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Feeding question...

mxracer4life

mxracer4life

"Daniel Boone"
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I have an 06 Pastel female that hasn't eaten in about 3 months. She is small for her age, only being a little over 5ft long and is roughly about 4 years old. She came from a very reputable person here online that never had a problem feeding her. She ate for me the first 2 weeks, then has stopped since. She has kept good muscle tone, every once and awhile I get her out for exercise and she has good movement, curious, flicking the tongue. She has no issues shedding, always a full shed, which tells me her humidity is right, which I keep at a min. of 60, but spray all my boas down when they go into shed. Her temps are at 90-92 at the basking site, 78-80 on the cool side. I have tried live, f/t, fresh killed, I have tired white rats, brown ones, black ones, you name it. She has been to the vet here recently, no signs of parasites, no mites of course, no RI, no mouth issues. I noticed last night she is starting to get folds of skin when her body bends, meaning her skin is a little loose, but she did just start a shed in the last couple of days. She had been kept in a tub, now I have her in a custom built cage. She has a hide, always has fresh water, her cage is cleaned weekly. I have tried switching her to a tub, thinking maybe she was more comfortable there, still nothing. I have been keeping boas for over 10 years now, I have only had a couple do this to me. I know once a female becomes gravid or is in the mood they can go off feed, but I usually see that more in the fall to early winter. She had been placed with a male about 4 months ago, but no action was seen. She is not gravid byt the way. I have rambled on here, let me get to the point. Am I missing something here? Is all the information I have given enough for someone to see maybe I AM doing something wrong with this girl. I basically treat her the same as all my other adult boas.
 
kind of similar??

I recently purchased an 07 albino female from a friend. He had the snake in a tub for most of its life. He put it in a 4' boaphile cage after it got bigger and she stopped eating. I got her shortly after that and he did tell me she stopped eating and if it continued i could bring her back. I brought her home and put her in my cages. She would still not eat, i raise my own rats and tried a variety of colors and nothing, i tried putting a hide box in the cage, and still she would not eat. I put her in one of my tubs and she would not eat. My friend took her back after 6 weeks, and put her back in her old tub and she immediately ate. He then put her in the boaphile again about a week later with a hide and she ate again and is still doing so to this day. When i handled her at his house, she was the calmest snake, but once i got her home, everytime i wanted to get her out she would strike at me. The only thing we could think of is security issues:shrug01:

Bill Bratton
 
Wow! I have always believed that snakes had feelings, emotions and personality's, to an extent, but never thought of that possible being the cause of her not eating. He did raise her from a baby. What should I do then? I have tried EVERYTHING! lol. The only thing I haven't tried is force feeding, but I hate doing that, especially on a big boa.
 
Do you have a picture of the previous owner, maybe you could put it in her cage:rofl::rofl::rofl: Sorry i couldn't help myself on that one. All jokes aside i don't know what you can do:confused:, if you've already taken her to the vet and they tested and all tests come up clean. I wish i could be of more help:yesnod: Good luck with her and keep us updated.

Bill Bratton
 
This is pretty basic and I'm sure you tried it, but, how warm was the animal. If your doing frozen thawed, make sure the rat is dipped in warm, hot and real hot. See if she'll accept based on a different animal temp. As far as force feeding, one approach that will often work, is to put just the tip of the rats head in her mouth, barely forcing it in, hold the boa steady, once she appears to be steady, slowly let go and back out of the room, no movement. Leave her alone for a bit. The trick there is to make sure your out of the room and before you leave, the rat needs to still be in her mouth, just a little. Just pry her mouth open enough to get the rat hung on a tooth or two.
 
As far as urates she goes just as frequently as my other boas, as far as poo its been longer than I can remember.

I have tried placing a rat in her mouth and then placing her in her cage or in a tub, she always lets go. I have never tried just hooking the rat on a tooth or two, I will try that. I have left her overnight in a tub etc etc etc. I have tried the different temp rats, I have gotten them hot enough to where they have that cooked smell and also when they are just at or below room temp. I don't try to feed her every night. I try once, maybe twice a week as I don't want to stress her out. She does allow handling, never bit, but she does get irritated quickly.
 
Here are 2 updated pictures of her.
 

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Beautiful snake. Doesn't appear that her bellybutton is getting ready to touch her backbone that's for sure. I could be way off on this, could it be she is constipated/clogged. Would soaking in the tub possibly help. I've noticed plenty of mine going after i let them swim.
 
I have never soaked her, but there is another thought, I didn't think of that and the vet never asked.

I thaw mine in a big tub of warm water, once they are thawed I throw em in some hot water to get there temp up. Never nuke em though.
 
Soaking is best, just checking. Might want to know if the prior owner did something different. Soaking is a good idea too. Good luck. You may just try a small live chicken, can't hurt. Get her kick started on something.
 
I bought her from Gerry at ssscales.com

He told me all he had to do was give her a rat and she took it. He kept her in a tub, which I don't do that, but I have tried.
 
Try thawing the rats in a zip lock bag. When the bags leak and the rats get wet some of my boas won't eat the wet rat or they are very hesitant. I have heard people say the water takes away allot of the smell of the rats. It can't hurt to try. Good luck
 
I will try that too.... It looks like tonight I will be thawing rats with a zip lock bag while she soaks in a luke warm tub, lol.
 
When I sent Fitz to my brother's house (tub & all) to get him away from the female's scent and eating again he flipped out and got evil as all get out. He had to keep Fitz's tub completely covered because he was bashing his face into the sides non stop. In five months there he only ate twice.

I have him back and his attitude went back to normal right away, seriously a few tongue flicks when I picked up the tub & he hasn't struck again yet. He just ate fine for me too.

Also, I got him as an adult who had been kept in an enclosed rack system. It took him a long time to get used to my open ones. He does better in a rack system vs. a cage so that's where I have him. I'd love to have him in a nice cage, especially since he's so pretty, but it's about him thriving.

If she doesn't eat this time pick the tub or the rack and leave her there, it takes a few months for them to settle from a change. The older they are the harder change seems to be for them. Are you using the same bedding as the seller was?
 
I use aspen or newspaper. I am getting ready to switch back over to just newspaper with aspen sprinkled on top for humidity and such.
 
I would have to say stop bothering her and let her settle in, if you are always touching and looking in on her she may not feel secure. She looks good in the pic just give it time 3 months is a drop in the hat i have had them go off for 8 months then start eating like champs. make sure temps and humidity are fine and if you mist only mist once a day so you are not continually bothering her. good luck.
 
Have you tried leaving the thawed rat in with her over night? I've found that to work on a few problem children. Just place some news print down on the warm side, and place the prey on top of it, then leave her till morning. You could try blacking out her cage for a week or so too. I've had that work in the past.

Also, avoid the combination of activities. ie, you mentioned thawing rats while she soaks. Soak her and feed her another day, or try and feed her and soak her another day.

Like Craig said, 3 months is only a long time in our eyes. I've had snakes go off feed for a much longer time then that, just to start eating again like there never was a problem.

Good luck!
 
I wasn't planning on actually soaking her AND feeding her at the same time, I didn't mean it to sound like that. If you read down further in the thread, I have explained to the finest detail how I approach her about this. I only attempt to feed her maybe once a week, but sometimes I give her 2 weeks. She had 2 weeks to settle in when I first got her, then she ate for me 2 weeks in a row. I am going to soak her tonight, then I am going to completely black out her cage, in 1-2 weeks I will attempt a feeding.
 
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