Young Boa regurgitated - Page 2

lonewolf1253 · 06-24-17, 11:09 AM

Yup, snakes are feast or famine feeders. They'll eat till they puke because they may not get another for months. Like I said, I'm going to cut him way back.
It does seem be growing slower than I expected and the snakes I purchased previously were large animals to begin with. So having a juvenile is new to me.
But, its good to get them that way I think. He's totally docile and I'm sure he'll be a big boy in due time. Still skittish, buy he's young. The big snakes I had before were docile too and I'd get them out for hours and it didn't stress them at all. Except for the Rock Python. I could get him out O.K. Only got bit twice. But he'd defecate when handled. High strung and aggressive. I actually sold him for 200 dollars and this was back in 1981. Hopefully, whoever bought him was an expert in aggressive snakes.
But, you all have given me good advice and I thank you for it!

**Andy_G** · 06-24-17, 11:21 AM

I'll be honest...it's really good to see an old timer be receptive to new info. Good on you!

TRD · 06-24-17, 03:16 PM

Rock pythons are a special case

I never seen a calm and docile one. All hiss loudly and strike.

Boa's grow slow, metabolize slow...

Most regurgitation problems are related to temperature (too cold) and feeding too much at once, so you may want to start there.

bigsnakegirl785 · 06-24-17, 04:21 PM

I agree, it's nice to see you so receptive to new information.

As far as the growth, when fed properly boas grow quite slow. I have a 2 year old female that just got to about 4' on small rats and another 2 year old female that's 3.5' on weaned rats. My 16 month old male isn't even 3' yet, he eats large adult mice. I don't expect any of them to reach adult sizes before 5-6 years old.

lonewolf1253 · 06-28-17, 11:22 AM

You guys have mistaken me for an old man! I'm 57 and look about 42. And I think like a 25 year old. You wouldn't want me to refer to you as kids would you? LOL, I'm kidding! No offence taken and none given. I like this forum, some very knowledgeable reptile enthusiasts and I appreciate all the advice I can get. Dogs are my preference but they tie me down too much. I'll be owning reptiles from now on. Say, I posted a few pics of my little Boa. It was sold to me as a Red-Tail. Can anyone tell by the pics if its a BCC or BCI? Also, Is there any way to tell if it's male or female without being probed? My little buddy needs a name! Its tail does seem to taper abruptly so I'm guessing it's a male. I could post better and clearer pics if needed. Even some of us, "Old Timers" know a bit about computers. I program them for a living. Industrial CNC. Thanks

bigsnakegirl785 · 06-28-17, 07:16 PM

I can't find the pictures, so I can't weigh in on the ID, but "normally" females are the ones with the short tails that stop abruptly. When they're babies it's really hard to tell how their tails really are, idk if it's an illusion or not, but their tails seem to change appearance in length/girth as they grow so you might not be able to tell early on.

Plus, males can have stumpy tails and females can have long thin ones so it's not reliable in the least.

It's not 100% (more reliable than visually telling), but a good way to sex baby boas is by palpating. You put your thumb on the bottom of their tail and your forefinger on top and gently run your fingers down their tail with gentle pressure. You need to go at least 50-60% down the tail, but if you feel something like little b.b.s or a rubber band snapping that's the end of the hemipenes and it's male. You do still have to exercise some caution when doing this because you can damage male's hemipenes and female's scent glands if you squeeze too hard. Just the gentlest pressure, enough you can feel.