feeding baby costa rican boa

[lougotzz]

How much would you feed a baby Costa Rican boa? Snake is about eight months old. I feed him a small mouse once a week. He looks a little skinny to me.

I don't see to many owners of true Costa Ricans. How fat are they supposed to get at maturity?

Thanks.

[Mikoh4792]

If you don't get any answers here I'd recommend contacting reputable breeders of locale boas like Vin Russo. However from last time I talked to him, he said most bci should be treated the same.

[Tsubaki]

Costa's are very slim at a young age, what shape is his body? Very crudely seen: Square shaped is healthy, triangular shaped is skinny and round is fat. Do you have a picture of him?

They way i personally fed all my boa's- Once a week up until 6 months of age, then moved up to once in every 10 days.. Slowly decreasing as they age, depending on how they forage. Hope this helped?

[lougotzz]

Squarish round is his body shape

[lougotzz]

What is their girth at maturity?

[Tsubaki]

They don't get that big (4/7 feet, males staying a lot smaller) Males generally were about as thick as a wrist, while the ladies would sometimes be twice that. Not sure how to explain otherwise. :D Never measured them.

[limey]

You can post a pic of him, which would help us get an idea.

It's mainly dependant on his size, girth and age. It would seem that Costa Ricans are a slightly smaller and slimmer species than some of the other geographic races though. That is something to bear in mind.

One meal that is as thick around as his widest part per week up until about 6-8 months of age is pretty standard feeding for most snakes.

After that, as Tsubaki said, you can usually go to feeding the same large meal every 14 days. During the winter months, they might not eat as often, so don't be surprised if he isn't as hungry as you want him to be at this time of year.

But as the girth of the snake steadily increases, so should the meal size. I presume with Costa Ricans, it might be easy to overfeed them, since they are naturally more slender than your typical mainland boa - so be careful not to overfeed, or feed too often.

Also, I would get him on rats as soon as you can, they are more nutritious for the snake than mice.