen man, there's no need to get nasty! Ok, so lest say that all of the people have told me in the past have been wrong about the way i feed my boas, thats alot of experienced people.

How would you suggest i feed...

1. my 4' Female?
2. my 2' Male?

I'm not here to argue with people but i find it difficult to beleive that you feed a 3' boa small mice.

I'm always open for criticism and for people to give me their opinions. Lets keep this a civil conversation yeah.

And i'm sorry for the spelling mistake in my signature... no need to get funny!

Not to get on anyone's bad side, but I have many people sending me emails about how big and how often should they feed their BCI's for fast growing so they could breed them "FAST"
My answer:
If you are looking to keep an animal for your enjoyment that is great. But if are looking to make some extra money, "PLEASE GET A SECOND JOB." and please leave the poor boas alone.
Thank you,
Joel Pretz

to JOEP123....

Hi there. I have read your message and totally agree. I think you are mistaking me for a breeder.

I have no intention to breed my boas nor do i intend to make any financial gain from any of my animals. They are purely a hobby, so i am not trying to make them grow quick or any such thing, i'm merely satisfying their appitites. If anyone feels i am feeding incorrectly then PLEASE feel free to help me better the lives of my animals.

my 4' female is on an adult rat about ebery 2 weeks and my 2' male is on an adult mouse about every 7-10 days.

Does anyone feel this is too much?