Adult boa off her feed for a few months...

Hey all,

I am running into an issue getting my adult red-tail boa to eat again... I've had her for about 10 years, and during that time she's consistently eaten a frozen/thawed XXL rat every 2-4 weeks. She was never super "hungry", but she was consistent... she's a pretty sizable girl, too... around 8-9 ft. Always has fresh water, and I haven't modified husbandry in years.

Since the beginning of the year though, she hasn't eaten more than once a month, and I haven't gotten her to eat anything since April. She still roams her cage, flicks and shows interest while moving, has great muscle tone, and drinks water and passes urates. No obvious signs of RI or any yawning or chewing motions... no saliva/mucous discharges that I can see. She is starting to get a bit skinny though, and I'm not sure if I should be worried yet. I am about to undertake a "starting eliminating the obvious things" type checklist... get her on paper instead of cypress mulch (which I've kept her on for years, shouldn't be an issue, but hey why not). Order new feeders in case mine are starting to go bad (coming up on a year in the freezer since I buy in bulk from RodentPro and she is my only large snake).

My normal course of action is to drop frozen straight into hot water and let them thaw for an hour and a half and throw them in her cage on brown Kraft paper spread out. I've been doing this for years now, it's a routine she recognizes. More recently the last few attempts to feed I've let them "air thaw" and then sat them in front of a space heater for 20 mins or so before putting them in... I've heard that the "dry, warm fuzzy" character might provoke some interest when "wet, warm, drowned rat" isn't getting eaten. I have a 6ft long male Okeetee corn whose food I prepare the same way, and he's been pounding them fine all along.

So... I'm thinking of trying a smaller, new shipment from a different feeder supplier. I've grown increasingly dissatisfied with condition RodentPro's feeders show up in, and I'm wondering if something that's a bit "fresher-smelling" will work. If that doesn't work, what's the next logical step? Rabbits? Guinea pigs? trying live? I've been keeping reptiles a LONG time, but until now have never dealt with a feeding issue. Just looking for some advice.

Unless you see a bona fide husbandry issue above, I'm not sure that highlighting that I don't keep her exactly like you keep yours will be helpful... Shes been doing great, growing, and shedding every 2-3 months for the last decade. Thanks in advance for any help anyone feels led to offer!

Hi Tom, I'm sorry to hear of the feeding issues.
You've had her for 10 years, do you know how old she is?

I've noticed my girl (26 this year) has slowed down in her feeding the last few years. At times, shown no interest for months and then goes right back to her normal mode for a few months (she's fed once every 3-5 weeks, two f/t jumbo rats). This last time she fasted she started getting skinny (not bone skinny but lost weight to the point where it was noticeable) and I started to worry, just as I was getting to the point of thinking a vet visit was in order, bam, she's back on, feeding like normal. I am taking it as a sign of her old age. I wonder if your girl is going through something similar?

I'm rambling. Basically I think have the right idea, get new feeders (year old feeders are too old IMO and should be tossed) and try something a little smaller, a large or XL. I would try that before trying something else (like a guinea) but I would deff. not try live, not at this point. If you have to, you may even try putting some chicken broth on the f/t rat if she's still showing no interest after a few weeks of trying. Boas love chicken.

Good luck with her!

April,

Thanks so much, it's reassuring to hear. I'm not actually sure how old she was when I got her... I've had her ~10 years, and she was a healthy 5-6 long when I got her. Unless she was severely powerfed, I'm guessing she was 4-6 yrs old when I got her? Hard to say... if she was maintenance fed she could potentially be much older, I guess.

I have some new rodents coming from Big Cheese next week, and she just dropped fresh urates today so I'm going to put the worry on hold. If things haven't progressed in another month or two and nothing else has presented, maybe I'll look at rabbits or something. I will probably try the chicken trick first, I'd never heard that before!

Thanks for the guidance... I'll let you know how it goes!

Hey there Tom,

I've had a similar issue with my Ambrosius a few times. Once in a while he would stop eating, without any changes to temperature, humidity, etc. I usually just offer his normal XXL for a couple months, and if he continues to refuse I drop to a large. He always takes the large when offered, and after 6-8 feedings on large I increase to XL for 2-4 feedings and then he'll go back onto his usual XXL.

After they reach a certain age, they generally slow down in feeding. I've noticed that my younger boas will eat pretty much as often as I'll let them and need to be regulated, where my boas over 6-8 years of age prefer not to eat more than every 2-4 weeks and will regulate their own diet pretty well aside from the occasional fasting period.

Not sure how much help this will be. April is a pretty good source for advice in my opinion, and I haven't really added a whole lot to what she said. Just wanted to share similar experiences of mine on the off chance it might help. Best of luck to you and yours.

When my big girl went off feed for a month or so I was told to try mice, surprise surprise she ate. I gave her like 3 mice, 1 every few days, then tossed her a rat and she has been eating again ever since, I switched cages on her though so that's what threw her off. But maybe try some of the biggest adult mice you can find if she hasn't gone back on feed yet.

Happy to report that she finally ate a F/T rat this past week! Seems to have decided to rejoin the real world... thanks for the help!

Great news! Patience paid off

Yes, good news, Tom

Revisiting this thread... for the past year or so she has been consistently eating, but only once every 4-6 weeks, and only one rat at a time. Years ago, I would always drop two in and she'd eat both, but now she seems to be "done" after one prey item... the problem is that she's still outwardly fine, but she is basically skin and bones. I can't get her to eat enough to start putting on weight again... she only eats one prey item at a time, when she does eat. The feeding response is pretty vigorous, that's the other weird thing.

So, do I just let her have her "I only eat one thing" quirk and go out and get some rabbits or something, or is there a way I can combine multiple prey items in a way that won't hurt her? There was a guy on Bob Clark's forums years ago that had a gigantic retic and I remember he would tie prey items together front feet to back legs to get her to eat multiple things at once. Is that safe as long as it's one with a plain cotton string or something? Anyone else have any tips/tricks? The simple fact is I need to get more food into her, and this doesn't seem to be a medical emergency/force feed situation, so I'm looking for creative ideas... thanks all!

I'm limited as to feeder size, and I often feed more than one small prey item at a time when I don't have large ones (note, this is with hand-fed, very tame snakes, so caution if yours is not).

One the first prey item is almost finished but the snake is still actively working its mouth (i.e., when the first mouse or rat's hind legs are just disappearing, but the tail is sticking out) I put the nose of the next animal under the legs of the first, and the snake just keeps on chewing...

Also when I only have small animals I supplement with frozen (thawed) chicken wings. Many boas seem to love chicken, as April says, and either take them eagerly, or I feed them as the first animal goes down as above.

This way they still get all the vitamins etc from the organs of the first animal, but you add more muscle, fat, skin and bone to the meal. Also very convenient because I can buy them at the supermarket as needed.