Please HELP new boa not eating

Hello all,
I recently acquired a 3 month old male cancun boa (last Wednesday). I left him alone completely until yesterday when I offered him a f/t mouse fuzzy. I left the mouse with him over night and it was still there when I got up this morning. His temps are fine, 90-91 at hottest point, around 89 on most of warm end, 80 at cool end. Any advice? What should I do?
Thank you so much for any help!
Nicole Corder.

Was he on frozen thawed before? If not you may have to work on that. Try tease feeding him.

Also, a shed may be coming/in the process.

If you've had the animal less than a week, I wouldn't be concerned. As was suggested, make sure you're offering the same type of prey that it was given before, then be patient.

Nicole,
I wouldn't be too concerned at this point. How long have you had him?

Remember, he has just gone through what is likely the most stressful time in his young life. He was taken from a place where he was comfortable and (depending on how you acquired him) he was either put in a deli cup at a show, or boxed up and shipped. Either way, everything he knew as familiar is gone and he is now in a completely new environment.

Give him some time to settle in and get to know the new people and new surroundings in his life.

Please keep us informed on his progress.

Hello All,
Here arrived here last Wednesday (the 26th) and he was eating f/t rat pinkies, but I do not have easy access to rat pinkies, so I bought mouse fuzzies. Could this be the reason that he is not eating or is it simply stress? Also, I have not handled him yet, should I wait until he begins to eat? Just one more question, lol, should I feed him in his cage or take him out into a rubbermaid container? If in the cage, I read the post on paper towels is it not a good idea to place the mouse on a paper towel to avoid him ingesting the bark?
Thank you all SO much for your help!
Nicole Corder.

Nicole,
If he has been started on rats, I would try to continue that trend.

I would also recommend that you always remove him from his enclosure for feeding. Snakes are creatures of instinct and habit. It would be much better to "condition" him to expect to be removed from his enclosure when it is opened, then to force him to guess each time if he is going to be fed or be handled. He simply won't be able to make that distinction.

It's not much of an issue at his current size, but it could become a real problem as he grows. Also, there is no chance of a foreign object ingestion if he is always fed within a separate feeding bin.

Thank you very much for your help! I will try to track down some rat pinkies for him. When do you recommend I try feeding him again? I just tried last night (Sunday).
Thank you SO much!
Nicole Corder.

Nicole,
Give him a day between attempts. If he doesn't show any interest in a frozen-thawed, you might try an initial meal of live prey to get him jump-started. Once he's got a couple of meals in him, it shouldn't be any problem to switch him back to frozen-thawed.

I would also suggest that you give him some privacy during feeding.
It is possible that he is too nervous about outside influences to concentrate on feeding. Once you have placed him and the prey in a feeding container, you could drape a towel over it to block out any outside movements that might distract him from the task at hand.

Good luck and keep us posted on his progress.

Hi Mike,
I tracked down a f/t rat pinkie and placed him a separate container with a cloth over it and he ate!! Thank you SO much for your wonderful advice! I did just have a couple more questions if you don't mind. Can I begin handling him after 3-4 days of digestion now? And how long will his pinkies be good for in the freezer?
Thank you very much for your time,
Nicole Corder.

Nicole,
That's great news.
For this first meal, I would wait the 3 or 4 days before handling him. You don't want to risk a regurge at this sensitive stage. In the future, two days is normally sufficient.

As long as the rat pinks are well packaged, they will be good for several months in the freezer. How many do you have? With regular feedings, he should soon be ready to move onto larger prey items.

Good luck and keep us posted on his progress.