Food Size??

[Crazy Deb]

I have read that you should not feed anything that is thicker than the widest part of your snake. My little BCI today ate a rat that we were positive was way too big for him. Last week he ate a mouse sideways and I panicked because i thought he was going to kill himself trying to get it down. When you are talking about food size is that when the food item is stretched out like they usually are when they are dead? Do you exclude the fuzziness of the fur? (This always makes things look bigger) My Ball python seems to have gone off eating (normal I know) so I tried a stunned rat on him. He refused to eat it so I thought instead of wasting it I would try the Boa. When we put him in the 'feeding' container I said there's no way he can possibly eat that thing, We were about to take it out when he struck, constricted, killed ( like the poor rat was moving anyway) and ate it! Gives gone in 60 seconds a whole new meaning for me! I was shocked. My little guy looks about 1/2 the thickness of the rat. How are you supposed to be able to judge what size food to give?

[Linds]

A snake can eat something larger than the largest part of its own girth, but its not necessarily good for them to do so. Large meals are more difficult to digest and there is an increased chance of regurgitation. When judging the appropriate size of prey to feed to your snake, just take the prey item and it should *roughly* be the same size (though its good to feed something slightly smaller) than the largest part of the snakes girth. Try not to get to technical with measuring, its jsut a </u>rough</u> estimate :D And if you suspect that the meal is too big for your snake, do not attempt to feed it anyway.

[Crazy Deb]

So how long should I be waiting until we give him his next meal if he chowed down on something too big for him???

[Linds]

How often have you been feeding him? I would give him 7 days before his next meal (which may not interupt your schedule at all if you feed him every 7 :) ).

[Brian]

Sorry this is sooooooo long. :)

Crazy Deb,

Everything Linds mentioned is correct. Those are good guidelines regarding feeding for captive boas. Personally, I think it is based on a 'better-safe-than-sorry' rationale. Girth-sized meals allow a little more leeway for simple (and most often minor) husbandry mistakes. One large (not 3x or more bigger than the snake!) meal is more likely regurgitated due to suboptimal temps/humidity, bad water/dehyradtion, and probably most likely, premature handling. Not to mention serious causes such as parasites or disease.

Though I have had a boa regurge due to overfeeding once. I apprehensively offered a second rat to a boa that previously was only fed one (of that size). I, like yourself, didn't want the perfectly good rat to go to waste and he basically inhaled the first one so I gave it to him. Right afterwards, he didn't seem that bloated so I wasn't too worried. However, the next morning, my apprehension came right back. (Many hours later, sometimes a whole day, boas tend to swell up from their last meal. I heard it's because of the gases released inside the rat once the outer body is digested.) Anyway, when I saw how fat he was, I was concerned. Needless to say, two days later (3 since the feeding) he regurged. And I was 'lucky' enough to witness the entire event. lol :eek:

Keep in mind, I DO feed my boas 'larger-than-girth' meals so I am in no way suggesting that it is wrong. That's not entirely why I brought up the whole regurge story. Just trying to make you aware that boas WILL eat more than they can handle! Their eyes definitely can be larger than their stomachs. :)

I did learn my boa's limitations that night and haven't had a regurge from him since. Also, since I feed 'larger than generally advised' meals, I only feed my boas twice a week (at the most). I basically just feed them as soon as their girth gets back to normal (and usually a few days after that {not for any specific reason, sometimes just plain 'ol laziness :joker: }). It's also good to let them cruise around for food to get some exercise.

I hope everything works out and if so, you'll know what your baby can safely handle. Good luck! :thumbsup:
Thanks for enduring this LONG post.

:cool: Brian

***SIDENOTE***
To be honest, part of the reason I feed large prey is because:
Before I started ordering f/t, I used to kill the rats myself. I HATED doing this so I wanted to minimize the frequency while keeping my boa's well-fed. Yeah, I know...it's pretty selfish! :devil:

[Brian]

Didn't mean to say "twice a week"
Should've read: "once every two weeks"

It was like 2 or 3 am here and I was I little 'slow'. lol :p

Also, forgot to mention something in that LONG post (believe it or not):
In the wild, boas frequently eat meals much larger than their girth....but then again, they probably don't eat as often, get a LOT more exercise, and don't have to worry about being handled.
(and if they are handled, they've got bigger problems than regurgitation. hehe)

:cool: Brian

[Crazy Deb]

thanks for the help. and I have no problem with reading long posts... it helps with the education of those of us with not a lot of experience. I have been feeding him every 6 or 7 days so i'll just leave him alone and hope he digests his rat and doesn't give it back to me. lol Maybe he'll start growing if he eats slightly larger meals on a regular basis. :D