when to upgrade to colossol and/or rabbits?

[serius007]

I have a 6' bci or rtb female. I am currently feeding her two large rats that are in between 200-279 grams every 10-14 days which adds up to 400-560 grams total aprox. I am going to need to order more food. Should I skip jumbo and go right to 1 colossal from rodent pro every 10-14 days? Which would make the range 405-595 grams. She will be more satisfied with one food item as I have read earlier. Easier on her digestion?

And then in the future after she has been eating 1 colossol for a while when do I know that she will need to upgrade to rabits if at all. Are rabbits more nutritious than rats? My wife wouldn't like me feeding her rabbits but if its more economical and better for her than I will.

Thanks,
James

she's 11 inches thick at her biggest part.

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

[Stormyva]

11" thick?
It's hard to say what you should feed her with out seeing a pic of her with something in the pic as a size reference. Going from experience I would guess that a 6' female ought to be on at least a jumbo, but the colossal would probably be more in the ball park. You might want to hit a local shop and buy a jumbo f/t rat and see how it compares in size to your snake.

	Frozen/Thawed A rodent or other prey item that is frozen and then thawed to be fed to a reptile or other animal.

[LdyDrgn]

I posted this for you in another thread, but I'll put it here, too

Serius, our 6' females do well on a single jumbo rat (RodentPro) every 14 days. You want her to have good weight, not to be overweight

[serius007]

so jumbo rats for now on forever? or will I need to upgrade in a few years or when she gets a little bigger? How will I know.

Just because she moves around more and is a little twitchy when you go in to touch her at 7-10 days doesn't mean she is hungry and should have bigger than what she is getting?

[Stormyva]

Feeding one prey item equal in girth to the thickest part of the snake is the safe bet. When the jumbo starts looking smaller in girth than the snake then it will be time to step up in size.
For a snake that size being fed the proper size prey you should probably drop back to a 14 day feeding cycle.

[Constrictor_BO]

Maybe rodent pro upgraded the sizes of thier jumbos since I last ordered from them because my 6-7 ft male boa was taking thier collasal rat without leaving much of a buldge at all.

[LdyDrgn]

The rat sizes do fluctuate from time to time.

When she's twitchy as you say, it doesn't always mean hunger. It means she is still assessing the situation as to whether or not you are threat. I see this all the time in our home 'zoo', LOL Granted, if offered prey, she'd take it. But that's because she would rather eat when she can since she doesn't really know when her next meal is coming. All perfectly normal behaviour.

You don't want to overfeed, too much fat is not healthy.

[serius007]

ok thanks again for the advice. I will switch to jumbo and I have been feeding her every 14 days. When will she need a bigger rat if at all?

[LdyDrgn]

If the rats look too small for her, switch her up to colossals. Our 7 footer takes 1 colossal every 14 days.