Tom

i am looking to buy a boa, she is MASSIVE, far to big, and over feed, she is a proven breeder, but before i go and do a deal on her, I am just wanting some info on how i can "trim" her down a little.

She is a proven female, 2 years running, and approx the width of a football!

If was to let her roam around, and feed her less (gradually) how will this effect the snake?

will she just lose weight?, or will she have excessive skin?, or will she not be right, being thinner, the problem is she is approx 3 times the width, and weight id like her to be, and if its a case of getting her out a lot, and moving around, that’s fine, but she is VERY lazy ( due to size ) and I am not 100% its going to work out.

Any advice, would be great.
Thanks.

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iggylover

aswell as slimming her down you will need to give her more exercise out of the Rub/viv even just handling at first will be exercise to her if she's done very little, she probs been fattened up causes she a breeder and only been left in her Rub/viv.

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The other thing to consider is will she get aggressive if not fed.

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Tom

o.k, thats o.k about her being aggressive, what i think is her problem is she is so big, she wont/ cant move to much, and her viv is not really the biggest.

i will only take her on to 1st, help with her health, then get her into shape to breed when the time is right.

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wayne

I think you've got to consider all the health issues that may occur with a overweight snake, i do know that it can effect there ability to breed. Id just feed less often and try to have her out about an hour or so a day to exercise her.

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Tom

i agree wayne, i think she just needs to be weaned of slowly, and out alot.
what il do is watch how she is for a few hours also to check her breathing, make sure she is o.k.

cheers everyone.

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Khanidge

Tom what length is she??
If she really is that over weight you have two options

1. walk away because the damage that could have been done to the internal organs may not be reversable.

2. Get her cheap and try your best to slim her down.

At first I was going to say feed her very small meals once a month or longer maybe even two monthly and slowly increase exercise but thinking about this particular situation I've changed my mind a little.
This is quite a drastic thing to do but I strongly believe it will work.
Lets be honest here, if this poor snake is as obease as you say then doing what I'm suggesting can't really do any harm as plenty has been done already. (please don't jump down my throat have a open mind)..

The quickest way to slim her down would be to get her gravid, sounds silly I know, but you have to bare in mind what happens to a live bearing animal when Pregnant/gravid.
The growing babies will take every bit of nutrient they need before her own body gets chance to use it.
She wont and shouldn't feed during the period of pregnancy thus any excess fat should be used up by the babies. This in turn Will reduce the excess fats.
Once she has had the babies then gradually feed with small feeds, increase exercise and give her a year or so off of breeding.
I don't agree with breeding Boas three times in a row as I prefer to rest them for a year But in this case it may be beneficial to her.

Deano...

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