Feeding time?

[Brylee1233]

My year old male BRB last shed was 37 inches. He shed the second time in 1 month. He was looking kind of fat to me. So I cut down to feeding 1 hopper mouse every 2 weeks. He now seems to be in more 'hunting' mode more and more (?) Should I keep feeding him 1 hopper mouse every 2 weeks or just go back to 1 every week again?

[EL Ziggy]

I'm not too familiar with boas. I'm sure an experienced keeper will chime in shortly. My colubrids eat every 6-7 days.

[David VB]

Hunting mode is good ;) It's what you like the most actually : feeding him an appropriate sized mouse/rat every week will get him more fat and probably he will die sooner. 10 to 14 days won't do that. But then again, that is what i believe. For myself, i try to vary a bit in feeding days. So sometimes it's 10 days in between but other times it could go to almost 3 weeks. i believe it's the same in the wild, sometimes they encounter a prey very soon after they just had eaten, but sometimes it last weeks before they can find any new meal. Boa's mostly are very well feeders, so they will probably eat every day if you would feed them daily. The number one death with snakes still is overweight.

[Snakesitter]

When young, you can get away with more frequent feedings, as young rainbows will directly convert food energy to growth. I feed my babies almost every week, skipping only the weekend closest to month-end weighing. At some point I switch them to every other week; this varies by snake. When they reach adult size, however (around 1500-1800 grams), I drop them to every third week, *unless* they are a breeder for that year. David is right: a snake fed less lives longer, and this is particularly true with rainbows, who often tend towards obesity in captivity.

At mouse hopper size (starter prey for these snakes), I'd stay at once per week.

[Vysathi]

Hey Snakesitter.... How do you determine when to drop your snakes to every other week feeding? If I may ask.

[Cmwells90]

Vysathi, I would say that would entirely depend on the snake. With my Boa, I did it when she moved to medium rats (She was around 9 months-ish), and with my Corn snake, it was much later in his life, around a year old, maybe year and a half. I usually just make the change and see how the snake reacts to it, if they're hungry they'll let you know.

[CosmicOwl]

I'm not sure if "hunting mode" is a great gauge of when to feed again. I know my snakes will be out cruising their cage the day after I've fed them. I think it's their natural instinct to hunt, whether they've eaten recently or not. As long as they haven't downed a monstrous meal, they'll probably always be looking for more food.

[Brylee1233]

Okay thank you guys for all your help! :)

[Snakesitter]

Size. Generally, I switch them to every other week around small rat size, which is about 500 grams.