does my boa seem overweight

[Boabrad]

i have not took a measurement on how long she is (most people say 7, im thinking around 8, shes around 5 or 6 and am a little concerned shes been fed too much, do you think shes overweight? she must be at least 25 pounds , prob more

[bigsnakegirl785]

I doubt she's 8', like I said in the other thread. If she's 25+ lbs she's definitely on the heavy side. I'd weigh her to be sure, though. At 7'-7.5' I'd expect maybe 10-15 lbs for a healthy weight. If she does measure out to 8', then 20-25 lbs is acceptable, but too much above that and it will be on the heavier side.

[dannybgoode]

What size prey do you fed her and how often?

[Boabrad]

What size prey do you fed her and how often?

2 jumbo rats a month, one ev 2 wks

[dannybgoode]

Yeah that's too much. I'd feed one jumbo rat every 4 - 6 weeks or maybe a small rabbit. Bsg will be able to perhaps give better guidance on prey size for a boa of that size but she too will I think suggest cutting back on the frequency.

Boas do not need a lot of food and if they carry to much weight it can be very bad for them in the long term.

[bigsnakegirl785]

I wouldn't even feed a single jumbo rat myself. A regular large rat should be more than plenty. I don't feed any of my boas anything larger than a regular large rat. If they outgrow larges, they get rabbits or a mix of rabbits and large rats. There's just too much fat in a jumbo for me to feel comfortable feeding them.

I'd do a large rat once a month, and if you do rabbits nothing larger than 1/2 lb.

[jjhill001]

I wouldn't even feed a single jumbo rat myself. A regular large rat should be more than plenty. I don't feed any of my boas anything larger than a regular large rat. If they outgrow larges, they get rabbits or a mix of rabbits and large rats. There's just too much fat in a jumbo for me to feel comfortable feeding them.

I'd do a large rat once a month, and if you do rabbits nothing larger than 1/2 lb.

I'm not a big snake person, but general rule of thumb for snake feeding at least in my experience in terms of rodent feeding anything labeled "jumbo" "extra large" or something of that nature is usually an old breeder animal with lesser nutritional value and higher fat. Always go for the step below that.