Need some advise!

[drthsideous]

My baby boa is about 3ft in length now and I figure about 9 monthes old. It is deffinately a female. I have been feeding her once a week since I got her, ranging from pinky rats to large mice as she grew. She is not big enough though to eat a small rat, but I feel that once a week is too much. My boa book that I think Jeff helped write says that after three feet they should be eating small rats every 7-10 days. BUT my boa is too small so i feed her a mouse every 7 days. Is my boa on the small side or what? Oh yeah no one answered my deffacation ques. Is it ok that my boa only deffactes like every month to a month and a half, When she does these are huge turds too.
thanks for your help

[Doug]

HI,
I use  caresheets for reference and questions, here's one of my favorites. Go to section that addresses animal size and food size or feeding.
   Good luck
  doug
ps copy a shortcut for in the future and if you have a  printer print and save in a notebook cwm15.gif
 http://www.redtailboas.com/carelinks/carelinks.html
this boa was born in january and slurped two thawed just weined rats like a pro,always feed rats ,mice are light on the protein scale , the food item can be slightly wider than the snake and it will go down no problems, just leave the animal alone for 24-48 hours post feeding  and the bulge will reduce, and you can handle as usual
http://photo.redtailboa.org/albums/my-pets/SAmuels_Done.sized.jpg
after a couple days they loose that bulge, samuel had two small rats 09/27 and he's already lost the bulge..
http://photo.redtailboa.org/albums/my-pets/samuel0929.sized.jpg
  try to follow a feeding pattern I record all feeding on 3/5 cards and track each snake. i alos track poo's and sheds.
  doug s15.gif

I wouldn't worry too much because every animal is different and they won't always follow the "book" so as long as she is eating and grow at an acceptable pace no worries. Plus I prefer to feed two smaller meals to one large meal anyways.

[cb76]

every animal is different, but be sure you have all of your husbandry issues in check! also rule out stomach bugs!!

proper temps to aid in digestion being very important.

i have 1 yr old eating small rats already!

from birth or aquisition, my feeding schedule is as follows- every 10 days for life- thats the frequency, as for food they eat pink rats first, after a few weeks they will be eating 1+ pinks (as many as the girth rule will allow)- by 4 months or so they are on multiple fuzzies (usually 2), toward the end of the year they are on multiple rat crawlers (usually 2) but when i do a weight and mass check, most are more than willing to take 1 small rat! they usually eat 1 small rat for the most part of the 2nd yr. closer to the end they may take a small and a crawl, etc, etc..... once they can take 2 small i move them to 1 medium. the rest of the growth and food changes are the same!

i have good growth, they are not stuffed (or over stuffed) and i get a bowel movement in those 10 days. its usually a pee, but poop comes a few days later.

sometimes they miss a meal on their own accord, but that usually only lasts till next feeding.

while they are in shed, i still offer- some eat, some dont.

unless you know the breeder- the animal you have may be older than you think! i have boas that i rescued that are 3 yrs of age and my almost yearlings from my personal litters are bigger!!

good luck with the gal!

[NavyHM]

s32.gif
Hey,
Go ahead and feed her a small rat 3ft is plenty big for her to take one down. If she tries to eat it and she doesnt suceed she will quit on her own. As far as the lack of defecation, it's a sometimes an overlooked side effect of lack of feeding(or feeding prey that is not large enough), specially when your cage temps are low. So kick up the temps to 88-90 and go ahead and give her the small rat, you'll be amazed that such a small boa can eat a proportionally large meal.
Good luck b27.gif

[drthsideous]

Friday Im gonna try and feed her a f/t small rat, I have just recently started to get her to eat fresh killed mice. So hopefully she will take the f/t. NavyHM/Carlos Rojas I keep my cage temps at 80 on the cool end up to 95 on the hot spot with a gradual gradient so the boa can decide rather than just one temp here another there. So I don't think that is the answer to my boa's pooing problem. But it might be the mice. I don't know we will see.
jeff