small meal more often or large meal less often?

Tekpc007 · 07-22-12, 07:08 PM

whats the consensus on this for a boa ? My cbb 2010 hog island is 36 " and 270 grams , and very healthy and fit but was raised on mice by the breeder , not me. I got him in June and I have switched him to weanling rats now with no problems . Breeder was giving him 1 adult mouse every 7 to 10 days and I'm giving him a big weanling every 7-10 days . i know know he could take a small rat or a smaller medium rat maybe and I could switch to a longer cycle but whats the story on this? Also whats wrong with mice anyway? I have read that rats can be linked to fatty liver problems so thought about mixing rats,mice and chicks. any opinions on this?

also I read somehting about feeding 10% of your snakes weight every 15 days , this seems about right or is this not correct?

Jendee · 07-23-12, 06:13 AM

I feed my babies mice until they get to weanling rat size then I switch but I'm very into slow growing my Boas don't reach breeding until 4-5 yes of age. Since you bumped to rats and your boa is a 2010 I would stick with every 10 days. My 2010 and older eat every 14 up until the last few months before breeding. I have a 2009 hypo/hog on small rats still about to move her to mediums

and just a request you should post a random hero pic with your question I love pics!

Tekpc007 · 07-23-12, 06:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jendee

I feed my babies mice until they get to weanling rat size then I switch but I'm very into slow growing my Boas don't reach breeding until 4-5 yes of age. Since you bumped to rats and your boa is a 2010 I would stick with every 10 days. My 2010 and older eat every 14 up until the last few months before breeding. I have a 2009 hypo/hog on small rats still about to move her to mediums

and just a request you should post a random hero pic with your question I love pics!

here he is

beardeds4life · 07-23-12, 09:32 AM

I have no idea because I do not keep snakes BUT I heard that mice are linked to fatty liver disease.

CDN_Blood · 07-23-12, 02:06 PM

I've always done the larger meals with more time between because I feel it's more natural. The results of that in my collection speaks for itself

Rogue628 · 07-23-12, 02:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CDN_Blood

I've always done the larger meals with more time between because I feel it's more natural. The results of that in my collection speaks for itself

Same here. As hatchlings I did feed every 5 to 7 days, but once I get them on adult rats, I started feeding larger prey and feeding less frequently. They seem more satisfied, search for food less often, and are growing like weeds. Actually I think my burms are doing much better in growth in this way.

**millertime89** · 07-23-12, 10:29 PM

There's a few BHB snakebytes videos about this subject. Basically the smaller, more frequent fed snakes were smaller than the normal food at normal frequency, and the biggest by a good margin were the large meals at normal frequency, he didn't test larger at regular frequency, although I would think it would be in between the normal/normal, and the larger/normal.