reptileshed
04-08-2002, 08:08 AM
Hello all you boa fanatics.....Now I am puzzled! For years I have been breeding boas. I have (with the help of my boas) produced about a thousand or so over the past 10 years. One of the common factors with my females, is that when gravid, they have all gone off feeding. The only time they would take food is right before giving birth, and only one meal. This year, I have a female that had gone off food for 4 weeks, but then decided that she wanted rats. This is the first time she has been bred, so her habits are new for both her and me. She has continued to eat one large rat each week without any problems. Well....Friday she gave me 28 infertile ova, and 5 preemies one of which was still alive, but no way of saving it. Now to my question.....can anyone relate the feeding schedule to the premature birth? I have never heard of this to be a problem, but I can't come up with anything else that is a changed factor. Maybe it is just bad luck. Oh yea....the female is doing very good and really did not lose that much weight from the birthing process. Much less than "typical" weight loss from other females. Thanks in advance!