Feeding question

My BCI female is 6 months old and weighed 517g a month ago. She feeding really well, and I've been giving her a weanling rat every 7 days. She is always at the front of her tank on feeding day and has never refused.

My question is should I be spreading the feedings out now? I don't want to over feed her. She is very active and comes out to play 4-5 days every week and his very strong.

On another forum I was accused of lying about her age SMH. Some of the comments were very rude, so please be kind. I'm just repeating what I was told and she has never missed a meal, so maybe this is why she's so big?




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It is definitely time to adjust her feeding schedule. I recommend every 10-14 days.

She doesn't appear fat or power fed, although it is hard to judge her size without a reference object.

Originally Posted by calmolly1

she has never missed a meal, so maybe this is why she's so big?

She appears to be a "normal" and in my experience, they grow faster than morphs. I breed and she looks like she has great body shape and an appropriate sized head.

I'd also agree to spread it out to once every 2 weeks. She is big for her age but they all grow different, I'm also on the conservative side and start them off with 2 week feedings. Once a few years old, once every 3-4 weeks.

Should I adjust by a day or two at a time or immediately? I dread feeding day...she has her routine working out. She usually poops on Saturday after noon, then assumes a feeding position coiled on her log. It normally takes her half a second to strike the rat out of my tongs. It will be interesting when she doesn't get fed and the Balls do...


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you can do it immediately. I feed different snakes on different days and you may get a strike at the front of the cage when walking by when the scent of rat is in the air.

Originally Posted by AbsoluteApril

you can do it immediately. I feed different snakes on different days and you may get a strike at the front of the cage when walking by when the scent of rat is in the air.

She will adjust fine after a few weeks.

Originally Posted by calmolly1

Should I adjust by a day or two at a time or immediately? I dread feeding day...she has her routine working out. She usually poops on Saturday after noon, then assumes a feeding position coiled on her log. It normally takes her half a second to strike the rat out of my tongs. It will be interesting when she doesn't get fed and the Balls do...

My boas are all like this and they're on 2-3 week feeding schedules. Just do any enclosure cleaning, checking water, handling, etc. before you start thawing feeders. After feeding I just leave all the snakes alone, even the ones that didn't eat, until the following day.

Originally Posted by Snake-Queen

It is definitely time to adjust her feeding schedule. I recommend every 10-14 days.

She doesn't appear fat or power fed, although it is hard to judge her size without a reference object.

And she still might grow fast. My coral albino female was 7.5' at 2 years old,and 9' at 3. She was fed every 2-3 weeks at age 2,but she still grew a foot and a half in a year.

Her body shape is nice and square looking. At 6 months old,still looking very fit,I'd stay with the weekly feeding until a year old. Then go to every 10-14 days for another year ish. Then every 21 days. This has worked well for me without making them fat. They keep decent growth levels.

I've also fed very slow from birth to 3 years old and the boa I did this with is only 3' and not a dwarf species. I think slow feeding at too young an age stunts growth. I'll know in a couple more years what the real slow feeding does .

Good luck. Some boas just grow much faster than others. Even in siblings. I have feed 5 sisters all the same from birth to 7 now, they range from 6.5' to the biggest sister at about 8' . I say genetics might have something to do with fast growt rates. Imo