How long should my Rtb be

[AnnB]

Hi there, I have what is suppose to be female 2 years old and arpox 4 feet long.
I know that since I got her on May 2nd she has shed twice, he the old owner wasnt feeding her right. I love her and am working on getting a male to mate with her. She is the sweetest snake.
Thanks
Ann

[sclark]

Re:How long should my Rtb be

Hi Ann,

Sorry didn't see this post till now.. 2 year old boa that wasn't fed well is 4 foot.. Doesn't sound odd.. If you are feeding your boas as you should, 1 med-large rat once every 10-14 days she should be fine. Gotta give her bady a chance to recoup from the neglect she had before you got her.. There are a lot of possible variables that you would need to give that could help.. Size of the cage, temp on the hotside, temp on the cool side. Humdity, are you soaking her, what have you been feeding her up till now. Boas grow at different rates. As long as he current conditions are good and your feeding correctly, your boa should start growing more over the next year. Do you have a BCI or a BCC boa? If you can give some more info we can help better..

Good luck and keep us posted..
Steve

[AnnB]

Re:How long should my Rtb be

Steve thanks for the info. I will get a picture and try and post it next week. I was told she was a Columbia Red tailed but dont know what BCI or BCC means, I am new at this snake thing but love her to death.
Since may 2nd she(Jasmine) has shed twice. I have her in a aquarium dont know the size just upgraded her to the largest one in the house, I am planning on building her an enclosure. I do bath her in the tub and she loves to swim in the water then will put her cute head on the side when she is done. I feed her every friday one not small but med rat, have found out the the biggest part of her and the size match of the rat will work. Jasmine is fun and I am learning so much from her.
Thanks again
Ann

[sclark]

Re:How long should my Rtb be

Hey Ann,

Do you know the temps and humidity. If you don't have one or if you have one of those stick on ones, just run to wal-mart and pick up a good digital temp/humidity guage. They are between 10-15 bucks.. well worth the money.. Shedding once a month is not bad at all. It is normal for an adult boa. Sounds like you feeding the right size prey. But I would suggest you move up to every 10 days. Don't want to upset the digestive system with too much work. Also make sure you are leaving the boa alone for 48 hours after she eats. Stress is one thing that can make a boa lose weight..

Hope this helped and I look forward to seeing images of your girl..

Steve

[AnnB]

Re:How long should my Rtb be

Steve; I will change her feeding and try to convert her to prekill, I feed her live prey and never leave her alone with it, I use a separate container for feeding too. As for the temps and humity the temp right now is 62 in the cool spot which is cold I now didnt know it was that cold in there and the humity is tropical. I do change her water every day and now need to get a source of heat to help keep it warm enough. So I can move her from her feeding house to her real house after she eats. Then we dont get her out for a couple of days afters he eats.

Ann

[sclark]

Re:How long should my Rtb be

Hey Ann,

You really need to get that temp up before you end up with a snake with RI.. It should be about 83 on the cool side, 90 on the hot..

Hope that helps.
Steve

[___LEE___]

Re:How long should my Rtb be

YES get the cool side at least up to 82 and keep teh hot side at about 90-92 humidity needs to be at at least 65-70% and i would not plan on breeding her for a couple of years let her mature and get at least 6-7' before even trying or else u will have a small litter and possibly harming the mother that u have now so i would wait a couple of more years before breeding her......

[WeLsH]

Re:How long should my Rtb be

Like sclark said, get the temp up right away, that is the most important thing. And also if she doesnt already have them, buy or make some hides for her. They need a place to feel secure if they are frightened or stressed.