Just got a new cbb emerald tree boa.. Little concerned though.

hurm.. okay.. well.. you may want to read up on the BOI about DTS.
Basically there's a chance your snake may be wild caught, so I would suggest that after she eats and defecates, take a fecal sample to the vet for parasite testing, just to be safe. Not all snakes will eat right away after being shipped, especially tree boas, they can be rather shy.

There are tons of different ways to feed and tricks to try, some things work sometimes, some things work for some people and not others, so you may have to try a few. The main thing is not to try too many things too quickly, you do not want to futher stress out the animal.

If she doesn't seem to be thriving at all, keep in contact with the seller and hope for the best, let them know what you've tried and what they recommend.. although like I said, you may want to check the BOI. I won't say anything else about the seller here as it doesn't belong in this thread.

If she was on frozen, go ahead and try that again in another 3-5 days. For tree boas, I like to heat up the f/t prey for picky eaters or ones I am trying to switch to f/t - hold it up real close to a lightbulb until it gets really warm, the tree boas love the heat. (make sure you're only heating up the pinky/fuzzy and not your feeding tongs/hand too!)

Try offering the prey from below, don't touch her on the head with it; if she ignores completely, try touching her side (not her face) with it and then if she turns to see what it is, slowly pull it away from her and see if she tongue flicks. If no interest at all, leave it on the bottom of the cage (if you have substrate, leave it in a deli cup or something). Turn off the lights, check to see if she ate it over the night.

If not, try again in another 5-7 days with the frozen offered. If no interest, you could try braining the fuzzy, or scenting with a lizard or some chicken broth, or get a live fuzzy and put in a deli cup or something it can't crawl out of, put that in the bottom of the cage, turn off lights and leave overnight. Sometimes they need the heat and movement of live prey to trigger the food response.

One of my atbs came in, CBB, had been feeding fine for the breeder but wouldn't eat for me. Finally he took a live pink that was left overnight, a couple more live feeding and then he finally switched back to f/t (which is what he was on before). The stress of a new home and new interactions can put them off food so try to be patient but if it starts looking thin or you get a bad feeling about how it's acting, get to the vet.

I hope this helps a little, I'm not an expert!

Thanks man it def helped a lot! And ya.. My friend told me Dan was a good guy, but over the last couple of days I've read some mixed reviews about him so i dono, so far hasn't seemed so bad to me. But aren't most baby emeralds in general captive born? i mean i paid 550$ shipped for her it better be CBB lol.

In boas (including red tails and ETBs) i see wrinkled skin as a result of them about to shed. Try soaking him in warm water for an hour or two daily to help encourage a healthy shed. If she truly is in shed then that could be why shes off feed as well. If scenting is needed to get her to eat, then try offering fish, frog, or lizard scented prey as these are the most common prey items for babies. continue offering food to her if she is striking and biting onto the food. Its definitley a start.

Originally Posted by doom23

Thanks man it def helped a lot! And ya.. My friend told me Dan was a good guy, but over the last couple of days I've read some mixed reviews about him so i dono, so far hasn't seemed so bad to me. But aren't most baby emeralds in general captive born? i mean i paid 550$ shipped for her it better be CBB lol.

Oh and it is true most baby emeralds are cbb, its harder to find babies in the wild which is why most wc emeralds are adults so that alone would leave me to believe it is a CBB, whether or not it is farmed baby or usa cbb is another matter.

I went to the Chicago reptile house yesterday, a guy there said that she is most Likly a cb of a wild caught female. He also said he's never seen a emerald that feeds on frozen food and said get her live. So I did. Wella she ate it by 10 that night

Originally Posted by doom23

I went to the Chicago reptile house yesterday, a guy there said that she is most Likly a cb of a wild caught female. He also said he's never seen a emerald that feeds on frozen food and said get her live. So I did. Wella she ate it by 10 that night

Lol really? then he must not have seen a lot of emeralds then, every emerald ive dealt with always took f/t with no problem. either way this is a good start to getting it settled in.

yup, and with her I'm kinda confused, is it just in there nature, if the temp gets to low or to hot for some reason(which it does happen on a rare occasion) she will not move away to a different spot! My baby yapen green tree python does the same thing... They just sit there and sleep... Should i be concerned?

Originally Posted by doom23

yup, and with her I'm kinda confused, is it just in there nature, if the temp gets to low or to hot for some reason(which it does happen on a rare occasion) she will not move away to a different spot! My baby yapen green tree python does the same thing... They just sit there and sleep... Should i be concerned?

best advice ive heard about this kind of situation, to quote the nursery ryhme "some like it hot, some like it cold".

Originally Posted by hadenglock

If scenting is needed to get her to eat, then try offering fish, frog, or lizard scented prey as these are the most common prey items for babies. continue offering food to her if she is striking and biting onto the food. Its definitley a start.

Fish are common prey items for baby ETBs?? Where did you get that piece of information.

Originally Posted by doom23

He also said he's never seen a emerald that feeds on frozen food and said get her live. So I did. Wella she ate it by 10 that night

Live prey is often a good trigger for feeding, but that is one of those statements that just makes me shake my head. I used to keep tree boas - amazons and emeralds - and I rarely had any difficulty feeding f/t. The snake may, or may not, have been on f/t before you received it...but that doesn't mean a whole lot until it is acclimated there. Even then, a lot depends on your technique with presenting the prey. It is easy to make assumptions about the basics, but they are too often proven wrong...so follow through with the treatment recommended by your vet, and get some more meals into it - stick with live for now, as you want to establish a regular feeding pattern. We can readdress the f/t feeding later.

I have kept GTP's in the past, just recently got out of them last year. They can be hard to feed, at first, but once you get them on a schedule things tend to get easier. I had best luck feeding at night, no matter what I did, the majority of my arboreals would only eat at night. I never fed anything but mice/small rats with no scenting. Every once in awhile I would go to feed and live was required, but there are ways to tricking them out of that. They are known for getting dehydrated fairly easy, but as long as your humidity stays up and they always have access to clean water you shouldn't have a problem. Once I had a female that WOULD NOT come down to drink water. She would only take it off a leaf I had sprayed or if I held the bowl up to her. I ended up attaching a bird feeder cup to the side of the cage and she loved it. Best of luck!

Oh, and most importantly, DO NOT over handle. Arboreals stress out very easy. It takes time to gain there trust and confidence. Take your time, give them there space when needed and you will be fine.