Mostly an Inquiry about Feeding

[AlexisDarling]

Short story: My boa just got a larger enclosure, she loves it, I've never seen her so active. It's winter now and she's still so energetic. How often should I be feeding her? She's 5 1/2 feet long. At this point I feed her one large rat every 3 weeks, is this enough?
Also, is it true that snakes are less active and hibernate during the winter?

[Jeff_Favelle]

Some snakes hibernate, some do not. Some cycle, some do not. Some live where there is a winter, some live where there is no winter. Snakes live all over the world ('cept arctics, New Zealand, Ireland, Greenland) and have a range of conditions. It all depends on the snake you are talking about.

As for feeding, feed that snake when it wants to eat. At 5.5 feet, I would feed a BCI more than once every 3 weeks.

Great job on the new encolsure! Glad to see she is utilizing the new space!! :D Make sure you can keep the temps up in a larger cage though.

Plus you live near me and its no where near winter. LOL! Barometric pressure is dropping and temps are super warm. I'm trying to cycle stuff and its tough when December is warmer than September!!

Good luck, welcome to the best herp-forum site around man! :D

[AlexisDarling]

Thanks for the response. I like feeding her at the 3 week interval. I'll change if I need to. What if I feed her larger? Right now the rats are about 6 inches in body length and about 180 grams. I'd greatly appreciate your opinion.:)

[CBB]

How about feeding her every 14 days... 2 Weeks is more healthy IMO... Your snake may not be starving at 3 but she would probably be happier every 2 weeks :)

[Jeff_Favelle]

I find numbers and times and measurements way too constraining. I just look at my snakes and see what they tell me to do. They tell me stuff every day. Sometimes subtly, sometimes blatantly. I know you want a recipe for your snake but I can't give you one. What if I say to feed a larger rat and she chokes and dies? (habha, not likely). Or regurges in 3 days and then becomes a puker? (very plausible). I can't be responsible for that. My only advice is, screw what the outdated books tell you and use your experience. You are knowledgable enough and you can read your snake. Its fun too. Snakes are enjoyed more when they are observed and interacted with, not when you're trying to make them conform to a book written by people that have never bred anything.

But then again, who am I to say? LOL!!

I'd say try a larger food item if she's looking thin. Either that, or up the feeding "schedule". But yeah, a 5.5 foot boa can eat a surprisingly large rodent.

Cheers man,

[Lisa]

we're feeding our 5.5 boa a large rat every 1-2 weeks. if she hasn't pooped by the next week she gets to wait til the second week. sometimes she gets 2 medium rats. she's not an aggressive feeder and will not eat if she's not hungry.

[hip]

Chances are this activity is the quest for food hunting so to speak.The only snake I would have on a 3 week rotation is a full grown mature male boa.They(mature males) have a tendancy to become overweight after growths stops(in captivity)That female you got is in the bulking stage of her growth cycle yes she will get longer but she should really start to thicken if she is a female.From 3 to 4 she should about double in thickness (or there abouts), but snakes are like people she might be the super model type and stay more streamlined than another female. Try her on 10-14 days, just watch the lump take some notes and see how long it takes for the lump to leave(I am gonna go out on a limb here and say 5-6 days) that is of course with the right temps.The rat won't be gone after 5-6 days just reduced in size also the gas from digestion will have abated somewhat.


Give her a little bit of varity in her diet give her a couple guinnea pigs or some small rabbits(the size of a large rat or so) a quail or two every once and awhile.Do it like she would have it in the wild vary the days between feeding, vary the type of food(from time to time) and vary the hour schedule of feeding. I feed some times in the day some times at night some times 10 days some times 16 -18 days apart.Please don't take this as the gospel just some things that work for me now and have worked in the past.



Just my 10 cents which by the way here in Canada is 2 cents after taxes(sad but true) Peace Hip

[AlexisDarling]

Thank you to everyone who has replied. Thank you for all your suggestions and opinions. I believe we all have agreed that the best time to feed your snake is when your snake tells you too.

[Jeff_Favelle]

.....and another converted to the Side of Good....



:D



P.S. Excellent post Hip! :D

[hip]

Thanks for the praise Jeff makes posting worthwhile when others put in a good word for your efforts. I am (we all are) lucky to have this site and to be able to post here and be a community.

We should all thank Jeff ******** His Girlfriend Laurynn and all the others here(who are too many to name but know who they are and should take a bow) So all you mods,site supporters, people with the experence and the know how take a bow pat your selves on the back and smile.Through all of your efforts and questions anwsers and reasoning you (we have created a family) and a damn large one at that! So If we are all a family that means I get to be the really spooky weird cousin every one has
and yet won't admit to( dibs I called it first lol)


Peace



Your weird cousin Hip

[Jeff_Favelle]

Exactly Hip. This site has grown because of the people involved at all the levels. Its a benefit for us all for this site to exist, and thankfully most of us realize that!

Happy Holidays man! :D

[Them and Us]

I to have converted to a "feed your boa when its hungry" schedule after reading this same advice to someone else on a different post. so Thanks Jeff for that because Brooklyn my BCI is growing like a weed and looks great. now if only he/she would stay still for a few good pics.

[asphyxia]

Well said hip (on both ocassions above)

I did however, read somewhere that guinnea pigs kulls were rather large and hard for snakes to eat and digest...could have been from one of those old outdated books, although I can see what thery are talking about.
?

[hip]

Well good point. g pigs also posess a higer level of fat(and fatty acids) for a female that is breeding age this food type can be a very good add in to a regular diet.Guinnea pigs if given every other feeding for 2 months or so leading up to breeding will really help to put some fat on a female,and make the stress of not eating during development some what less and she will loose less weight and remain in better health in the process.Thusly there will be more stores to produce large healthy offspring. so it is a win win for all.Heres something hamsters are the higest in protien of the common rodents just by a little bit though.


The skulls of g pigs are in my opinion not any harder to digest than any other rodent skull they are all calicum and trace elements like all bones.It is only the teeth nails and hair that don't get digested so I refer to this part as fiber.The digestion of a g pig is slower than rats and such because of the higher fat content but is not a consern just adjust feeding schedules accordlingly and it will all be ducky.
peace
Your weird cousin hip

[Jeff_Favelle]

That's awesome Them and Us!! :D I was perusing your photo gallery and there's some fantastic shot there!

How's that melamine cage coming along?

Great stuff! :D

[Them and Us]

Hey thanks Jeff. Its coming along great i have them both built now. I have to decide if i want hinged doors with plexi-glass or sliding glass. it will probably be the hinged with plexi-glass because it would be much cheaper for me as i already have plexi glass to use for free and i don't really like my sliding glass enclosure that my rat is in. i have to put some vents in and seal everything and set up and then all i have to do is wait till march to fill em with some beautiful guyanese. we'll see though. im going to my first show on the 11th and 12th finally after waiting 2 years for one buy me that i could find, so we'll have to see what i find.thats if my old toyota truck makes it there and back.

Todd

[Jeff_Favelle]

That's great! Things are coming along nicely in your world then? Good to hear. :D