Boa made me a liar!!!

[buck2003]

HI, just wanted to write this as I thought it relevant to some post I'd added to.
Recently alot of people have been talking about there boas not eating or eating during the shed period, and on each occasion I have said "Floppy" my youngest always eats regardless of if he's shedding or not...untill now lol.
Right after typing all these things on various post I went to feed him yesterday and though he wanted to chase my feeding tongues about and took a couple of strikes at the sml rat he wouldnt eat the flippin thing! I left it with him confident that he'd eat it later but he aint! I also wanted to ask about that? does anyone else find that thier boas seem more interested in the feeding tongues than the rat? I'm always affraid he'll strike at em and get hurt. So much so that I get a little nervouse at feeding times, its like a race/test, my reactions against his, I mean how fast can I get the tongues outta there as he strikes lol.
Lastly does anyone have a rough guide (Growth) they could send me so I can compare his size to that of the average boa at about the same age. I got him last sept 18th, he was approx 18" and I was told 3 months or so old. He's now about 30-35" ans a little thicker than my thumb at his fattest part maybe a little thicker. I just want his age and size confirming if thats atall possible? I'll post a pic or two if you think it'll help.
Thanks very much Buck

[lethargiic]

to tell you the truth..we dont use tongs... i just either hold the prey by the tail til the snake strikes n coils or just drop it in..depending on the snake.

I havent been bit yet...key word.

as far as age...good luck.. and as far as size..to have grown close to 15 inches in about 8 months is pretty much accurate.. out bcc female has grown almost 8-10 inches since we got her maybe more..and we had her for a year now..

	Boa Constrictor Constrictor Red Tail Boa Constrictor (Boa constictor constrictor). Refers to "true" red tail boas such as the Guyana and Suriname locales.

[buck2003]

Thanks for that. Again dont know if anyone else has this problem but when I'm in a rep shop buying frozen rats I think yep thats the perfect size for my lil guy! Then later at home I find its a tad too small or a little large? Always find it so hard to guess. I always go to guess his girth, but sometimes even that changes say after he goes toilet lol. I guess in the wild each meal would be all different sizes so I reckon as long as I'm close every things ok? correct me if I'm wrong. As for feeding without feeding tongues...errrr I'm a whimp! seriouse I'd stand there shaking he'd think the rat was having a fit or being electrocuted. I like 12-18 inches between me and food lol. I have a mental picture of him being 7..8..9ft long and chasing me round house with my feeding tongues! Thanks again.

[lethargiic]

try not using the tongs n just drop the rat in and leave the snake alone...our snakes feed a lot better if we just do that and give them their privacy..of course some of them really dont give a rat (no pun intended) if we watch but all of the boas do seem to mind...

oh another thing if your bubby is about say 32 inches size him up to a pup and the next size up which i believe would be a wienling or a small rat. to get a general idea of what he needs to eat.. our little boas are about close to 30 inches and they are on rat pups and they put a perfect gut lump in em.

post a pic of the snake's middle section next to a dollar bill or a soda can laying flat..we can determine was size you can feed from a good pic or 2.. =)

[buck2003]

I took these today to try to give an idea of floppy's size. Excuse my hands there clean but oil stained as my car thought 8.15am this morning was the day it was gonna break down! I tried to put two fingers together next to him to show his thickness but not sure if the angle is gonna mess that up. The dvd box is just under five and a half inches x severn and a half inches. Thanks

[buck2003]

Just to update this thread even though his eyes have cleared (yesterday) he still refuses food. I left him with a rat last night and even though he looked very interested in it, it was still there this morning. This is a first for him and its also one of the longest times he's ever took to shed? Maybe its cause he's getting bigger. Need to go get more rats now as he wasted the ones I had lol. Funny thing is these last couple of rats have been from a different supplier, a guy who breeds his own. I'm wondering if the scents been different or something? Anyway thanks Buck

[SSReptiles]

Hey Buck, I fed last night and I did notice, my ball pythons go for the tongs. My boas seem to not care. My male ball python was going nuts trying to get the tongs, but soon after, he did get the small rat. Darn bugger...lol

[JuliusSqueezer]

He said tongue, not tong! I would really love to see a photo of you tongue feeding your boa lol Please!

[buck2003]

Lol well at least I'm not on my own! I have some BBQ tongues I normaly use but have tried using my large forceps instead, I'm thinking the bbq tongues are shiney and thats whats attracting him. The large forceps are quite dull? while talking about feeding, a friend of mine adopted a large adult female bci. Anyway when feding time came he put her in a large clear plastic box with lid to feed. Anyway he found that the large food item was too heavy to hold with tongues so he approached with it by the tail. the next thing as he got to the box the boa saw the rat and lunged at it knocking the lid up in the air! She missed the rat but continued in her pursuit of it. What made me laugh was the way he worded it to me, he said " She was like a freight train, the lid was still in the air as I turned to run, and she was in hot pusuit of me and her dinner. I panicked and never thought to drop the rat and didnt want to grab her and put her back in the box as I stunk of rats, luckily after a short chase she gave up and I got the situ back under controll after putting the rat in a safe place" At the time this cracked me up and I almost fell of chair laughing, has this happened to others?

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

[crush]

Your Boa will eat after it poos when it's done shedding. And if she misses the tongs dont worry you only bleed for a little while.

[buck2003]

Yep he'd shed this morning, knew he would as he was rubbing his nose last night as I went to bed! Just gotta go get some nice rats again today for him!