Feeding Question about my new boa

[BWSmith]

Originally Posted by razeraze

I already told you boas have been temp gunned in the wild on surfaces 122F they did not cook (must be magic). I agree 150 is too high.

Of course, there body temperature was also in the high 80's to low 90's according to the info you sent. This tells me that the snakes have not been on that spot very long. I think I have that book on my shelf though so maybe there is a detailed explination of the criteria in which the recordings were taken that would give the details required for interpretation of the data.

[razeraze]

Originally Posted by JuliusSqueezer

In the wild, they work with what they have to work with. I bet they didn't sit there long. Is that what you base your theory that shorter time on hotter surfaces is better because someone hit a temp gun on a boa's basking spot one time? Heck, I've seen snakes on black asphalt that I'm fairly sure I could fry an egg on. I have no idea how long they had been there or how long they intended to stay and most importantly, it doesn't mean I want to use an electric skillet for a basking spot .

Julius this is my whole point. They use it if they feel it is necessary, they can find cooler spots to lay on in the wild, but for some reason plenty of them are driven to unusually hot spots. Many times this is observed after a large meal or when a reptile is gravid, pregnant or even sick.

So I provide these gradients, they choose to use them or not. How ever when I have accidentally over fed my snakes or my monitors they did not regurge, they simply went to a hotter part of the cage, ones I rarely see them use.

BW again exactly my point. They do not have to be on it long as in my cages they do not have to use the hot spots, how ever they are there should they choose to.

[JuliusSqueezer]

It would be better if they could bask longer. A few minutes of scorching hot and then having to move off really isn't as good as a nice relaxing bask in more appropriate temps. It's also not doing your captives any favor by over feeding them.

How does one "accidently" overfeed a snake or monitor anyway? It's not like tripping a dropping the whole can of fish flakes in the goldfish pond. I'm assuming your snakes and monitors are eating whole prey items right?

[razeraze]

Simple I thawed out prey that I thought was the girth of the snake and severely miss judge it.

basking for 1 hour at 120F is less stressful to a high stressed reptile (like my last salvator) than basking for 3 hours at 96F. When they are extremely fearful of humans they do not spend a ton of time basking, so hotter spots are recommended (or at least were to me). Now don't go crazy and suggest I make a spot at 200F so the can bask for 30 minutes, because I already stated there are extremes and few surfaces where reptiles live reach 200F

[JuliusSqueezer]

Is a salvator a snake? apples and oranges dude. There is no advantage to feeding a captive python an adult gazelle and let it live off that for 6 or 8 months. In the wild, it might be all it has opportunity to feed on and it might take it and try. Whether it actually holds it down and doesn't puke it up or die because a leopard comes along and kills it while it can't move is not well documented. Even if it does, this doesn't mean a boa can eat a capybura and actually hold it down and live off it for 6 to 8 months. Nor does it mean just because it occasionally might happen in nature that it's an ideal feeding situation. There are many species that no matter what the situation is, they can't hold down large prey. There are some species that can't take temperatures that other snakes can thrive in.

[razeraze]

I could see a huge benefit to occasionally feeding large meals. It stimulates natural behavior. I can see that we simply will not understand each other. I try to simulate as much as I can of natural behavior and environment in captivity. This means hot spots they may never use, and making sure snakes constrict. Often in captivity snakes stop constricting and take F/T prey by simply swallowing it. This is not acceptable in my book. If it happens I take it as a cue the snake is not hungry enough and I make them wait longer the next time. I encourage strong feeding responses because it is natural behavior and a large meal may be something the retic is looking for.

I see benefits in enrichment and large environments.

[JuliusSqueezer]

Sounds kinda noble but it's basically a load of crap. Whether it's in the wild or in captivity, most any given snake will eat prekilled food and finding it in the wild is as natural as finding it still alive and kicking. I'm not saying they take an equal number of prekilled and live but it's not even close to being a rare occurrence for a wild snake to find and eat dead prey.

Why do you feel it's important to keep your snakes acting out to what your perception of wild is? Do you let your dogs hunt in packs for their food? A wild 10 foot boa would likely rip your face off if you tried to pick it up. Is that something we want our pet snakes to do too? If not, why? It's natural.

[pythonguy21]

i dont want my snakes constricting anymore, they take frozen/thawed like puppy dogs, no feisty killing constricting thrashing crap.

why do you want a aggressive animal, especially with retics. i dont understand what you are trying to prove.

ill take the passive, happy animal any day. i don't want my pets to try and kill me no thanks. that is the whole point in working with them to calm them down and "domesticate" them if you will. keeping them wild and aggressive doesn't make any sense.

[JuliusSqueezer]

Originally Posted by pythonguy21

i dont want my snakes constricting anymore, they take frozen/thawed like puppy dogs, no feisty killing constricting thrashing crap.

why do you want a aggressive animal, especially with retics. i dont understand what you are trying to prove.

ill take the passive, happy animal any day. i don't want my pets to try and kill me no thanks. that is the whole point in working with them to calm them down and "domesticate" them if you will. keeping them wild and aggressive doesn't make any sense.

It's one of the most common noob rationales for feeding live. I've never heard it used for an excuse to space meals, over heat and feed extra large prey though. Hopefully, "this too will pass".

[danktat]

Hopefully, "this too will pass".

Sounds like an AA meeting...do we need an intervention here