As I begin my breeding journey, I was wondering how often you feed hatchlings. I have seen some debate on this topic, though. I just want to know even though I am a few years away from having my first litter. Thanks for all your coming feedback!
Ps here is a pic of Willow to spice this thread up a little 
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I feed hatchlings every 7 days, Hopper mice
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I feed about every 7 to 10 day’s a pinky rat or small fuzzy rat. First feeding I wait until about 4 to 5 weeks after they are born. This way the stubborn eaters may eat. If they don’t I try a week later. For the really stubborn one’s I feed a African soft fur rat.
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That was about what I heard from other hatchlings care guides. And you just continue that feeding schedule until the animal is roughly how many grams or how old?
For the first year I feed like I said then after the first year I feed ever 2 to 3 weeks one appropriate size meal.
Take care
Tom
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Ok, thank you Tom!
You’re welcome here’s some more info for you.
For breeding BCI adults females ( 5 + years old and 20 + lbs ) I feed more often in the summer to make sure they have good size to them before breeding. As some females will stop eating when gravid. Most of my female still eat when gravid. But I give them smaller meals less often.
I find with BCC they need to be older. Most of mine would not breed until 9 to 12 year old and 25 to 30 lbs.
Take care
Tom
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At the moment I don’t plan to breed BCC because the gene that I wanna work with is in BCI.
I definitely plan to do this though⬆️
Just so you know breeding female boas will shortened their lifespan. Sometimes just being gravid is just to stressful on them and they die. I try not to breed the same female every year. Most of the time I give them a year off in between breeding season’s. I had one albino female want to breed almost every year. She would nose rub her cage door like the males do during breeding season to get to the males. So I would just breed her if that’s what she wanted. Some years she would not do it. However she did die last year with 15 babies in her. I do miss her.
So if anyone has a favorite boa they like best don’t breed her. This way you should have her for 25+ years as a pet.
Take care
Tom
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I plan to provide a year break to definitely reduce some of the stress.
How many years would you say they live, on average if they’re breeding? I have just heard like a huge sliding scale that’s all. From only nine years to 15 years.
I would agree 9 to 15 years depending on how often you breed.
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What do you say that you average with better fertility and higher birthrate when you breed with a break in between? I plan to have a break anyway, it was just more curiosity.
If you have healthy stock and don’t breed F3 or higher you should have good litters. Sometimes you have to breed parents and babies or siblings back to each other to prove something out or to produce the morph you want. But I personally don’t breed anything over a F2. The number stands for how many generations are breed together.
Most of the time I average 15 babies in a litter. I have had as many as 39 live before. One BCI female many years ago died with 55 babies in her.
Take care
Tom
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OK, thank you for all your information. I think it definitely helped me come to terms with some of the probable fears that I have about breeding.
Like Tom I feed neos once every 2-3 weeks depending on ssp/locality and body condition. It’s important that they’re given time to complete the full digestion cycle.
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Boas are live bearing snakes so don’t lay eggs. They are referred to as neonates rather than hatchlings. Neonates can be started on hopper mice and fed one every 10-12 days.
Weekly feeding is often a little too soon and doesn’t give them time to allow their bodies to return to normal after a feed.
I have been feeding this way since 2011 and found that my boas do better in general, although they do grow at a slower pace and it’s normally a year or two more than most people boas, before they are ready to breed. Mind I’m in no hurry to breed so it works well for them and me.
People have mentioned breeding. I alway give females a year off after being bred.
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Lol, thanks for the correction on the terminology! I have changed it for accuracy sakes. I too personally would like if my boas grew slower, probably resulting in an animal that has a better body tone throughout its life.
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Don’t know how I missed this thread. I have a different feeding routine for neonates/subadults than others.
I like to mix their feeding schedule up, I use a window of anywhere from 5 days to 21 days. For example. I feed, then 8 days later I feed, then 20 days later I feed, then 10 days, then 5 days. Usually going around 10-14 as the usual window. I like to mix it up rather than keeping it on a strict schedule as I’ve had good success with it, as well as breeding my own feeders it can vary the time frame when I have the proper feeder sizes available.
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