How much to feed.

[ladyinlevis]

I know this is a dumb question, but my girl can never seem to get enough to eat!! I feed every 10-12 days. I will usually give her 2 jumbo rats, and if my male doesn't eat, she will eat his too! In one sitting she has eaten 2 jumbo, 2 large AND a medium. I think she would have ate more, but I didn't want to try it. She is about 3 years old and about 7'. She is in good health, I just don't know how much I should be feeding, she always seems to want more. (typical woman )
If she just needs too eat more, I am happy to give her more, I just don't want to hurt her. Thanks for the advise.

[Barracuda_41]

Re: How much to feed.

8) wow thats alot in one feeding.. i wouldnt give that much even though she seems to be hungry all the time..Have you tried switching to rabbits?? Try a small to medium rabbit and see how that goes. If not go with 2 Colossal rats at a time.. you can find them at http://www.rodentpro.com/prod_rats.asp

[ClayEnglish]

Re: How much to feed.

Well in my opinion that is WAY too much food for a 7 footer. I could see the 2 jumbo rats every 2 weeks, but it sounds to me like you are overfeeding.

Understanding the feeding frenzy syndrome of a boa could help understand why she seems to be starving and eating everything in site. These feeding frenzy responses can trigger reactions to continue eating as long as food items are available. I have seen this behavior cause boas to try to eat the newspaper that the rodent was laid on, other people have seen a boa attempt to eat a towel that they used for feeding on.

If I could even possibly compare this to our human responses, it would be this scenario. Say that I ( a man) go grocery shopping. (This should be your first hint that something is wrong) and that I have not eaten anything all day, and I proceed to do the grocery shopping. EVERYTHING on the shelves looks good, and I pick stuff that I would not ordinarilly ever pick. I pick a lot of stuff that I want to eat right NOW!

Did I need all that extra stuff? No, and if I had eaten a good meal, and allowed time for it to settle in my system, I would not have had those kind of sparadic purchases.

I know that is kind of a lame scenario, but it takes a while for food to enter the system and realize that you are not as hungry as you think. Same for the boas.

I would not feed a 7 footer over 2 rats every 2 weeks. If the boa reaches 9 feet, then you may have to look at alternative means of food items.

[ladyinlevis]

Re: How much to feed.

Thanks for the help. I don't normally feed her that much. I just didn't want to waste the thawed rats that my male didn't eat, so I thought I would see if she would eat them. And she did. I will only feed her 2 every 2weeks from now on. ;D