Food aggressive

[Brently]

Okay so I fed Athena yesterday and today while doing some maintenance I noticed that she was being very food aggressive. She struck at the spray bottle. She ate a large meal yesterday. So my question, is there any reason to feed her? And what would you attribute this aggression towards. There is no smell of her prey. Could she still be hungry. I feed her meals every 5-7 days that are approximately the size of her circumference. Maybe a little less.

[BarelyBreathing]

What makes you think that she's acting this way because of food? In fact, if she ate yesterday, I don't think this has much to do with food at all.

[Brently]

Well the only time that she comes out of her hide like she did tonight is when it is feeding time and she smells the mice.

[millertime89]

I would say it sounds like she's still in feed mode. My little retic girl is like that for 2-4 days after feeding.

[CDN_Blood]

Could you elaborate on the 'large' part of large meal? We'll need to know what size the snake is, also :)

[Lankyrob]

I would say it sounds like she's still in feed mode. My little retic girl is like that for 2-4 days after feeding.


My SD Retic is the same we leave him for a good 72 hours before messing with anything in his viv.

[Brently]

Okay she is about a year I think. When I got her the paper work said she was about 6 months. That was about 5 months. I feed her a medium sized mouse every then 5 days later I feed a medium and a small then 7 days later I feed a medium and the cycle repeats.

[UwabamiReptiles]

I agree with millertime, it sounds like she's just still in feeding mode.

[Lankyrob]

Dont keep boas myself but shouldnt a year old boa be on rats?

[KORBIN5895]

My ten month old boa ate four rat pups last night. I feed two large mice a week or a small rat every two weeks.

[Norm66]

My ten month old boa ate four rat pups last night. I feed two large mice a week or a small rat every two weeks.

Yea, mine is 5-6 months and has been eating two weaned rats and whatever leftover fuzzies there are from the Royals that aren't currently eating. He'll get moved up to small rats next time we get to an expo for food. I would have had them ready but we underestimated his growth.

I'd take food aggressive over failure to feed any day.

Brently, after seeing your feeding schedule I wonder if she's not just staying in feed mode because you're feeding her small meals so often. I think I would double up the two large prey items and stretch it out to 7 days. That way she has some time to be out of feed mode and not always digesting something. Anyone else think that makes sense?

[KORBIN5895]

I second the motion!

[Terranaut]

My boas are adults and eat less often but stay in feed mode for at least 48 hrs after eating. My female will get the "big eyes" and wind up to strike at anything moving within 2 ft of her viv for the first 24 hrs. IMHO you need to feed a bigger prey item less often. Rat/mouse size can vary from vendor to vendor so try to judge based on your boa. A boa will eat prey 1.5 times its own girth no prob. When you compare a prey item to your boa remember rodents have hair and appear larger than they are. Try this. Buy 1 rat that is bigger than anything you have fed them so far. Nothing crazy just go up one size. If they take it (and they will) wait 7 full days and feed another the same size. I think you need more food less often. A full snake will lose the aggression after a couple days and should be fine until they smell rat again. I also agree with above that you should move to rats from mice. Good luck. Hope this helps.

[Will0W783]

I have noticed that some snakes will show a lot of "aggression" 48-72 hours after eating a meal large enough to leave a sizable bulge in them. I have come to think that it is actually defensiveness, as the snake knows that it is handicapped by the large meal in its stomach and cannot flee quickly or fit into the tight spaces it would normally be able to access. Thus, instinct tells it to try to scare away anything that could be a threat.

I have several snakes that are like this- my hognose snakes Arnold and Porky are both little jerks for several days after eating, and they start up hissing as soon as I enter the room. My cobra is also INSANE for about 2 days after feeding- he will hood, hiss, strike and mouth gape at me. Once he has digested his meal and pooped (48-72 hours) he calms down again, so I think it has to do with digestion and protecting themselves while vulnerable.

[KORBIN5895]

Kim, that makes an awful lot of sense to me.

[millertime89]

that makes sense as well, however I always kind of attributed that to after effects of feed mode, and some snakes were just more defensive then others with food in their bellies.

[Brently]

Okay well I haven't been able to find rats that are small enough for her where I live that is why she is not on rats. So just to clarify the concensus is that I should increase the size of her meals right?

[Brently]

Also just to explain myself I wanted a diet for her that is varied just to not get her into a set cycle and recreate a wild diet a bit more. After all food doesn't show up every 5-7 days in the wild. That was the reason for this schedule. I didn't want a routine. I would like to keep her guessing so to speak.

[CDN_Blood]

I wold say yes, increase the amount of food per meal :)

[Brently]

Okay sounds good then.

[lumpbump]

Hey brently an appripriately sized meal should leave a noticable lump in your yearling boa's stomach and be digested in a couple days. My last baby boa (bci) maleand went from a few hopper mice per meal to 30 day old, 100g, rats in a year. He is now roughly four foot long and weighs 700g. So his last meal was 1/7th his total weight.

If food is an issue you can always grow your own if you have the time to do it right. In theory its easy. you get two female rats and one male. Stick em together and a month later you should have about 20 chirping baby rats. You will want to make sure the pregnant rats have their own cage the last week of pregnancy. 10 gallon cheap glass aquariums work well for starters. Keep fresh water and plenty of food for the nursing moms. When they are the perfect size harvest your food, feed your snake, kill the rest and freeze. If you only have one snake you will be able to make enough food for your snake for a whole year in a couple months!

If your snake isnt already eating frozen thawed you should switch for many reasons including convenience and safety issues. All 5 of my boa constrictors eat from my freezer and my freezer is stocked by my colony of 6 female and 1 male rat. I get to know what my rats eat and feel better knowing im getting high quality feeders and its very convenient for me to just pull out a bag of rats the night before i feed and bam, its done till next week!

Hope this helps, Lump