Hi all, I see so much conflicting info about boa feeding, so I’m coming to you for more guidance.
I have three boas (BCI) currently: a female who is just about 2, a male who just turned 1, and a male that is about 7 months. The older two are about the same size now - the female seemed on the small side when I got her. They’ve both been eating a medium mouse every 10 days, but they’re both big enough for a large mouse now. Should I keep them to 10 days, or should I up it to every 2 weeks since I’m increasing the prey size? The littlest guy is eating large fuzzy mice (with the occasional small mouse) once a week as he is very small.
I don’t want to overfeed and end up with massive, unhealthy boas, but I also don’t want them to be hungry all the time. Here is a picture of the oldest one if that’s helpful - the year-old male is about the same size/body composition.
Any advice you can give me would be greatly appreciated!
I have a female that just turned a year old and I have been feeding a small to medium sized ft mouse weekly. She is thriving. The breeder I got her from told me not to over feed and be consistent. However, as @randall_turner_jr said, boa feeding varies from owner to owner… nice boy there @braincheese!
The underlying principle is to keep them looking like a loaf of bread and not a tube of sausage. Feeding young ones you have a lot of wiggle room. Once they fully mature, if you’re not breeding, you’ll probably want to cut back to once month feedings in order to keep that kind of shape.
My suggestion would be to up the prey size and maintain the frequency. I generally dont change the frequency until they are adults, then I switch to 2 weeks. If they act hungry I just feed bigger.
I agree with Randall, too. I feed my baby boas and 2 year old ones between every 10 to 20 days. Also, if you’re feeding adult mice, switch them to rat pups or very small rats. Rats will help them grow more, and they are more nutritious for your boas.
I switch my baby boas over to rats as soon as possible. Most of the time, I start with rat pinkies. Only use mice or soft fur rats on stubborn eaters.
Thank you all so much! This is very helpful. I’ll start feeding rat pups instead of large mice for sure, and keep the same schedule (though I may vary it a bit now). I’ll just keep an eye on body composition - all three of them have never missed a meal and probably would eat every day if I let them haha.
