CAging

[Summa8806]

How long before a baby red-tail BCI outgrows a 20L terrarium?

	Boa Constrictor Imperator Boa Constrictor (Boa constrictor imperator). Most common is the Colombian Boa.

[Joanna]

Not very long!!! Hee hee!!

[Joanna]

That was really unhelpful, sorry!! I don't deal in gallons!! My eighteen month old is in a 4' by 2' by 2' foot and he's fine. Would expect him to need a new tank within the next year or two.

[Summa8806]

right, but are we talking 6mo. or a year? or like less, he is 5 months old and is about 13 inches

[Joanna]

how big is the tank in footxfoot? just to be annoying! My boy is about eighteen months and about three foot long. He's on small-medium rats.

[Summa8806]

2ft by 1ft by 1ft, mine is eating fuzzy/hopper mice,

[newman]

mine is about a foot long he has been eating regular mice but my cage is like 4foot by 21/2 by 2

[Joanna]

Someone will jump on this in a minute. Before they do, I'll tell you what they're gonna say!! Get him onto rats ASAP. They're more nutritious than mice. There are loads of threads with links as to why. I think the rule is a square foot for each foot of the snake. So you have possibly a year. We've kind of accidentally underfed our snake because we didn't realise how big a mouse/rat they could eat, so it may take less time than that! Our RTB will be small for his age, basically. Does that help, or am I talking tripe? I've had a glass of wine, never a good idea!!

[CC]

He should need a larger enclosure sometime around the yearling mark. You need to get him on an appropriate size rat as soon as possible.

[Boa Enthusiast]

Get him onto rats.... I would say a couple more months then he is going to need something larger. I have heard as long as the cage is half his length he will be ok.


Kev

[Summa8806]

OK thanks, but is the only way to give him the size rats he needs to get frozen? I know that everyone is going to jump on me for this but since he is a baby and I want him to grow healthily he is eating live fuzzies. Before you scream at me hear me out, I understand the dangers of feeding live, and I agree 100% that it is better to feed FT that is why all my other snakes are eating FT, I have trried sooo hard to get him to eat FT but this little guy won't bite, he has refused all FT stuff I have given him, and I HAVE enticed him with the dead ones, he has gone periods of 3 weeks without eating, which I don't believe is good for a snake his age, I plan on feeding him live fuzzy mice until he is a little bigger, (because they are less of a risk than live rats) then I am going to get him on FT rats. PLEASE don't yell at me for I know what risks I am taking and believe that the benefits of my snake eating well outwiegh them, while I realize that most people on this site know much more than me, I think of myself as a competent snake owner and have raised and rescued many of them. So wihtout huge attacks on my ideas, does anyone have any suggestions for getting him to eat rats, or maybe something different for getting him to eat FT?(although I've tried everything I've heard of) sorry for sounding so definsive, I just want help and not critisism.

[SSReptiles]

Hi, just incase you are asking on HOW to switch mice to rats...since you asked how too...this is MY experience on how I got my ball pythons to eat rats.
Please don't laugh, it works, no kidding.
How I did this was, I used a live or f/t mouse (for those who are picky with mice or rats), and tied a f/t or p/k rat to the mouses tail. I used dental floss (make sure it's plain, not minty), tie the floss to the mouses tail and tie the other end to the rats teeth or front of the face (so the snake has no problems being directed to the head). I can shoot some pictures to those who need a good view on how to do this. I am working with a female ball who only eats mice, and I'm switching her to rats. I have done this to her once, and normaly the third time works great. Mostly my females will switch right over to rats with out a problem the third time.
Hopfully this helped some. You can also use the stretchy cotton too. The snakes stomachs diguest this with out a problem. Well, I haven't had a problem.
Good luck

[cb76]

hello

if you feed your boa according to girth on a weekly basis, depending on genetics/ subspecies, your boa can grow between 4-6 feet. when feeding according to girth the prey items grow as the boas grow so you're constantly changing food.... i always recomend adult caging when you buy a new boa.

i agree with an all rat diet (not saying that mouse is bad)

about feeding live- no one is gonna yell at you. we're here to help.

you know what you're doing maybe a potential hazard to your snake- my question (with no disrespect) why do this? no disrespect at all, please dont take it that way!

i have raised hundreds of baby boas over the years and found quite a few finicky eaters. patience is the key.

some advice: istead of live- prekill the animal. give it that quick whackor flick and drop it in while its still moving- at least then you can be sure of it not fighting back, and give the snake an advantage. the twitching and jumping around will fool the snake.

personally, thats what i do. i live with a family and they didnt like seeing rats in the freezer. i also found it to be a huge pain to thaw a ton of animals every week. prekill worked best for me for many reasons.

if you are gonna go with buying frozen, thaw correctly and make sure the animal is "warm" when you introduce it to the snake (dont cook it tho). some are picky, some would eat it cold.... if you go this route try getting a long set of tongs and walk the animal around the enclosue to make it seem its alive. i stood for more than 20 minutes walking a fuzzy rat around an enclosure to get a baby dum to eat.

good luck