Some interesting info..

[sclark]

Hi all,

I figured I would share some findings with you all.. Just keep in miond I am not suggesting to use this, but it is very interesting, atleast so far. I will give you the basic's of what we tried and the outcome..

I have a good friend that is a Bio Nerd. He always enjoyed my snakes and I got him hooked on snakes about 4 years ago. I had this crazy idea and was wondering if it had any merit. My idea was I was wondering if feeding only male prey or only female prey to snakes would control the size of the snake and girth.. Here is what he tried..

He took 2 males and 2 females from the same litter of babies, all the same size in lenth and weight and all appeared in same health. All were housed in seperate enclosures with exact temp and humidity in each cage.

One female and one male were fed nothing buy male rats, and the second female and second male were fed nothing but female rats.

After 3 years, the boa's that were fed male rats were between 10 inches and 14 inches longer then the other set of boas.

After 3 years, the boa's that were fed female rats were shorter and had over an inch more girth then the other set..

What do you think? Interesting huh?..

I should mention these boa's were fed the proper amounts and each meal was controled by weighing each rat..

Just thought I would share..
Steve Clark

[Fonzy]

Re: Some interesting info..

I wonder if feeding a female boa a strictly female rat diet would be better in the long run if you plan on breeding? Do you think a bigger girth would be better for a female boa? Things that make you go "hmmmm!"

Jeff

[ClayEnglish]

Re: Some interesting info..

Interesting Steve...

Could you also tell us if the females in each group were also slightly larger in length/girth than the male in the same group?

I have seen that females fed exactly the same as males still tend to grow faster, espeically in girth...

Hey could it be the extra "parts" that the males have that add to the growth rate? ;D

[CewlCat]

Re: Some interesting info..

Hey Steve

Now thats realy interesting! I am no expert, it could be that the boa's fed on male rats is longer in lenght due to more protiens and "meat" of testicles of the male rats on fully grown rats they can become quite huge ;D (as with average maried South African males he-he)

What do ya think on the protiens theory?

regards
CewlCat (Average Married South African Male)

[diablo]

Re: Some interesting info..

hey Steve,

Thats pretty cool never heard of that. Well i guess its good my bp is eating males... ;D

[sclark]

Re: Some interesting info..

Some info I did forget, hey it was real late here when I posted..LOL

Male rats have higher muscle density then the females which have higher fat content for breeding. It is guessed that the reason male rats help in the growth of the boas is that the hormone Tesotrone (sp) is a growth hormone in its self and growing male rats are loaded with that, plus the added protein from all that muscle just works to grow new tissue and muscle in snakes. Where as the female rat has higher fat content and estrogene which is also a growth hormone, but no where close to testorone (sp) when compaired side by side.

I should also mention these rats were fed strictly on two things.. RMH Lab blocks (best stuff on the market) and milking moms were given 2 oz of cooked spagetti every week. That was my suggestion, since I always give my milkers this extra starch as a treat.

I will add this last part, I am giving this info on what me and a friend found trying my idea. I am in no way suggesting that you follow this. We have not had any problems with health of any of these snakes. I just wanted to share some interesting info..

Steve Clark

[sclark]

Re: Some interesting info..

Hi Fonzy,

what you asked is what I believe to be true. I do think feeding all female rats to a female boa you plan to breed would be a good thing. From what I have read, female boas with higher fat on their bodies produce larger clutches of babies and they tend to be bigger. Only thing you have to be careful of in my opinion is that a boa that is too fat could have health problems. The boas that we did this test on are not obesse by any means, but I worry that someone might take this info out of contex and strat feeding nothing but (say) Guiena pigs which are super high in fat. I would think that could lead to alot of problems.

Steve

[sclark]

Re: Some interesting info..

Hi Clay,

Yes they were..

In group one The rat males only.
Female was almost 5 inches longer and was about a third bigger in girth.

Un group two The rat females only.
Female was a good 8 inches longer and about half bigger in girth.

What was also noticed is that the group that was fed males only were more regular in deficating, also more often. He didn't keep great records of this, but remembers is well since he did all the clean up..LOL

Steve

[tatdaddy]

Re: Some interesting info..

VEREY COOL THANKS FOR THE INFO.

TAT

[Fonzy]

Re: Some interesting info..

Steve,

    Thanks for all the great info, I don't think I would have thought to research any of this.  If my baby boa turns out to be a female, I think I will have her on a diet of 3:1 ratio (female rats to male rats).  I'd like to see the biggest chance for a large, successful clutch when I decide to breed her.  I appreciate you sharing this with us!!

Jeff