I have a KSB I purchased from an expo May ‘24. He’s probably about to be 2yrs old, but he’s still pretty small. Does anyone have or know of a chart of some kind to help me gauge where a male Kenyan Sand Boa should be by age? I get he could just be a small guy, but I don’t know if/when to worry. He’s round, no parts of him look triangular or sunken. Eats well, drinks well.
I’ve got him set up for a vet checkup in a few weeks, but was interested to see what the community might have to help.
What are you currently feeding him and how frequently? At his age he should be eating one fuzzy or hopper every week. Males SB’s are smaller than females typically.
So long as his body condition looks good, I wouldn’t be too concerned. KSBs are small snakes, and males are smaller than females. Males rarely get longer than 20-24" as adults. If you show a picture, we could certainly give our opinion on his body condition, but from what you describe, it sounds like he looks good.
He’s very shy so it’s hard to get a good measure on him. Fuzzies seem way too large for him and I can’t find large pinkies. For now he gets two pinkies and I recently started him on some calcium powder with the occasional vitamin powder to supplement.
I feed him every 7-10 days unless he’s shedding and then I don’t see him for about 1.5-2wks.
Edit to add: I can see a bit of dip to his spine, but it’s not protruded, it’s more like it makes him look more square?
My female rosy eats like a champ and apparently I sized her up too fast and now she’s on a vet-suggested diet. Not yet unhealthy, he assured me, but definitely on the way to it if I didn’t switch her back down. She’s a coastal, growing like a weed and is my first snake.
Then I’ve got this little guy who also eats like a champ but isn’t growing like I expected. He’s getting longer, definitely, but not rounding out.
I’m happy to offer a fuzzy, they’re just… REALLY large compared to him. I’ve purchased a couple over time to see if they’d be good, but they look double his width. I wish I could get that happy medium of a large pinky, but pinkies I find are 1-1.5g. I’d love to get him something 2-3g, but the fuzzies I find all come in around 4-6g. There’s an expo I can go to once a month, but it’s about 45mins away and if I work, I can’t make it.
So he’s been getting the double pinky dinner, now with calcium or vitamin powder the last 3 feeds.
If anyone has recommendations for somewhere that ships frozen fuzzies that run smaller, I’m willing to try it! Want my little guy to be happy and healthy.
I buy my rodents from ARS. The fuzzies I get are not all uniform size so you will be able to pick some smaller ones in the bag. I don’t think you need to add supplements unless your guy regurgitates. He should get enough calcium from the fuzzies. I have never used supplements of any kind on any of my snakes and I have been keeping for many years.
I have a male rosy that has been eating fuzzies since he was a baby. I recently acquired a female (both are San Felipe) with the intent to breed them someday but she is an extremely stubborn eater unfortunately!
Also, I have never had any issues with the ARS rodents but I like close by so I pick up what I need in person……
Edit to add: If you live near a Petsmart or a Petco, you can always buy a box of fuzzies at either store and I guarantee those fuzzies will be small enough for your sand boa……
As far as petsmart/co, those are the ones I’ve been trying and they’re all over the place in size, but they look double his width. I snagged a couple today, the smallest I could feel, and I’m hoping he’ll take one. I’ll let you know what happens.
What is your boy’s weight? To my eye he doesn’t look overly thin for a male KSB. I’d personally be wary of getting mice from a chain store like that, they’re always going to be very inconsistent in size and quality. If you have a local reptile shop, they may have feeder options, though I’d see if they source from a supplier or produce in house. As far as online retailers that deliver go, ARS is really only going to be useful to you if you have a large collection. They don’t sell any quantity smaller than a 50ct, and this is true of several online frozen feeder sellers. There are a couple of companies that do smaller sized packages. Perfect Prey offer 25ct in any size below small (12-17g), and then Layne Labs who offer as low as 10ct in all mouse sizes.
I purchased bags of 25 pinks and fuzzies before from ARS. Their packaging quantities are all over the place depending on how they are shipped to ARS. A bag of fuzzies 50 count will keep quite a while so a 50 count is not all that unreasonable.
I used to purchase from Petsmart for years until my collection grew and I never had a problem with that box store. I suggested Petsmart because their fuzzies are smaller in size. I know because I used to buy them consistently. @verth is quite worried about size. Agreed that Petsmart is not the ideal choice for frozen rodents but buying a box on a trial basis is not going to hurt the op’s sb.
I do think this guy looks thin for a 2 year old sb, even if he’s a male. I can see a bit of slightly loose skin. This guy should be eating fuzzies by now. I know because I have owned several so I am going by experience.
Of course I respectfully disagree with you @noodlehaus but I do disagree. I have experience to back up what I say here. I do not mean any harm to the animal.
If you call ARS instead of ordering online I am pretty sure they will accommodate you. I know most of them at ARS personally and I believe they will be willing to work with you. I recommend them because I have never had an issue but I have no experience with the other 2 companies that Jess mentioned……
He’s 22g and has been for a few months. I’ll look into all these options you’ve suggested, thank you!
No reptile store near me, just that expo once a month that I struggle to make it to. Petsmart, so far, has had decent mice, but whatever I got from Petco once was very gross and I won’t trust theirs again. I hope to grow my collection to a point where I can buy a little bit more in bulk, but for now I’m just hunting for proper size and trying not to waste mice I can’t use.
As far as the supplement powder, when I explained to my vet (during a wellness visit for my rosy boa) that I was feeding him two pinkies because I couldn’t find a good sized fuzzy and worried about his calcium, the vet the one that suggested calcium until he’s able to take the fuzzies.
I was going to mention that Petco I would never recommend because of the seemingly poor quality of rodents.
What does your rosy eat btw? If she eats fuzzies it would be economical to buy in bulk of 50, if for nothing else to save on shipping. Also my baby female sand boa came eating fuzzies……You should at least give your little guy a chance to try a fuzzy just once. Otherwise he will have to continue to eat 2 pinks each meal for the rest of his life. If he can’t handle the fuzzy more than likely he will refuse to eat it. Snakes are smarter than than you think!
Just going to pop a reminder here because of food safety and such…
Frozen feeders have different lengths of time where they should be kept.
The recommended time is 6-8 months for a regular freezer. This is when they are bulk packaged.
50 fuzzies at 1x a week means anything after week 26 can be considered questionable.
If they’re individually vacuum sealed or unopened bags of feeders that can last 1 year maybe 3 tops
This is Layne Labs answer regarding frozen feeders as well, so the numbers I mention above can vary a bit regarding personal opinion or distributor as well.
I gave him a choice of his normal pinkies or two fuzzies I snagged today and he went for his pinkies. The size difference in them is ridiculous, to be honest. I checked a few of the larger packs of them, willing to buy them even for one or two better sized fuzzies, and everything just looked way too large. I bet I’ll find more success with the suggestions you all gave me.
My rosy is on med mice. She’s 275g. She can fit a large mouse no problem, but as I mentioned before, she’s on a diet. Again- not unhealthy! (Thank goodness) Just “on the way to posing risk”.
I have the KSB’s first wellness visit with a vet on Monday. The vet may have some more knowledge about where I could find something in this area that I haven’t uncovered too.
So the general feeding suggestion for most snakes is a feeder 10%-15% of the snake’s weight, or around as big around as the snake itself, up to 1.5x the width at the very max but ideally about 1.25x. This means that your boy should be getting a 2g-3g mouse per feeding. Petsmart stocks Arctic Mice, which list their fuzzies as 4g-6g, which may be why they’re too big. If you do go with one of the feeder suppliers suggested, make sure you check their size and weights, as they do vary from vendor to vendor.
Here’s some starting suggestions, based on your little guy’s weight: If you go with Layne Labs, you’ll want large pinkies (2.5g-3.5g) or at the largest, peach fuzzies (3.5g-5g). Perfect Prey would be regular pinkies (1g-3g) or peach fuzzies (3g-5g). ARS you’d want large pinkies (3g-4g). In my opinion it’s better to go smaller for longer versus trying to feed something too big and risking regurgitation or refusal.
Your vet may also have more insight on what they thing would work best for him.
Well I am not sure why you presented him with 2 pinks AND 2 fuzzies? I am guessing at the same time? If this is the case it makes no sense to me. Why present 2 fuzzies to him when you are already afraid to offer him one? And where did you snag the fuzzies from just out of curiosity?
That being said however, and if this was the case, and since he went for the 2 pinks, I would suggest to you that you continue to feed him his 2 pinks since you know he will eat these consistently and continue with the supplements that your vet recommended. This is your answer.
I believe that both you and he will be more comfortable going the pink route and leaving it at that, since general opinion is he is a good weight. But more importantly since your vet didn’t suggest otherwise there is really no need to change course.
And if you trust your vet then I would seek advice from he or she as to how to proceed with the next step up regarding adding fuzzies to your sb’s diet if you still want to take the plunge. Your vet should also be able to advise on the best brands of frozen rodents. I know my would be able to advise me.
