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Got lost on feeding

O

Ophion

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I apparently made the mistake of trying to figure out if I was feeding in a correct amount and size. My boas are new to me and as with anything I like to research and double check. (and then research some more) I have been reading quite a bit on feeding and found a somewhat recent thread on here about feeding and seem to have confused myself more.

I have a 3-year-old female around 5' BCI and a 4-year-old female around 5' Hog Island. The BCI I was told the owner fed one large rat once a week, the Hog Island I was told was fed one large rat every two weeks.

The Hog Island obviously is pretty much done with growing or is done so I don't know if what she is on sounds like just a good stay steady or slow it down a bit? She looks like a pretty good weight.

The BCI looks more trim than the Hog Island, but not thin (from what I know). However, from my understanding once a week is just too often. With that I am also wondering if her meal might be close to a bit small? The large rat makes no lump what-so-ever and she seems to be done digesting in a day. Seems like obvious move up signs to me, but I want to be absolute before tossing in a jumbo and overfeeding her. I am also wondering all of this because I have an expo next week and want to get some feeders and want to make sure stock up on the right stuff for them!

Here are some really tiny terrible pictures of them from my phone: (mostly the BCI just for general size idea)
photo-1.jpg


photo-2.jpg


I appreciate any help for my pestering questions.
 
prey items

Probably medium/large rats for the male once every 7-10 days and probably large rats or xl rats for the female once every 10-14 days. I always look for the lump. If I cant see a lump, prey is probably too small :)

Jim
 
I dont know if the thread http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/forums/showthread.php?t=255782 is the feeding one you read but it should pretty much sum it for you. There are differences of opionion depending on if you're reading a post from a keeper or breeder so you'll have to go with the method that works best for you. Personally I was following the books and feeding weekly but after reading the thread decided to switch to every other week (with an appropriate sized meal of course).
 
They're both females. :D I suppose for the male you meant the Hog Island. Giving the BCI something a little bit bigger, but a little less often seemed right. I just wasn't sure. I will grab something appropriate at the expo next week to suit them both.
 
Yes, that was the thread. It helped, then it got to that point of making me slightly unsure. I am a keeper, possibly a breeding here and there in the future, but really more just enjoying keeping them. I was thinking every other week was good, but I like to get a conformation rather than assume.

I will switch the BCI girl to the two week like the other one is on and see how the next size up looks for her.

Thank you for the guidance.
 
Going from weekly feedings to every other week doesn't imply that you need to feed larger prey items....and, from a health & longevity perspective, it doesn't matter if one is a keeper or breeder - boas do better longterm with somewhat conservative feeding.
Even after several years of using the online supplier sizes - I still think in terms of what I used when I started in the hobby, and they don't match up. What I always considered small rats are mediums, what I considered large are XXL; so I'm not the person to ask what "size" you should give, lol. Give the appropriate size....and good luck figuring out what that is. In case you haven't figured it out, reptile keepers are a highly dysfunctional family. We can't agree on much, we bicker a lot, and sometimes it seems as if we can't even be civil to one another. If it weren't for the common thread of reptiles, we probably would have killed each other long ago.
 
Haha, thank you Harald. I do understand, after owning horses for 11 years that industry doesn't seem much different. (try and discuss a horse training method with another horse person and watch the claws and teeth come out :D)

I guess I didn't mean it to come out that because I was switching her to every two weeks that I should up her meal size, but it did sound that way. I was already thinking that she may need something a bit larger, plus I need to spread her feedings out (am I making sense now? I usually don't). Size still loses me, she may technically end up on the same size. When I pick up a rat now it is a large, but I know these tend to run small. So, when I go to the expo their large might be perfect for her or it may be that she does need the next size up. I was trying to tell size more by grams than 'name' at one point as I usually weigh the food item, but that doesn't always work when buying.

Thank you for the help. It really is just informed judgement, I needed the informed part. Now I just need to make the proper judgement on what will work best for her size, part of the learning and growing.
 
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