Best Feeders For Large Boas?

[RedTailRutiodon]

She doesn't appear overweight, she definitely still has a squared cross section to her. Would it be best to transition to longer intervals gradually? As in, adding an extra few days between feedings to build up to a 4 week schedule, or briefly having her on a 3 week as a transition?

Edit: For that matter, the FAQ here recommends 2 weeks for adults as well.

[bigsnakegirl785]

Originally Posted by RedTailRutiodon

She doesn't appear overweight, she definitely still has a squared cross section to her. Would it be best to transition to longer intervals gradually? As in, adding an extra few days between feedings to build up to a 4 week schedule, or briefly having her on a 3 week as a transition?

Edit: For that matter, the FAQ here recommends 2 weeks for adults as well.

Nah. If she's not terribly overweight it isn't going to hurt her to go straight to 4 weeks. My normal boa was roughly a pound overweight and pudgy looking, I went straight from weekly at 2-2.5 years old to every 4 weeks and a fast and he was fine. He's 5 now and doing great, took an entire year to shed the very small extra weight he had, though.

As I said, much information is behind the times. If you need solid "links" Vin Russo advises monthly feedings for adults. "14-30 days" but he says that really depends on the size of the animal and the size of the meal, this was published in the books he published in 2007. I personally have had much luck feeding my adults on smallish prey monthly. My new proven breeder female has been fed every 1-2 months, albeit on much larger prey than I'd give her myself (with the occasional 2-3 weeks if fed smaller prey - like small or medium rats), but she's 8 years old and nowhere near skin and bones. I wouldn't do every 2 weeks unless I was giving a 6'+ boa like a small rat or something. (All assuming the snake is starting out at a healthy weight and not disastrously underweight or ill.)

A common denominator I see on care sheets everywhere when I get to feeding is feeding as big of meals, as fatty of meals, as much as possible. Resulting in grossly overweight animals and early deaths. There's no need to feed an adult boa anything larger than a regular large rat unless it's a particularly large boa and then I'd do a mix of large rats and xx-small to x-small rabbits as I mentioned above. Pigs, Guinea pigs, etc. are all 100% unnecessary and dangerously fatty to be feeding to a boa at all. Too fatty of meals causes color loss, liver failure, and death in boas. Rather quickly, too, if fatty enough.