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Kenyan Sand Boas...

Hypancistrus

Hypancistrus

New member
My yearling KSB is about the thickness of my pinky finger, maybe a little thicker. Say 1/2" round. I always get nervous about feeding "too big" of a meal to my snakes, but I think I may be feeding a bit TOO cautiously with this fellow. He looks healthy as a horse-- is nice and fat, and very active, but still rather short.

The guy at the herp store said he'd be feeding a yearling KSB newly born pink rats. Mine's been eating two large pink mice per week for two months now. When I looked at the newborn rat it seemed impossibly huge, but now that I've really gotten a good look at him, I think it might be doable.

So I am wondering what other KSB keepers have to say on the matter. What did you start your KSB's on, and what do you think a yearling could handle?
 
When I got my 2 females, they were yearlings and were eating medium mice. I did switch them to rats because I thought for yearling females they were too small.... they have now more than doubled in size and are eating rats that are about 7-10 days old.

I have heard/seen that the gender has a lot to do with their size. Males maz out at about 12-14 inches, where as females on average about 24-30inches.

Do you know which gender yours is??
 
My hatchlings start out on pinks. Yearling males get fuzzy mice, females get hoppers then graduate to adult mice. Adult males get hoppers and the females get 2 Xl adult mice every 10 days. IMHO rat pinks supply plenty of protein but are lacking in calcium. :cheers:
 
Cat_Eyed_Lady said:
Do you know which gender yours is??
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Yeah, mine is a confirmed male-- I saw the appendages myself at the show where I bought him!! LOL!

This makes me feel better. I had no idea the size disparity was so great with them.

tsthompson said:
My hatchlings start out on pinks. Yearling males get fuzzy mice, females get hoppers then graduate to adult mice.
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Okay. I think he definitely could take a small fuzzy mouse, but I am going to move him up slowly. I'll try a peach fuzzy this week.

Have you guys had any luck with getting your KSB's to take F/T? Mine is so shy he never wants to take F/T from the forceps, and when left in the cage, he won't touch it.
 
Hypancistrus said:
Yeah, mine is a confirmed male-- I saw the appendages myself at the show where I bought him!! LOL!

This makes me feel better. I had no idea the size disparity was so great with them.



Okay. I think he definitely could take a small fuzzy mouse, but I am going to move him up slowly. I'll try a peach fuzzy this week.

Have you guys had any luck with getting your KSB's to take F/T? Mine is so shy he never wants to take F/T from the forceps, and when left in the cage, he won't touch it.
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All of mine eat f/t. Some hatchlings I produce will only eat live, but they are changed over to f/t in a few meals. What is his weight? Males are mature at 60 grams. BTW I started a social group anything sandboa.;)
 
Both of mine are eating f/t. But they need to be really warm. Doesnt matter if they are dry or wet..... just really warm and they both strike and coil their food. They strike hard and fast enough that they sometimes even startle me LOL
 
Hypancistrus said:
What did you start your KSB's on, and what do you think a yearling could handle?
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What a yearling could handle really depends on its size but, generally speaking, should be able to handle fuzzies/hoppers by that time.

At the size, that you mention, I would think that your's should be able to handle, at least, peach fuzzies &/or sm. fuzzies... maybe med. fuzzies.

Two of my '07 KSBs have been eating f/t since the first day I got them (as neonates). Were fed f/t pinkies, at first, and, by the time they reached the yearling stage, were eating f/t fuzzies (male) & f/t hoppers (female)... male is, currently, on f/t hoppers and female is, currently, on f/t weanlings.
A third '07 KSB (female) was extremely tiny, when first purchased, and I am not sure she was ever even started. She would not take f/t no matter all the tricks, etc., and I could not find live pinkies that were small enough for her (to see if she would accept live). Thus, I ended up having to tube feed her until she went off to a KSB breeder friend of mine (not the producer of this female), who raises his own mice/rats, to see if she would take live (& barring that, to see if my friend could do something else to help get her started). The first time he offered a live pink, she took it right away (yay!). She remained there a few months and I got her back at a time that my friend had her consistently eating p/k fuzzies (having moved to p/k after live). Of course, I offered her f/t, as her first meal after coming back home, and was extremely happy that she did eat it. She has been on f/t, since that day, without a single problem. Still a wee bit smaller, than my above mentioned male, but is, currently, on f/t hoppers.

BTW I think that, sometimes, KSBs are fed something smaller, than what they can really handle, because people will see those little heads/mouths and think that there is no way that they could handle something larger (than what someone may think they could) but ... it is "amazing" how much a KSB can actually stretch their jaws/necks.
Not saying this is the case, with you, but it does occur with some folks.
 
Pasodama said:
BTW I think that, sometimes, KSBs are fed something smaller, than what they can really handle, because people will see those little heads/mouths and think that there is no way that they could handle something larger (than what someone may think they could) but ... it is "amazing" how much a KSB can actually stretch their jaws/necks.
Not saying this is the case, with you, but it does occur with some folks.
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Well that has always been my problem. I get really freaked by regurges, and so I tend to be VERY conservative on prey size. I would say that if you compared my snakes to other people's snakes of the same age, mine would be considered "undersized." Not unhealthy-- just a little smaller. I don't see any problem with this for the most part, but a few of them I think I need to move up to larger sizes.

Do you feed your KSB's in feeding bins? Or in tank?
 
Mine are also fed in feeding tubs. I feed prey that is about the same size as their body width..... looks way too big for them to eat but they always just inhale them without problems :)
 
So you guys were right... my guy is really capable of more than I've been letting him try! I pulled him out today and put him in a tub, and put a live peach-fuzzy mouse next to him. Now, turns out he's actually about 5/8" at his fattest point, but I was still worried about that midget sized head....

Damn if he didn't slurp that thing down!! I am going to try and get him to take F/T soon!
 
Mine are fed animals up to 2 1/2 size the diameter of their body. Boas & especially pythons thrive on larger meals. Get him a couple nice size meals in him & then try a f/t.
If he doesn't eat it wait for a week & try again. Once he's hungry he'll take f/t with a little movement. I feed mine in their tubs & place a piece of newspaper under the food item once they are wrapped.:)
 
Why the peice of newspaper?

I will try to take a feeding pic next saturday when my girls are fed again. :) I dont usually take those kind of pics but I will try to remember because it is easier to See the differance than to try to explain it, ok? :) The rats I am now feeding leave a slight bump, which is ok with me... they can take their time growing because I have yet to get a boy for them lol
 
Cat_Eyed_Lady said:
Why the peice of newspaper?

I will try to take a feeding pic next saturday when my girls are fed again. :) I dont usually take those kind of pics but I will try to remember because it is easier to See the differance than to try to explain it, ok? :) The rats I am now feeding leave a slight bump, which is ok with me... they can take their time growing because I have yet to get a boy for them lol
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The newspaper helps keep any of the substrate from being ingested ( I feed in the cage).
 
ahhhhhh ok :) totally understandable then... guess I should get more sleep before posting LOL I feed all mine in tubs so the fact that you feed in viv didnt register, I tell ya, more sleep LOL Thanks for answering me :)
 
Cat_Eyed_Lady said:
I will try to take a feeding pic next saturday when my girls are fed again. :) I dont usually take those kind of pics but I will try to remember because it is easier to See the differance than to try to explain it, ok? :) The rats I am now feeding leave a slight bump, which is ok with me... they can take their time growing because I have yet to get a boy for them lol
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I would REALLY appreciate that. Once he got the mouse in, it did leave a small bump-- but nothing extraordinary!
 
not sure why it wouldnt let me upload these earlier but here are the pics of my boas. The rat the anery has is abit smaller than normal but pretty close. The rats are at the stage where their eyes are just opening so about 12 - 14 days old :)
 

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