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I have a friend who has a male friend who owns an albino boa. According to him, the snake is a female (he got this from the petstore he purchased her from several years ago). Anyway, she's very small, about the size of a red rat snake and is about 5 years old. She's maybe 4 feet long and doesn't have much girth on her. He only feeds her about 3 mice at a time (but I forgot to ask how often she's fed. Anyway, my friend has been feeding her for him from time to time. I already told her she should switch her to rats if she'll take them. I'd like to see her get some girth on her but how big of a rat should she get? I was thinking it should be slightly larger than her girth, as I'm afraid too big would make her regurgitate. Is this correct? Is she stunted or will she eventually reach her full size? He's currently got her in a small tank so I told my friend to look into getting a bigger tank.
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Georgia
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Re: getting a starved snake up to weight speed.
Tue, October 2, 2007 - 1:48 PMIf it is five years old then it is an adult snake so although it will continue to grow some it is essentially as big as it will get. Changing the ammount it is eating now will mostly just increase weight.
Unless it is seriously under weight I would say something like a small to medium rat every two weeks is probably good for a snake this size. -
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Re: getting a starved snake up to weight speed.
Wed, October 3, 2007 - 5:22 PMWell her skin is hanging off her in wrinkles but it's a bit hard to tell for sure because she's shedding right now as well. She's approximately half the girth of my yearling female boa and so I'd say she's severely skinny. But I will make sure my friend starts giving her sm-md rat every other week and see how she does.
So in other words, she's stunted? She'll never grow to a more normal size of 6 to 8 feet? -
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Re: getting a starved snake up to weight speed.
Fri, October 26, 2007 - 9:10 AMShe can grow to her normal length, I had a snake in the same predicament, her was three when I got him and severely underweight and thin, and very small for his age. and again he was fed mice not very often. I started him on rats and although it has teken him four years to get to six feet he is now 6'4 aat seven years old. and he is very fat and healthy but it took four years of feeding him Once a week. I would say in your case a small rat to start would be good, if she handles that then move up to a medium. and in my opinion snakes should be fed every week to reach their full potential. they are just stronger and healthier. She sounds like she is in horrible condition. so a vet visit may be in order. hopefully she will start eating rats soon so she can gain weight.
this is a sad story. -
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Re: getting a starved snake up to weight speed.
Sat, October 27, 2007 - 3:59 PMTanis that's great to know. I just got a male pastel boa that is 1 yr and he is small too. The breeder is a friend that was feeding him f/t rat pinks. The guy who got him first feed him mice. I have him eating small f/t rats now and he is doing great!
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