How often to feed a Kenyan Sand Boa?

[TRD]

So,
on average my babies (under 1 year) took a meal every 7 (actually just over 7) days
my adults took a meal every (almost) 18 days. I try feeding them every 14 days though, but they skipped some mainly in the months Jan to Apr.

The meal of the adults is about 6-8% of their weight, not 10-15% like some high metabolism colubrids get. Babies took 1 pinkie of about 3-4 gram every 7 days, I tried feeding multiple but they never took more as babies (did when crossing 1 year though). Neither has eaten for me when in shed, neither has eaten for me when outside the enclosure. I had only 1 or 2 strike feedings from adults (from beneath the substrate when I knew where the head was). They are very shy in general.

Hope this info helps you somehow in what to expect. Individual snakes may still differ, females will also eat more regular than males as Magdalen said above.

[CK SandBoas]

Ive been keeping and breeding Kenyan Sand Boas for the past 10 years, and for babies, they get fed every five days until they reach around 20 grams, then they move to every 7 days. Adults I feed every 7-10 days, never going past 2 weeks. Their metabolism is not like other boa species, I have found babies to be looking for their next meal 3-4 days after a meal. Adult males will go off feed during the winter months for breeding, that is the only time any of mine will skip a normal schedule..

[Aaron_S]

Originally Posted by CK SandBoas

Ive been keeping and breeding Kenyan Sand Boas for the past 10 years, and for babies, they get fed every five days until they reach around 20 grams, then they move to every 7 days. Adults I feed every 7-10 days, never going past 2 weeks. Their metabolism is not like other boa species, I have found babies to be looking for their next meal 3-4 days after a meal. Adult males will go off feed during the winter months for breeding, that is the only time any of mine will skip a normal schedule..

I followed this when I had my collection of sand boas and they did really well on them. Incredible little snakes.

[bigsnakegirl785]

Originally Posted by TRD

So,
on average my babies (under 1 year) took a meal every 7 (actually just over 7) days
my adults took a meal every (almost) 18 days. I try feeding them every 14 days though, but they skipped some mainly in the months Jan to Apr.

The meal of the adults is about 6-8% of their weight, not 10-15% like some high metabolism colubrids get. Babies took 1 pinkie of about 3-4 gram every 7 days, I tried feeding multiple but they never took more as babies (did when crossing 1 year though). Neither has eaten for me when in shed, neither has eaten for me when outside the enclosure. I had only 1 or 2 strike feedings from adults (from beneath the substrate when I knew where the head was). They are very shy in general.

Hope this info helps you somehow in what to expect. Individual snakes may still differ, females will also eat more regular than males as Magdalen said above.

It seems in your experience it’s much like mine with my boas. My boas also get 6-8% as babies, but the frequency depends on species. My rainbows start at 7-10 days and my boa constrictors at 10-14 days. The KSBs are eating more often than either species as adults but that’s to be expected since they’re smaller. My rainbows get fed every 3-4 weeks as adults, and my boa constrictors every 4-6 weeks, and meals can be as small as only 2% of their weight.

I do feed more conservatively than most, though, I’ve noticed most people are not willing to feed their babies less than the largest meals they can get away with every 5-7 days, and it’s rare to find people feeding even adults less than weekly (2 weeks is also common but not as common). Slower growth sets off red flags and is usually interpreted as underfeeding or “starving” a snake, but it’s way easier to overfeed than people think and as long as they’re eating it’s nearly impossible to starve them. A slower growth is overall healthier and easier to keep snakes from becoming overweight, as you cannot reliably monitor a snake’s weight visibly. They store their fat in fatty deposits, and when those are full, it covers all of their organs, and then eventually it gets bad enough the snake becomes visibly overweight or obese. Obesity/lack of exercise is one of the most common ailments in captive reptiles.

From what I’ve seen, boas in general are slower growers and require a lot less food than pythons, but people still feed them like pythons as long as they’ll eat that way. (Then again I also feel pythons are overfed in general.)