Are you feeding your BOA TOO MUCH

Well the title says it all, I want to know what is everyone's feeding patterns, I see pictures of animals who look like ball pythons, or have fat folds. While there is nothing like a big belly BOA. Are we feeding our boas as hobbyist,keepers,breeders... Too often. While I'm fully aware of husbandry habits I continue to pose the topic up for debate as follows;

How frequent do you feed your boa(s)?
1.Weekly
2.Bi Weekly
3.Monthly
4.Seasonal Patterned(feeding weekly during spring,summer, fall months possibly winter off?)
5.Feed them sparingly when I see fit
6. Other, created my own

If you are feeding any of those reasons why. What are your best practices observed from this ?

The goal is for us to review some best practices, not to argue or knock but to learn from each other.

Also check out Vin Russo covers this topic really well.

7-10 days - first year
After second year 14-17 days
After three years of age, every three weeks


The BronX BoA

Up to six months every 7-10 days.
From 6-12 months every 10-14 days.
From 1-2 years every 2 weeks.
From 2-3 years every 3 weeks.
Over 3 years every 4-6 weeks, depending on male/female/building up for breeding/size of last meal.

I also have a local rabbit breeder who will supply me with everything from kits, which weigh 30-40 grams (my milk and king snakes practically do tricks to get these), up through 10+ pound adults for my reticulated pythons.

Once the boas are big enough to take a medium rat they get moved over to 4 ounce (120 gram) young rabbits, as rats are very high in fat by comparison.

My BRB's and Dum boas are also on rabbits, I think the lower fat content is healthier for them. Even my big BRB breeder female is square, not round.

If you do feed rabbit you can't go by the "offer a feeder that is the width of the snake" rule since they have thick bones and are a denser/heavier feeder than a rat. I feed by rabbit strictly by weight.

You should look at making this a poll so that we could see the results in a bar chart (Start a new thread, go to "Additional Options" under the main thread screen and tick the bottom option "Post a Poll").

My Boas are not the common species, being Pacific Boas Candoia bibroni, and I keep them in their normal temperature range, i.e., they go through their natural summer and winter variations, so I fed them on demand and they regulate themselves as per option 4:
4.Seasonal Patterned (feeding weekly during spring,summer, fall months possibly winter off?

They feed about every 2 weeks in the summer months (and would probably take more frequently), and go off feed completely for 2 - 3 months in the colder winters, even though I offer food every few weeks anyway. Their shed cycle speeds up and slows down similarly.

I have a 2.5 year old female Dumerils boa that's roughly 4.5 feet long. I feed her medium rats on a biweekly schedule. If she's in shed then I don't offer a meal and proceed as scheduled. She was a bit thin when I got her so she's put some weight on and grown at least 10" since I've had her.

Haven't had her in the winter months so I'm not sure how she will want to take food as it get cooler or if I should slow down her feed at all.

I tend to feed a sporadic schedule. I might feed, then feed again 4 days later, or go up to 2 1/2 weeks till the next feeding (this is for growing snakes, non sub/adult). I over the (the past 20+) years have experimented with multiple feeding regimens, varying frequency, food type, etc. I fed chicken parts, whole birds, guinea pigs, rabbits, rats, mice, gerbils, hamsters.

Not sure if this is true with all species, but my Pacific Boas give off "I'm hungry" vibes, such as hanging their heads straight downwards from climbing branches in what I interpret as hunting behaviour.

When I see them doing that I usually feed them in the next couple of days.

I have Brazilian Rainbows, which tend towards the slender side, and therefore tend to feed sparingly: babies/yearlings weekly, juveniles/young adults (18M+) every other week, and adults every third week. However, I also skip feeding the younger snakes during monthly weigh-ins.

Originally Posted by Helenthereef

You should look at making this a poll so that we could see the results in a bar chart (Start a new thread, go to "Additional Options" under the main thread screen and tick the bottom option "Post a Poll").

My Boas are not the common species, being Pacific Boas Candoia bibroni, and I keep them in their normal temperature range, i.e., they go through their natural summer and winter variations, so I fed them on demand and they regulate themselves as per option 4:
4.Seasonal Patterned (feeding weekly during spring,summer, fall months possibly winter off?

They feed about every 2 weeks in the summer months (and would probably take more frequently), and go off feed completely for 2 - 3 months in the colder winters, even though I offer food every few weeks anyway. Their shed cycle speeds up and slows down similarly.

I couldn't agree with you more on a few points, i did not want this to become a Numner game of Polls but I did want to generate explainstions so future breeders who may come across search results and get valid info as I believe seasonal feeding is the direction of some good practices I would like to duplicate, follow, and improve on with various boa types.

May you be a hobbyist of morphs, lover of mainland type, breeder of localities, I do believe there are habits we should monitor when feeding. In addition seasonal feeding can be effective of all boas.

If I tried to feed a couple of mine off the schedule they are on now (every 2 -3 weeks) id get bit a lot more lol especially my albino, I know when shes hungry she watches my hand much as she does a rat. She's getting to be a big girl so taking a feed bite from her is something I'd like to avoid lol but there is some pretty good info here to go over.

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