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Q: 2 month Dumeril's boa still not eating on its own
Posted By:

Krystal_Soul

In Relation To:

Konohana

My young Dumeril's boa that I bought about 2 months ago has still not eaten with me. I force fed her yesterday because she is starting to lose some weight. She took it fine and hasn't regurged. I've tried mice that are thawed, prekilled, and live, and she seemed most interested in live v(but too intimidated to strike). She is in a small tub and her heat is UTH-75 cool side/88 warm side, roughly. No handling, just changing water. Any advice would be great as I'm so worried for her. She is my first snake. I have reached out to many people and two people have suggested quail or chicks. Neither are simple for me to get live. Do you think I should focus on this, or just keep trying live mice? Would rats be good to try as well? Do you have tips on making a dead or live prey more interesting? I've tried scenting with chicken livers/bedding and I always heat it up so it's warm.


Attached Photos:


Points: 250
Topics: Feeding , Neonate Rearing
Tags: Dumerili, Dumerils, Neonate, Noteating
Species: Boas > Large Boas > Acrantophis dumerili
Administrative: Show/Hide

Member Comment 10/24/2017 11:27:07 AM

Sonja K. Reptiles

What is her substrate and how deep is it? Does she have a hind? Are you feeding in or out of the enclosure? 

 
Member Comment 10/24/2017 11:33:36 AM

Sonja K. Reptiles

*hide*

 
Member Comment 10/24/2017 3:36:26 PM

Aimee

also, what was she feeding on before she came to you?

 
Member Comment 10/24/2017 6:10:14 PM

Sonja K. Reptiles

Include how you are offering... on tongs, left overnight, etc. And what size?

 
Author Comment 11/4/2017 1:23:08 PM

Krystal_Soul

@Sonja. I have used tongs, and left overnight several times. Her aspen is one inch. It was 2.5 inches, but I found she wasn't really using it and only throwing the top most layer in her water bowl. She has a hide, and is in a 16qt tub. I feed in the enclosure. @Aimee, she was supposedly eating live hoppers, but I've since learned she was flipped, and the guy I bought her from was not her breeder. So I don't even know if it's the truth. She may never have eaten, she's pretty small.

 
Member Comment 11/4/2017 7:37:23 PM

Sonja K. Reptiles

I always aim to feed thawed prey, but with the Dumeril's i've produced here, I would bet 2/3 I have had to get eating using live prey - most hopper sized, but some needed a tad larger; weaned or adult mice. I would go back to deeper substrate. Being ambush hunters, being able to burrow all the way down into it with just a nose up, or even a tail (they will use caudural luring) is good. I definitely agree with feeding in the enclosure. Making the substrate deeper was what finally got some here to switch to thawed prey from live. Adding some plastic greenery on the surface might help as well. If you can, I would try to increase the ambient to closer to 80 with the hot spot staying in the 88-90F range. I also went back in the tracking records of the babies born here, and while some took off right away, about half didn't become consistent eaters until they were 2-3+ months old. They are big babies and Dumeril's have a slower metabolism, so that might be playing into things here, but if you are seeing weight loss, then I'd say not. Getting a weight now to compare to as time goes on, would be good.

Do you have a scale / know how many grams she is? Babies here have been ~ 95+/- grams at birth.

Another thing to consider is the amount of activity, noise, vibration in the room she's housed in. If there's a lot, moving her to a quieter location until she's a strong eater could prove helpful.

 
Author Comment 11/5/2017 12:59:00 AM

Krystal_Soul

Thank you Sonja. I will do the deeper substrate and add some more cover. She was 68grams when I first weighed her. I think I got a scale a week or less after I bought her and weighed immediately. Last I weighed she was 67grams. Have not weighed recently to leave her alone. I may have to move her, but I'm thinking my room is the quietest, though my mom is a piano teacher Tuesdays here are noisy. Not sure where would be better. All other days it's super quiet in my room. 

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