When can I start feeding rats - Page 3

bigsnakegirl785 · 09-04-16, 09:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Serpent guru

I'm done arguing there's honestly no point because hes healthy in every way and there's never been a sign of obesity and it definitely would of shown by now.

You can keep saying that and continue to ignore the fact you can't look at him and know, but that doesn't change it's irresponsible feeding. As far as arguing, I'm done as well, we've both said our piece.

Serpent guru · 09-04-16, 09:26 PM

Whatever makes u sleep better at night. I contacted breeders that have 15+ and 20+ year experience with em

bored · 09-04-16, 09:27 PM

Where do you recommend taking snakes to get x rayed and how often do you suggest taking them?

**Andy_G** · 09-04-16, 09:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Serpent guru

Whatever makes u sleep better at night. I contacted breeders that have 15+ and 20+ year experience with em

Coming from someone having been in this hobby for all of my life and breeding for all but the first decade of it...minus a year here or there (but i'm only 29 so take my experience as you will) surely one of those well seasoned breeders told you that a male boa...even most females actually...don't ever need to be fed rabbits. It costs you more and it's an unneccessary amount of food for them. That's all I have to add because it looks other aspects of the subject were already discussed here and although I agree that overfeeding adds up and takes years off of an animal's life and I will also agree that overfeeding is RAMPANT in our hobby...I don't want to beat a dead horse here.

Quote:

Originally Posted by bored

Where do you recommend taking snakes to get x rayed and how often do you suggest taking them?

It's completely unnecessary unless you suspect a problem.

bigsnakegirl785 · 09-04-16, 10:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bored

Where do you recommend taking snakes to get x rayed and how often do you suggest taking them?

As Andy said, not necessary unless there's a problem. I was just suggesting it to Serpent Guru because of their overfeeding and their belief their feeding habits weren't taking a toll on their snake's health.

They can say all they want about contacting breeders, but I've had just as experienced breeders tell me exactly what I'm telling them now. Experience means little if you've been doing it wrong all those years, so I'm not really impressed with their contacts' assurances.

Serpent guru · 09-04-16, 10:49 PM

Ahh ight yeah just curious because of nutritional content sense of bigger rats have more fat on them and would be same weight meal.and I saw a post of urs bsg a while back that u feed urs every two weeks to sense I was looking into the forum alot.i would obviously cut back on the amount of meals being feed if I did to 3-4weeks if rabbits are offered.and I always wondered are rabbits just longer or something that's why when people feed them they give it longer digestion period

Serpent guru · 09-04-16, 11:00 PM

Like I don't know what to believe tbh anymore although he has never shown signs which I have pictures proving I have 2 different group of people telling me something different

**Andy_G** · 09-04-16, 11:11 PM

To keep it short and sweet...the bigger the meal, the more work it takes for the body to break down and process that food, and the longer you should allow it to remain at rest after it has done so. When a snake eats, most of it's internal organs actually swell in order to metabolize that food, and the heart does as well to keep up with everything, so it is a more complex process than one might think. Rest from digestion is good.

I can tell you that for males of the same size and age as yours...I would be feeding a medium every 3 weeks or so. I can definitely appreciate that you're looking into things a bit further. Do what works for you.

Serpent guru · 09-04-16, 11:26 PM

hes about 6.5-7feet and it really doesn't leave a lump into him I mean it's kinda noticeable but nothing that looks ridiculous.and I mean he does poop every 6-8days 8 being kinda late.and that does give him about 5days sometimes a week between a meal

bigsnakegirl785 · 09-05-16, 06:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Serpent guru

Ahh ight yeah just curious because of nutritional content sense of bigger rats have more fat on them and would be same weight meal.and I saw a post of urs bsg a while back that u feed urs every two weeks to sense I was looking into the forum alot.i would obviously cut back on the amount of meals being feed if I did to 3-4weeks if rabbits are offered.and I always wondered are rabbits just longer or something that's why when people feed them they give it longer digestion period

I feed my yearlings every 2 weeks, but I feed my 5 year old adult every 4-5 weeks and I fast him 90 days every winter, and my 6 month old is fed every 10 days. Whether the adult gets a rat or a rabbit makes no difference in the amount of time I wait to give him another meal, but I do offer food more often the first couple of meals coming out of a fast. He's been eating every 4-5 weeks for 2.5 years now, so half his life at this time.

If he gets a bigger than average meal, I give him an extra week or two, but since he's hardly growing any it's pretty easy to avoid giving him something too large. I can measure the inches in years rather than weeks. Should still get a good half a foot to a foot longer, too, he grew half a foot in about a year's time, and I haven't measured him recently. He's still growing pretty well considered how overfed he was when he was younger, and how old he is now.

Serpent guru · 09-07-16, 02:49 PM

Aye if that's working for you and he's healthy then good job. I did notice ur big boy that's 6.5feet I think u stated before he's pretty and what's been the biggests bci or bcc I think is the redtail abbreviation lol.that actually has been proven not the ones where people be like omg I seen a 40 foot retic lol.and yeah u know what the say snakes never stop growing there whole life so I can't wait in 10years to see my boy and ur boy then to see some of the differences

bigsnakegirl785 · 09-07-16, 04:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Serpent guru

Aye if that's working for you and he's healthy then good job. I did notice ur big boy that's 6.5feet I think u stated before he's pretty and what's been the biggests bci or bcc I think is the redtail abbreviation lol.that actually has been proven not the ones where people be like omg I seen a 40 foot retic lol.and yeah u know what the say snakes never stop growing there whole life so I can't wait in 10years to see my boy and ur boy then to see some of the differences

Oh there are verified boas much larger than him, but I don't tend to believe any claims of boas over 9', BI or BC. An 8'-9' boa is bigger than most people give them credit for, and I see 8' boas claimed as 12' all the time, heck sometimes even 7' boas. Cloud is only a little over "average" male size, I'm guessing he'll top out at 7'-7.5', I'd be really surprised if he got any bigger than that.

**Andy_G** · 09-08-16, 07:34 AM

I've seen a monster 20(ish) year old female guyanan BCC whose owner claimed it to be 11' years ago. I believed that one...but nothing since! I'd agree that they pretty much all top out at 9'.

Serpent guru · 09-08-16, 04:24 PM

Yeah alot I tend to see alot of people exaggerating the length of there boa's like people say they have a 13footer which is a no brainer that's fake lmao..holy crap 11foot that's massive!!!!! yeah i seen about 8footer before at a reptile show was curious on what yen's ever saw.heck I'm fine with the length my boa is now I mean if he gets bigger then so be it haha

bored · 09-11-16, 02:15 PM

I tried to look at just how big a small rat is at my local Petco on Friday.
It turns out my local store doesn't even have rat's anymore. They said they haven't had rats since last year.
I dug around on Facebook and found some pics from when I first got my Boa.
https://postimg.org/image/5rc19roj7/
https://postimg.org/image/cdynsd04t/
https://postimg.org/image/9h44uk61f/