I think I overfed

Hell all. I have a male boa; he’s 5 months old now, hearty eater…I gave him his 2 medium sized hopper (@ 3” long body wise) which he took down fast. I moved on to my other snake which only eat one for whatever reason. It’s a younger snake so it was on a fuzzy. So I figured I’d offer it to my male, and he went for it! Now I’m concerned he over eat. Can snakes become bloated? It’s day two and he hasn’t regurgitated, he’s just basking under the heat lamp. Any thoughts? I can post a pic if necessary. Thank you in advance for your input.

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I wouldnt be super worried but i say hold back on food for him for a little while.

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That is a lot of food for any snake. Boas can handle a decent amount in their stomachs at once, but they have slower metabolisms. I would say go ahead and post a picture, and watch for signs of constipation because you don’t want him to prolapse. Personally I would just say restart feeding in about two or three weeks to give his body a rest.

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Is it possible to overfeed a snake? Certainly

Was this single instance a huge problem? Most likely not

Boids have evolved to a feast/famine life style, so this one occurrence of a double feed should not be terribly traumatic to your animal. He is most likely basking a lot to help keep his metabolism up to assist in digesting a larger meal. Just let him do his thing and he will be back to normal in no time.

I would say that after such a large feeding, perhaps skip the next “planed” feed so that he actually burns through the glut of calories he just took in.

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Thank you all for your input. As suggested I will skip the next meal and let the little guy build up a hunger again. Yes, he has been basking under the heat lamp past two days. This evening i was so relieved to see him crawling around his taranium again.
You can all imagine how irresponsible I’ve been feel, but I have learned my lesson. I’ll post a pic of our Apollo first thing tomorrow. Thanks again all.

I will post a pic indeed . And I’ll keep an eye out for evidence of stool or lack there of. Thank you very much for the suggestions.

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Understood…thank you!!

Do not beat yourself up. No harm done. Just chalk it up as a learning experience and keep moving forward :+1:t4:

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So here is a few snaps of Apollo. He is looking much improved. I was honestly ready to take him to the vet…so happy to see him knocking trees over again. LOL



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He looks beautiful. He will be fine.

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From the looks of his skin he looks a bit dehydrated. What is the humidity in the enclosure?

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Thank you. Much appreciated.

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Currently 54% I am having a hard time maintaining consistent humidity I believe as I find myself needing to mist the tank daily.
That purple looking sheets above the cover is insulation that I’m hopping will help retain some moisture. I’m open to suggestions.


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What are you using for substrate? Coco husk is great for humidity retention. You could cut a piece of plexiglass to fit the screen on your enclosure, that also helps as well and looks decent

I’m using the coconut husk, but I’ll see about the plexiglass.