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Dumeril's Boa Help

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vicskim71

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I am somewhat new to having snakes. I have had my Red Tail Boa for almost a year now. No problems whatsoever. I loved having my boa, so I decided to get another. I bought a Dumeril's Boa back in December from a local pet store. I'm not sure how old, but it's about 2 foot long. Since December, he has only eaten twice. Is that normal? And every time I have him out, he acts normal at first, then starts to get jumpy whenever I touch him and moves real fast. Also, he poops white whenever I am holding him. It's been going on since I purchased the snake and am not sure what to do.
 
I hope that more experienced people will come on and give you advice, especially about the feeding, as I have never lept a Dumerils and don't know much about their growth rate.

Why don't you post some details about the temperature and humidity in his tank, and what kind of tank size and hides are in there. Sometimes Boas stress because they aren't comfortable in their environments. Also what type of food are you offering him? he may not take food animals that are too large (or too small). The more information you can give, the better a response you're likely to get. Photos help too, so people can judge his condition.

From my own limited experience, some snakes do only eat once a month, others more often. Male boas can go off food if there is a fertile female around. My snakes go off food when the weather gets colder. Many snakes don't need to eat very often, and you don't need to worry unless they seem to be losing weight.

I had a small boa who always shed urates on me (the "white poo") and then shook and gripped me very hard when he was first handled - but he'd just come from being the pet of a small boy who had maybe over handled him. Your new guy might settle down if you give him a few small hides to choose from in his tank and maybe only handle him for short periods and not too often for a while until he gets used to his new home. It might just be that you are "over-loving" him, and he needs more time to adjust.
 
Dumeril's are VERY reclusive snakes. They do not tolerate constant handling and will show you they don't like it by refusing food consistently.

Can you post a picture of your set up? If you do not have a suitable substrate for them (something they can burrow in) and plenty of hides, they will go off feed.

Try to be as hands off as possible. Get your Dumeril's eating 3-4 times in a row and then slowly start handling, 5 minutes a day, once or twice a week. Never handle at least two days post feeding.

If he is defecating on you, it's either the exercise is stimulating his bowels to release, or he's trying to threaten you.
 
A description of the set up, and your feeding attempts, would help sort things out; and I agree with Rachel about handling. Keep it to a minimum until the snake is feeding regularly.
Many of the dumerils I produced over the years were somewhat prey specific when they were young - they would take either rats or mice...give one the wrong item, and it wouldn't eat. More often than not, they wanted live at first, too. Probably fewer than 25% started on f/t for me. Best approach - make sure your temps are correct, use about an inch of aspen for substrate, let it sit for a week without disturbing it, and drop in a live mouse.
 
The temperature is about 82 to 84 throughout the day. I have him in a 30 gallon tank with a log hide and about two inches of aspen mixed with reptile mulch. The humidity is about 60 to 70%. The times he ate, I put a f/t mouse in with him over night and he would eat. I tried a live mouse but he acted scared of it or just irritated with the mouse. I'll post pictures as soon as I can of the set up.
 
vicskim71 said:
The temperature is about 82 to 84 throughout the day.
Click to expand...
Where is that temperature being taken? Is there a heat source for the tank? If so, what is it; and how is it controlled? Is the temperature different at night?
 
The source is under a heat lamp with a 60 watt bulb. The temperature is being taken under the light. The temperature on the cool side is about 76 to 78. At night the temperature is about 76 to 78 throughout. And there is a heating pad under the tank that is always on. The light is being controlled by a timer. It's for twelve hours on and twelve off. I've noticed at night he is pretty active.
 
That tank, in my opinion, is too big. They need more cramped quarters. I've noticed that once my female got to about 4 feet I was able to put her in a larger enclosure. I had her in a roughly 18"longx6"widex6"tall bin for the first couple years of her life and she ate flawlessly.

Mine would not eat when she was in a glass tank. I think the glass being see through made her feel insecure so I changed over to a dark plastic bin that was really tight fitting for her.
 
also, no bright lights on them. Just stick with the heat pad. They're nocturnal and naturally are found buried under leaf litter with their noses sticking out.. they are great ambush predators ;)
 
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