Rescued a Boa, need some help.

[bigsnakegirl785]

Yeah, you want to start with way undersized prey and slowly work them up. I'd do either a weaned rat or a small rat for 1-2 feedings and then start working up to large rats, which should be the size you'd want for a 5.5' boa of normal weight. It may take a few months to get back to full-sized prey if it's as thin as you say. You can feed every 7-10 days until the snake is no longer emaciated, then I'd go to a 14-day schedule until it's back to normal weight. Once the snake is fully healed you'll want to put it on a 3-6 week schedule.

And I agree, I wouldn't use a snake that underweight in any future breeding projects, as their health has probably been permanently affected.

[Cmwells90]

[QUOTE=bigsnakegirl785;964412]Once the snake is fully healed you'll want to put it on a 3-6 week schedule.
QUOTE]

This statement concerns me, I have several Boas, many adult. and I don't feed ANY of them every 3-6 weeks. usually 10%-15% body weight every 12-15 days. Don't you think 3-6 is a little too long to wait to feed again? Unless you're feeding like 20%-25% of the body weight. Idk, maybe I'm wrong but that's what I've always done.

[bigsnakegirl785]

[QUOTE=Cmwells90;964429]

Originally Posted by bigsnakegirl785

Once the snake is fully healed you'll want to put it on a 3-6 week schedule.
QUOTE]

This statement concerns me, I have several Boas, many adult. and I don't feed ANY of them every 3-6 weeks. usually 10%-15% body weight every 12-15 days. Don't you think 3-6 is a little too long to wait to feed again? Unless you're feeding like 20%-25% of the body weight. Idk, maybe I'm wrong but that's what I've always done.

No. 10-15% is too much for even a baby boa constrictor to be eating, that's for baby ball pythons, not boas. My adult, nearly 4 year old boa eats a rabbit 2-6% of his weight or a 170-190 gram rat that is about his girth without leaving a bulge every 4 weeks and is fasted 3 months/90 days out of the year starting last year. Here's his thread, you can see he isn't underweight. He's been on this diet 2 years this December. He's 6'3" and 8.5 lbs, so a perfect weight for his size.

Baby boas under 1 year old: feed a prey item about their girth without leaving a bulge, or a barely noticeable one (up to 1.5x girth) every 7-10 days

Boas 1-3 years: feed a prey item that does not leave a bulge every 10-14 days

Boas 3+ years: a prey item that does not leave a bulge every 3-6 weeks

Boa constrictors have extremely slow metabolisms, and can thrive on a lot less feeding than the conventional feeding methods.