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Q: Still having feeding troubles with my female sand boa. Suggestions? Time to force feed?
Posted By:

ShutUpAndSmile

In Relation To:

Whiteout [AC-SB-F-9911]

I posted before about my sand boas. Luckly the paper bag worked for my male. But I'm really worried about my female. She hasn't eaten at all since she was born on Sept 9th(I think thats the date)

Should I force feed her? If so how? I don't know what to do. I feel like I've tried everything. Is there something else I can try feeding her? Like I think I remember reading that they like anoles or to try senting with anole (which I can't do because I don't own one. o.e) Gah I'm going crazy with worry. I think I remember reading something about a company called T-Rex that makes a thing you can put on the pinkie that makes it smell more like a mouse or a lizard or whatever. Should I try and find that? (Not having any luck with finding it atm)


Points: 150
Topics: General Health , Feeding
Tags: Eating, Female, Food, Pinkie, Sandboa, Snake
Species: Boas > Small Boas > Gongylophis colubrinus
Administrative: Show/Hide

Assisted Answer 10/9/2011 7:29:34 PM

Doomtrooper

You could try scenting with chicken broth  or down  or egg yolk

 
Author Comment 10/9/2011 7:58:14 PM

ShutUpAndSmile

Dont wanna sound stupid but raw egg yolk? o.e  lol 

 
Member Comment 10/9/2011 8:09:37 PM

Doomtrooper

yes raw

 
Member Comment 10/9/2011 8:10:21 PM

Doomtrooper

Dip the pinkies face in egg yolk   you never know   it may work

 
Author Comment 10/9/2011 8:10:45 PM

ShutUpAndSmile

Kk it tomorrow. I need to buy pinkies lol

 
Author Comment 10/9/2011 8:11:27 PM

ShutUpAndSmile

*kk I will try it tomorrow. (jezze how did I mess up a whole sentence?)

 
Accepted Answer 10/9/2011 10:07:59 PM

bwaffa

There are literally a hundred different techniques you could try to stimulate her appetite, but I wouldn't even be worried about it just yet.  I wouldn't be worried about it for another month or two honestly.  Once neonates begin eating, their metabolism really seems to kick off and it then becomes imperative that they take regular meals.  If she hasn't taken a meal though, her metabolism is likely still in that state of neonatal stasis.  She may have been blessed with a little extra yolk which she's still living off of internally (perhaps you're noticing the greenish streak in her urates?).  House her adequately (a separate discussion) and give her lots of time to settle in comfortably without stressing her with constant feeding attempts.  They can go a shockingly long time without food.

If you're really concerned, buy a tiny gram scale (from the post office, a cooking supply store or your local head shop) and get an accurate weight on her.  As long as she's staying hydrated and not losing weight, there's really no cause for concern.  Many colubrid keepers will brumate their snakes over the winter never having taken a meal just to stimulate a feeding response in the spring.  This is a quite natural occurence in the wild for temperate species and probably occurs to some degree in other taxa as well.

 
Member Comment 10/9/2011 10:10:03 PM

bwaffa

Try her once a week using a different technique until you find one that works.  I would personally recommend live, then F/T brained in a deli cup or paper bag overnight.  If that doesn' work, drive her around the neighborhood a few times or ship her to a friend (I'm not kidding).  Offer a pink again overnight immediately afterward and she's almost sure to take it.

 
Assisted Answer 10/9/2011 11:19:43 PM

abi21491

I'm with Brad, no need to worry yet. She's only a month old, it isn't uncommon for some babies to take over a month's time to take the first meal. By her age, you should have only attempted to feed her 4 times total... If you've attempted to more than that, you could be stressing her. What works with me for stubborn sand boa babies is to put them in a deli cup with a pinkie and put the deli cup in their cage over the heat pad so they and the pink are warm but in a small area. Leave them overnight and check the next day. Usually the pink has disappeared. Of course you need to make sure your heat pad isn't too hot... which it shouldn't be anyway, but it is good to check first.

 
Member Comment 10/10/2011 1:44:08 AM

samfred

another thing is tuna juice and make sure that the mouse is warm enough often they will not take it is it isnt warm, as in warm almost hot to your touch.

 
Member Comment 10/10/2011 12:01:02 PM

glebster3

Feeding Sand Boas in captivity is usually pretty straightforward. Most people that have problems getting Sand Boas to eat are failing to provide appropriate housing and/or temperatures for their snakes.

Many Eryx will learn to take pre-killed rodents but a few seem to insist on live prey.

Babies

Babies of some species are as easy to care for as the adults. This is the case with the species that have larger babies, including E. colubrinus, E. conicus, and E. johnii. These larger babies are born big enough to take a standard sized pink mouse. Some of the smaller species have very small babies. These small babies can be problematic, not only because it is hard to find very small pinkies, but also because many of these species appear to be lizard eaters in the wild. See individual species accounts for specifics on this

 

 
Author Comment 10/10/2011 2:51:01 PM

ShutUpAndSmile

Yay good to know I shouldn't be panicking to much. I've tried feeding her 3 times I belive. I do have a tiny gram scale already. She weighed 9 grams when I got her and now she weighs 8 I think. I'll reweigh her tonight. 

Shes in a 12qt container atm with lots of ventilation holes. Her temp gradient goes from 90ish-78ish with plenty of aspen for her to borrow in. She also has a small condement thing for water. 

I gotta figure out how to keep the mouse warm. It feels like as soon as I take it out of the hot water it cools down immeditly. The mouse size is good I think. My sligthly smaller male eats them with no problem so I don't think she would have one. 

Thanks for the advice everyone. :o Hopefully these will work. 

 
Member Comment 10/12/2011 5:17:39 PM

glebster3

Babies

Babies of some species are as easy to care for as the adults. This is the case with the species that have larger babies, including E. colubrinus, E. conicus, and E. johnii. These larger babies are born big enough to take a standard sized pink mouse. Some of the smaller species have very small babies. These small babies can be problematic, not only because it is hard to find very small pinkies, but also because many of these species appear to be lizard eaters in the wild. See individual species accounts for specifics on this.

 

I have used several techniques to get reluctant baby Sand Boas to feed:

  1. I try live and dead pinkies.

  2. I try feeding the babies in snake bags or very small dark containers. Frequently, isolating them in a deli cup with a dead pinkie is all that it takes to get them to start.

  3. Scenting pink mice is also effective. This can be done by rubbing a pinkie on a lizard. It works best if the pinkie is wet first then rubbed on the lizard. I have also had good success with some snakes by wetting a small piece of shed lizard skin and sticking this on the forehead of the pinkie.

  4. Some species can be tricked into lunging at a pinkie. This is done by getting the baby snake excited with a preferred food item (such as a lizard) by dragging that food around the cage. When the baby snake starts actively pursuing the prey item and lunging for it, keep the prey item out of reach and quicky substitute the pinkie in front of one of the lunges. This trick works better if the pinkie is scented first and is surprisingly effective with some species of Sand Boa (and also by the way with baby Hognose Snakes Heterodon sp.).

  5. Some people find that washing a pinkie with liquid soap or dishwashing detergent before offering it may stimulate a feeding response. I haven't ever tried this, but some of the Gray-banded Kingsnake (Lampropeltis alterna) breeders I know swear by this technique. Apparently, some soaps work better than others, so try a couple (Ivory soap seems to be a particular favorite!).

  6. I have recently had success with taking previously frozen pinkies and "braining" them. To do this, I poke a small hole in the center of the skull of a thawed pinkie (I use the end of a paper clip) and very gently squeeze the head so that a little bit of the brain comes out the hole. I then spread some of this brain tissue down over the nose and mouth of the pinkie with the paper clip and then place the pinkie and the snake in a deli cup overnight. It is quite amazing how often this gruesome ruse works. I have had good success with baby E. miliaris and baby Rubber Boas like this. (I've always wondered who figured this trick out,........and how?)

  7. For some species, it may be necessary to brumate the young snakes before they will feed. For babies that are born late in the year, just keep them cool for a few weeks and allow them to go into brumation. Often they will emerge from several weeks of brumation ready to feed.

  8. As a last resort, I hold the snake behind the head and place a small pinkie in the snake's mouth and put it down gently to see if it will swallow the pinkie. Sometimes you have to do this several times before the snake will swallow the pinkie. Some snakes will not respond to this method and as it is stressful, I usually give up after 5 tries.
 
Author Comment 10/13/2011 9:17:44 PM

ShutUpAndSmile

Well good news. The egg yolk worked for Apollyon great. He ate it within an hour. He loved it. 
Unfortuantly my female looks to be uninterested. I'll leave it for a few hours and see what happens. If not next week is chicken. lol  

 
Member Comment 6/4/2013 2:49:12 PM

Cenobite

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