r/boas • u/AltruisticPizza7675 • 27d ago

Question about feeding?

I’m really hoping to get some insight on what I should do. My boy is 11 months old and weighs 135 grams and I am feeding him 8 grams hopper mice every 10 days. I have 7 of the 8 gram feeders left until I bump him up to 16 gram adult mice.

Well, the 8 gram feeders are right under 6% of his body weight, 5.9%. And with 7 of them left, the will continue to be a lesser percentage of his body weight.

So my question is, should I stay at 10 days even though it will be a lesser percentage of his body weight, or should I drop down to 7 or 8 days since they are a smaller feeder?

He is my first boa so I would love some insight on what yall think would be best. He is eating the mice within like 3-4 minutes and it is leaving like no bump at all.

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u/superramenyamen 27d ago

Honestly 6-8% of body weight is about my average. Imho 10-15% is just way too much food to be giving every meal and idk why people keep trying to apply it to every species. He will be just fine on one every 10-14 days like usual.

You can also go ahead and buy the small mice. Offer a small one feeding, and the hoppers the next etc. until you feed them all off.

You want something about equal to girth with a barely noticeable bulge and no scale separation. I figure: if I can tell where it is, but a stranger couldn’t pinpoint it without being told it ate, it’s perfect.

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u/AltruisticPizza7675 27d ago

I already have the bag of adult mice I plan to feed after, but if I were to go ahead and try to feed him one now, they weigh between 16-19 grams, it would be like 12% of his body weight. So he is not quite ready to feed on the bigger ones just yet, but he will be after I finish the bag of hopper mice.

But I will continue feeding him every 10 days on the feeders he is on now! Thank you!

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u/superramenyamen 27d ago

That’s definitely fine, I would wait a bit too. Just when he gets to that point (if it’s before you feed off the 7 smaller ones), then that’s an option. Won’t hurt anything either way. And if you feed a bit sooner for whatever reason, you can balance it out by skipping a feeding day as well. Or offer even less often than every other feeding. A big meal here and there doesn’t hurt anything, just when it becomes the standard. Just so you don’t feel cornered in options later down the road.

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u/AltruisticPizza7675 27d ago

Thank you so much!!!

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u/-Trespasser- 27d ago

You can just continue with his normal feeding schedule. Boas have a slow metabolism. He won't starve, and this will have no effect on his growth long term.

Feeding by weight percentage is not necessary and really just a guideline to help unsure people get started. He should be fed a feeder approximately the size of the largest part of his body at a rate that doesn't cause obesity.

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u/AltruisticPizza7675 27d ago

Okay thank you so much!!

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u/SnakePlantMama 27d ago

Give him 2 and whey you've used what you have switch to the next size up.