Feeding Question about my new boa

[pythonguy21]

another great post by the squeezer.

[ssjsmits]

Keep that up Brett, and I think my "Thanks" button will wear out.

[JuliusSqueezer]

Thanks. It just dawned on me that a lot of people were saying "don't do that" and "bad" but not mentioning really "why" it's bad and don't do that.

[ssjsmits]

I've always been a conservative feeder with my boas. Regardless of age. I have 2 that just over a year and eating every 14-21 days. To me, they seem have great body tone and seem to have more strength than some of mine that were fed more at an early age.

[HaloedSatan]

Originally Posted by david_loftin

I really had to come back to this thread. This bothered me a little bit. Just because you BREED something.. doesn't mean that you have to have it pumping out babies every single year. I have been breeding reptiles for quite a long time now.. I hesitate calling myself a 'breeder' because of the negative connotations that come along with that term in this hobby. If you are seeing that kind of dramatic weight loss in an animal that you are breeding maybe you shouldn't be breeding it. Maybe it needs a season off.

I am sorry to go a little off the main topic at hand... but I felt that it was necessary to state my opinion on this.

My guy wouldn't breed her if she wasnt healthy. And for the record, she isn't a little tiny 6ft bci. This is his BIG GIRL. She's a 10.5 ft hypo het albino bci female. Giving this thing a 'large' rat is about the equivalent of giving a 5 footer an adult mouse. He doesnt feed as large as he can, he feeds more often.

	Boa Constrictor Imperator

[ssjsmits]

Originally Posted by HaloedSatan

This is his BIG GIRL. She's a 10.5 ft hypo het albino bci female. .

Okay, so I gotta see pics of that. Big boids are rad. .
.
And for the record, because I don't want this to turn into bash on feeding regimens, everyone feeds their snakes differently. I tend to feed more "conservative" from the norm just because that's how I prefer to do it and my animals respond to it well, but by no means do I think that anyone else who chooses to so differently is wrong. I really could care less is a boa is feed monthly or weekly regardless of age, as long as the end justifies the mean........which of course is a healthy reptile. :top:

[pythonguy21]

Originally Posted by HaloedSatan

My guy wouldn't breed her if she wasnt healthy. And for the record, she isn't a little tiny 6ft bci. This is his BIG GIRL. She's a 10.5 ft hypo het albino bci female. Giving this thing a 'large' rat is about the equivalent of giving a 5 footer an adult mouse. He doesnt feed as large as he can, he feeds more often.

yeah but more often is better than larger, because of them building up their digestive acids.

i dont know im not a fan of every year breeding, i think thier needs to be some time of their, its kinda like dogs that are breed every year it just destroys their bodys, i saw a dog with it female parts hanging out from over breeding. that would be like making your wife have a baby every 9 months non stop. i could never be a breeder because the $$$$$ beats common sense.

[TammyJ]

Originally Posted by JuliusSqueezer

Thanks...can you add weeks so it says every two weeks? I see what happened now. David said "twice a month"...which is Californian for "every other week" or "every two weeks". I was trying to say "every two weeks but because I had just read his post, "twice a...." came out instead of "every two..." lol

Stop beating yourself over this JS. At least you didn't say twice a day.:crying:

[JuliusSqueezer]

yeah but more often is better than larger, because of them building up their digestive acids.

I don't agree with this. frequent feedings of smaller prey is not a good substitute for feeding appropriate sized meals fed with appropriate time between. Digestion depletes the enzymes in snakes...it uses them up. They grow back but it needs time. They digest slow. They NEED time between meals to replentish. Frequent feedings of even small prey does not allow for this. Instead of feeding a large boa frequent small meals, it would be better to feed 2 of these smaller items at a time and give her a couple of weeks to process it if you just have a bunch of "too small for this snake" rats to use up.


If you are thinking on terms of Python...Pythons handle all sorts of feeding schedules way better than boas do. They can eat a freaking horse and live off that for several months or they can eat nearly every day something small and get away with it ...Pythons definitely have a less sensitive digestive track than boas do.

[pythonguy21]

Originally Posted by JuliusSqueezer

I don't agree with this. frequent feedings of smaller prey is not a good substitute for feeding appropriate sized meals fed with appropriate time between. Digestion depletes the enzymes in snakes...it uses them up. They grow back but it needs time. They digest slow. They NEED time between meals to replentish. Frequent feedings of even small prey does not allow for this. Instead of feeding a large boa frequent small meals, it would be better to feed 2 of these smaller items at a time and give her a couple of weeks to process it if you just have a bunch of "too small for this snake" rats to use up.


If you are thinking on terms of Python...Pythons handle all sorts of feeding schedules way better than boas do. They can eat a freaking horse and live off that for several months or they can eat nearly every day something small and get away with it ...Pythons definitely have a less sensitive digestive track than boas do.

dangit it brett i made the same mistake as you. brandon edit my post please i was reading and typing. i meant to say

yeah but more often isnt better than larger and less often, because of them building up their digestive acids.

dang failed post.