Feed boas once every two weeks? - Page 2

SSSSnakes · 11-08-13, 05:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mikoh4792

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.

Mikoh4792 · 11-08-13, 05:35 PM

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

Terranaut · 11-08-13, 05:39 PM

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 · 11-08-13, 05:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 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.

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 · 11-08-13, 05:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mikoh4792

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 · 11-08-13, 10:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mikoh4792

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 · 11-10-13, 11:17 AM

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 · 11-10-13, 11:53 AM

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 · 11-10-13, 06:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 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.

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

Mikoh4792 · 11-10-13, 06:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by formica

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.