Feed boas once every two weeks?

[Mikoh4792]

How often do you feed your boas right from birth?

I've been talking to Vin Russo about feeding and he says he feeds all of his boas(hatchling to adults) only once every two weeks.....and then fasts them the for the Winter.

Is this just common knowledge that I haven't learned? Or is this the first time you guys are hearing about this as well?

[lady_bug87]

I feed smaller meals every 7-10 days. My BCI has tummy issues so I feed her every 14

[thinkbig317]

I feed my BCI once every week. I wouldnt go every two weeks as babies....but thats just me.

[Mikoh4792]

I feed my BCI once every week. I wouldnt go every two weeks as babies....but thats just me.

Well he is a reputable breeder of many years... lol. Which is why I take his word into consideration.

I also thought once every two weeks for babies was a little too little

[thinkbig317]

Well he is a reputable breeder of many years... lol. Which is why I take his word into consideration.

I also thought once every two weeks for babies was a little too little

Understandably so, haha!

[thinkbig317]

Now I'm second guessing myself........

[Mark Taylor]

I was feeding every week then I upped pray size and switched to every 2 weeks. My mane reason was the number of rats I had to keep and the fact that some did not eat every week they would wait 2 weeks on there own, so couldn't see any reason to feed weekly.

As for not feeding them in winter I do so far I have had only 2 adult boa's refuse food for a few months and that was breeding time but I still offered every few weeks.

[Mikoh4792]

how big of a meal do you feed at biweekly intervals? Do you see the same rate of growth from that regimen?

[Mark Taylor]

I just feed the appropriate size just bigger than the widest part of the body. Growth seems to be all good muscular physique and strong and getting long lol.

[KORBIN5895]

I started feeding my female bci every two weeks starting at 8 months. she is now 2.5, over 5' and has a great physique. She isn't as big as big as some but she is in top notch health. I also started feeding her 55g rats at 8 months.

[Mikoh4792]

she is now 2.5, over 5' and has a great physique. She isn't as big as big as some -

Is that a bad thing?(if your boa is not as big as some). I thought as long as the weight to length ratio was good the size compared to others wasn't relevant.

[Valvaren]

I started feeding both my bci biweekly with they got to mediums, both a very muscular snakes, very defined. Perfectly square, no fat sides, honestly people told me to got to by weekly once they hit a year old but I found they were always cruising, but once they hit mediums they weren't as food crazy and that's when I switched to biweekly. Worked for my boys. I'd be happy to take some pictures so you can see what they look like.

[SSSSnakes]

I have found if I feed the same amount of food item every week and increase the size as the baby grows, I get a large snake. If I feed the same size prey every two weeks and do not increase the size prey, the snake stays healthy, but stays small. I have a Boa that I have fed one mouse every two weeks for the last three years, and the snake is small but very healthy. He is only three feet.

[Mikoh4792]

I started feeding both my bci biweekly with they got to mediums, both a very muscular snakes, very defined. Perfectly square, no fat sides, honestly people told me to got to by weekly once they hit a year old but I found they were always cruising, but once they hit mediums they weren't as food crazy and that's when I switched to biweekly. Worked for my boys. I'd be happy to take some pictures so you can see what they look like.

pics are always nice

[Mikoh4792]

I have found if I feed the same amount of food item every week and increase the size as the baby grows, I get a large snake. If I feed the same size prey every two weeks and do not increase the size prey, the snake stays healthy, but stays small. I have a Boa that I have fed one mouse every two weeks for the last three years, and the snake is small but very healthy. He is only three feet.

wow what kind of boa? That sounds like an island boa to me.... or a mexican.

[SSSSnakes]

wow what kind of boa? That sounds like an island boa to me.... or a mexican.

It was suppose to be a Colombian Red Tail Boa. Here is a picture of him.
http://i475.photobucket.com/albums/rr115/JerryTheSnakeman/DSCF5299.jpg (http://s475.photobucket.com/user/JerryTheSnakeman/media/DSCF5299.jpg.html)

[Mikoh4792]

ahah nice. so being 3 years old and 3 feet does that mean hes pretty much full grown?

[Terranaut]

I am a wierdo when it comes to feeding by some peoples standards. I read the snakes behavior and feed when hungry. Having a 10 snake collection makes it easy to judge a change in behavior or hunting behavior. The only snake I feed on a shedule is my royal. My boa(and my adult carpets) I feed every 7-21 days based on the above. If I feed a large rat to my boa he will be trucking around his enclosure in about a week. If I give him a 3lb bunny he doesn't do anything for a couple weeks but doesn't start searching until about 3 weeks. My male is 7' and has that loaf of breafd look so it seems to be working.

[Mikoh4792]

I am a wierdo when it comes to feeding by some peoples standards. I read the snakes behavior and feed when hungry. Having a 10 snake collection makes it easy to judge a change in behavior or hunting behavior. The only snake I feed on a shedule is my royal. My boa(and my adult carpets) I feed every 7-21 days based on the above. If I feed a large rat to my boa he will be trucking around his enclosure in about a week. If I give him a 3lb bunny he doesn't do anything for a couple weeks but doesn't start searching until about 3 weeks. My male is 7' and has that loaf of breafd look so it seems to be working.

Hm maybe I should try that method...because after several days of feeding I definitely see my carpets roam around...sometimes they wake me up at night from climbing.

However aren't they supposed to be ambush predators?(boas and carpets). I think I've read that they stay in one spot and wait for prey to pass by, as opposed to actively hunting for food.

[SSSSnakes]

ahah nice. so being 3 years old and 3 feet does that mean hes pretty much full grown?

That I really can't say, I'll have to wait and see what happens. He still gets only one mouse every two weeks. I also have a beautiful Cal. King Snake that is five years old and only around two feet, but also very healthy. The King Snake has been fed a hopper every two weeks for the last five years. It seems to me that if you feed them less, they never reach their potential size, but still stay healthy. Isn't this how we end up with the dwarf Retics., they come from islands were the food source is limited, so they stay smaller than the mainland Retics.

[KORBIN5895]

Hm maybe I should try that method...because after several days of feeding I definitely see my carpets roam around...sometimes they wake me up at night from climbing.

However aren't they supposed to be ambush predators?(boas and carpets). I think I've read that they stay in one spot and wait for prey to pass by, as opposed to actively hunting for food.

Boas will always search for food. They may not run down their prey like some snakes but they'll definitely hunt to find a food source.

[Mark Taylor]

I can to do a little experiment as I still have 20 of the babies left. I will feed half of them on a weekly basis and the others bi weekly and see what results I get.

[formica]

I feed mine when they are hungry, rainbow is 7 months and eating rat pups, his last was 6 days ago, and he's hunting already, my Hogg (6months old) was eating pups aswell, but he had a large adult mouse about 10 days ago, and still isnt hunting for food, so i'm expect he'll be getting fed again @ 14 days - this is the way i've always fed my snakes and they have never grown huge, but always done well


I dont think that feeding necessarly needs to be to a fixed schedule, there are so many factor which affect a snakes need for food, imo its best to let them deciede - and I certainly dont agree with power feeding large meals on a tight schedule

[Mikoh4792]

I can to do a little experiment as I still have 20 of the babies left. I will feed half of them on a weekly basis and the others bi weekly and see what results I get.

This would be of great help to all boa owners here.

[Mikoh4792]

I dont think that feeding necessarly needs to be to a fixed schedule, there are so many factor which affect a snakes need for food, imo its best to let them deciede - and I certainly dont agree with power feeding large meals on a tight schedule

Of course it doesn't need to be fixed, they don't eat on fixed intervals in the wild. But when you keep a large collection(like breeders) sometimes a "feeding day" for your snakes needs to be implemented into your schedule due to a time constraint. So since the breeder I got my boas from said he feeds every 2 weeks even for babies I was a bit confused. However I'd really like to see the results of Mark's experiment with his babies.