Boa Feeding

[BoaBoi]

I just got a BIG mouse from the petstore, and got it home... Didn't realize how big it was, but after 7 minutes the snake got it all the way down. I was wondering just how big of food can a boa eat, I realise that it can be dangerous to the animal but I'm just asking the physics of how big of prey they can eat at about 6 months old cuz this lil guy chomped down big time on this one. Any ideas?

James~

[BoidKeeper]

Boas should be given rat pups not mice. I don't recomend anyone feed their snake a rodent larger then 1.5 time the snakes largest girth.
Your boa at 6 months and mine at 6 months may be very different. How long and how much does your snake weigh?
Cheers,
Trevor

[Invictus]

I've seen baby boas take adult mice for their first meal. Nature designed them to eat HUGE meals, and they usually do. My baby boas, which I estimate are also around 6 months old, get 2 adult mice in a feeding, every 10 days to 2 weeks depending on how quickly they digest, shedding, defecation, etc.

[snakey]

You can feed a boa as large a meal as it can swallow. If it can't,... it won't. I personaly feed mice about three times the over all size of the snakes head. Although most boas can swallow prey up to five or six times the size of the head. The real problem with feeding large meals is the fact that it can cause internal problems, like constipation, lethergy, or even internal bleeding, or regurgitation if handled to soon after feeding. Always wait 48 hrs after feeding to handle your snake, and the bigger the meal the longer you wait! Boids can ingest a large enough meal to go without eating again for up to a year. But this is not recomended. The best way to feed is, in my opinion, a meal aproximately three times the size of the head every 7 days. If that dosent seem to be enough, simply give more prey items at each feeding...2 ,3 , or even 4. Basicly whatever your snake can pass through its system in a week or ten days. I have a couple indigos who are notoriously picky some times, so rather than throw away the mice they don't eat, I give them to my boa. I feed pre- killed frozen thawed mice and I highly recomend this method by the way for several reasons... the main reason being I don't wan,t some punk rodent biting my snakes! Also rats or mice dosent make a bit of difference. Just concerne youself with size at this point, and find yourself a supplier of pre- killed frozen rodents.

[ReptiZone]

My female Boa was eating every 4 days one adult mouse when she started to take 2 Adult mice i bumped her down to every 7 days then I got her on apropriat sized rats every 7 days she is now a year and some monts old she eats 1 large rat every 7 days except the first feeding after she sheds she takes 2 large rats I do this cause I do not feed during a shed phase so when she sheds she is empty and can fit 2 rats 7 days later she normaly defactes and the she gets a clean cage and a new rat.

My male on the other hand got 1 adult mouse every 7 days when he was young and when he was bumped up to rats I fed hime evry 14 days only becaus he would refuse meals every 7 days so i just kept his regular routine from time to time I will throw somthing extar and he takes it but not often.

The ReptiZone