Rainbow Boa Feeding Help

Hello there!
I have a Brazilian Rainbow Boa that I have had for about two months now (she's probably around 4 months old). I got her as a baby and she's the sweetest little thing. She has never tried to nip or bite at me since I got her. She's happy sitting on my lap, hiding in my shirt while I watch TV or hang out.

She is starting to worry me the past couple weeks though. She has not eaten in over 3 weeks. After I brought her home she fed a few times on live fuzzes, but they would stay in the terrarium with her for a day before she ate them. She seemed very timid to eat, but she was feeding. She has shed since her last feeding (almost 3 weeks ago) but will not eat anymore. Since she would not eat very quickly I thought maybe I would try PK or F/T. I did not want her to get use to live if they had to stay in the tank with her for a day so they would not bite her. At any rate, as I said I tried PK, F/T, then resulted to live again, but nothing will get her to eat. She is getting very skinny and making me nervous.

I brought her to a local reputable reptile store in my area and they agreed she was looking very thin. They tried to force feed her a pinkie, which she spit out after bringing her home and letting her rest in her tank. She did soak in her water bowl for a bit and afterward there was an odd looking "plug"? in the water. I don't know how to explain it, but it did not look like feces, it was almost clear but cylindrical and about 1.5 inches long. I'm not sure if that was stuck in her intestines and possibly that is the reason she would not eat?

The store said it's not uncommon for a BRB to be picky and not feed often. The guy that helped me has about 7 BRB's and breeds them so I have some confidence he knows what's up. She's thin enough now I can see her skin hanging when she is moving around.

Does anyone have any advise on what I could do to help her feed? Her tank is kept between 80-90 degrees and at about 60% humidity.

Any and all help is much appreciated!

Thanks!

Steve, welcome to the forums, and congrats on an excellent choice of snake.

The problem is your temps -- you are keeping her *far* too warm. This species does best at a gradient of 72F low end to 82F warm end. Your humidity is also off, in this case too low -- baby rainbows need 90%+ humidity to thrive. Of the two, however, the temps are the more pressing concern, as anything over 85F can kill these snakes. Drop them immediately.

Fixing a rainbow that has regurgitated can be tough, even for a breeder. Some key tips:

Normally, I would say do not feed her again right away. A regurg is very tough on a rainbow's system, especially a baby. Typically you want to wait two weeks and offer a meal half the size of normal. In this case, however, given her weight loss, I would consult an experienced keeper or a vet about a possible tube feeding just to get some liquid, nutrients, and meds in her. Keep the portion very small. Do not move her afterwards if you can avoid it. If she keeps this down, repeat it in a week, again a very small portion. If that goes well too, we can revisit at that point.

We will keep our fingers crossed for you and her!

Thank You for the update! I started her off with those conditions when I got her, the a breeder of some BRB's recommended a bit higher temp's with less humidity. I cut off the heat bulb and the temps at around 78 now. I did run my mister a bit longer than normal and the humidity is up to around 82%. She did take a long soak in her water bowl and is acting better. I hope she will eat very soon.

Thank You!

Well done. Fingers crossed for you and her.

She ate last night! Still sooner than I would like, but so much better. Thanks a bunch!


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You are very welcome. Here's hoping for a full recovery! FYI, DO NOT offer food again for some time. Regurgs are very difficult to treat if they repeat. I would wait 14 days.