how did i kill him

[trev]

i have 4 boas i feed two of them large prey, the ones i feed large are young, only 35 to 40 inches. my 40in. has ate 1 jumbo rat, small rat, and 2 mice all at once, by him self, he normally eats 1 jumbo, but i just fed my 35in. a jumbo for the first time friday and he took it well, but i noticed he was swelling up like a balloon this morning, and just now i checked on him and he was laying on his side, and brown smelly goo was coming out of his mouth. i know it was because i fed him somthing to large, but can you explain what happend, thanks
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[Countryboy]

Welcome to REDTAILBOA. What kind of snakes are they? You shouldn't feed your snake anything larger than the largest part of his body as a rule of thumb. How often do you feed them? I know this doesn't answer your question but more people will be along later to tell you more.
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[mirabelasunshine]

Can't say exactly what happened, but I know when they eat a big meal, a lot of gas can build up. If they eat a significantly too-big meal, this gas can cause some kind of explosive vomiting thing. I'm really sorry about your snake. For reference, our male bci, a 7-year old adult between 5.5' and 6', eats one jumbo rat. It sounds like the things you were feeding were too wide. I've yet to see a 3' boa thick enough to be eating what you're talking about.

Others will be along to ask you more questions, I'm sure. Welcome to rtb; wish you made your debut here under better circumstances.

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

[NYCSpeedcore]

You are definatly overfeeding your boa's. Basicly what is happening is your snake cannot digest all it has eaten and the food is literaly rotting in it's stomach. He should have regurgitated it by now... strange. Do not feed them for two weeks and give them a smaller meal. Medium rats seem more their size.
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[eddie]

Simple, you over fed to the point that his stomach may have burst with the pressure of just the food, along with it being WAY TOO MUCH food, the stomach had no room for digestive fluids to circulate, preventing digestion, which allowed the food to break down (rot) inside the snakes body, which caused the origonal swelling to occur.

What finally did it in,was the toxins being forced into the stomach walls, poisoning the snake, combined with the pressure from the decaying foods released gases, which compounded the origonal tears that most likely occured, by ripping it further.

However, since you have 3 more boas, you got here hopefully in time to prevent another loss.
If you are stuffing the others like this one, then stop now, don't feed again for at least 14 days, and ensure the bottom heat is up to 90 degrees to ensure the foods they have consumed will get a chance to digest properly and hopefully with no complications.

Now for the feedings, what snakes generally need, is just one feed item every 10 to 14 days. The food should be the correct size for the animal also.
How to tell what size is right, just look at the boas thickest area, and size the food the same diameter as the snake

I am sad for your loss.
You did good by finding us here, as we are willing to help out and answer every question we can. If some one has a question that stumps us, we are willing to look for the answer and tell all we can. This way we get to learn also!

Stick around! You're welcomed at Redtail and we like good company.
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[najaboy]

Two things happen when you feed too large a prey item:

1) The snake cannot digest such a large meal, and it rots inside the stomach. The gasses that build up can easily rupture the stomach.

2) When a snake eats a large meal, its metabolism increases by a factor of up to 4,000%. To deal with this increase, the heart & lungs must increase in mass. Repeatedly, this takes its toll, and the circulatory system is generally the first to fail.

Either way, powerfeeding kills snakes. In the future, I would suggest a normal feeding regimen for your snakes. Use prey items that are equal in the girth to the snake being fed.
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[Shadrach]

Come on now a 35 to 40 inch snake a jumbo rat? Are you sure they are classified as JUMBO's? Anyway like the other's have said way too much food for these guy's! This would be like you eating 2 turkey's at thanksgiving!!!!!!!! Here's kind of an Idea for feeding size's for Boa's

Neo---rat pinky's to fuzzy's
2 to 3 feet -- Small to Medium Rat
5 to 6 feet--- Large Rat
6 to 7 feet-- Jumbo's
8 and larger--- Colossal or Rabbit's
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[ratsickle]

HI,
Better start reading some of them care sheets on feeding, another thing that can happen with overfeeding, is prolapsed rectum or vent when you over feed everything gets all streched out
and just falls out the back end. This is a fatal problem. After they eat they should only have a light bulge (slight)..
If your feeding to get a big snake just about every pet store has four or five boas over five feet that
are what I call pet store returns, They are just to big for their owners, poor little buggers all packed in one little cage...
I realize you have really good intensions but power feeding, or over feeding will reduce the life expectancy of a boa from a normal life of 20 year's down to five or less. They usally die of organ failure.
Be sure your tanks has a really warm side and the hides are on the cool and warm side. No part of the tank should be less tha 82-84 deg on the cool side.
Take care be careful with the ones you have remaining, put simple 3/5 card on each tank exterior and only feed every 10 to14 days. Never feed early, Keep clean water on the cooler side be sure to clean the dish .
Good luck Doug
Below is a short cut to an excellent care sheet for Boa's add it to you favorite list take the time to read it and your snakes will thank you.

_________________
Aint them BOA'S COOL --http://www.redtailboas.com/carelinks/carelinks.html

[StopStaringAtMe]

OK... off-topic question here guys... My baby girl Kali is 2 foot somthing or 3 feet ... I feed her a large feeder MOUSE every 7 days. Should I start her on rats already? I mean, they just look way too big for her to me.
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[ratsickle]

Hi,
I have a baby hog that I started on frozen pinky rat pups and now is eating Fuzzies,
I will usally wait until they can eat a couple before moving up a size.
I've heard that rats a better food source they contain more protien per ounce, so I usally
start with some form of rat pups and move up gradually. I have an 16 mos old argie who's pretty large and I can feed her two small rats or one medium and this holds her for at least a couple weeks. Check out that care sheet Iposted above it has pics of the food items next to a dollar bill to help you scale the size.
http://www.redtailboas.com/carelinks/carelinks.html
Good luck,
oh yea some snakes are picky and prefer mice to rats thats why its best to get them on rats as soon as possible. I had a yearling guyana male who was really picky but eats rats now. Thaw a mouse with a same size rat, in the same bag this will get that mouse smell on the rat and present the rat as soon as the snake slurps the mouse. do this a couple times and your mouse free slurping them rats. Doug


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	Hog Island Boa hogg

[cb76]

my baby boas- when born ate a few small hoppers then went directly to mice! a full adult mouse. at four months of age they were already on 2 mice per feeding.

now they are on an all rat diet- those guys eat 5 fuzzies or 2 crawlers. believe it or not, this is not pewer feeding either. its feeding correctly. babies need proper meals to grow to their full potential. when i feed like this- there is only a slight bulge. i am not over feeding in the slightest.

sounds like you can feed your snake a lil' more. you can definitly move on to rats. a good rat breeder/ dealer will have various sizes, from teeny to huge!!!
if you snake has the girth to support only a mouse, you can use a rat crawler or 2 instead.

naja and eddie nailed it. my 5.5 foot snake just got on large rats- you basically killed your by over feeding it. please, before you get any more snakes do some research on husbandry and feeding.
usually you will get a blast of poop and a regurge, but yours sounded like the worst case scenario we all fear.

watch what you do, and good luck in the future.


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[Boaguy]

Hi lol i also have a off topic question..
i have a ball python hes 22-24 inches.. right now hes on large mice
he weights 156 grams at what size can i put him on small rats?
-bnoaguy
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[eddie]

Go by the girth rule!
As big around as his thickest point, the food can be up to that point in size, but try not to exceed the girth.
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