• Responding to email notices you receive.
    **************************************************
    In short, DON'T! Email notices are to ONLY alert you of a reply to your private message or your ad on this site. Replying to the email just wastes your time as it goes NOWHERE, and probably pisses off the person you thought you replied to when they think you just ignored them. So instead of complaining to me about your messages not being replied to from this site via email, please READ that email notice that plainly states what you need to do in order to reply to who you are trying to converse with.

  • IMPORTANT! PLEASE READ!! About the Google Adsense ads being displayed

    =====================
    Posted 08/15/2025
    =====================


    Yeah, I know. They are a pain in the butt. But they pay the bills to keep my server running. Just a fact of life, I am afraid.

    Want to get rid of them? Simple. Just become a Contributor level member or above and they will be gone. -> Please click HERE."

    Is that too much for me to ask of you to keep this site running? Well, sorry about that. I too wish I could get everything for free. But alas.....

    =====================
    Addendum: 01/10/2026
    =====================


    Google Adsense ad revenue for December, 2025 was just $30 over the cost of the lease for the server running this site. So, in effect, the money providing the incentive for me to continue running this site is coming SOLELY from the paid memberships and sponsorships here. Which honestly ain't much....

Emerald Tree boa not eating

M

mlsslayla

New member
Joined
Apr 17, 2009
Messages
3
Reaction score
0
Points
0
Location
Nashville,TN
I have a adult CB male Emerald Tree Boa.I have had him now for 2 months and I cant get him to eat.I have tried F/T and Live mice,Finches,and house geckos.It is not losing any weight and it stays alert.I have seen it go to the bottom of the cage and when it does this I throw a mouse in,but it wont eat it.Please help me I feel that it is starving itself.Is here something that could be wrong with it?
 
Mine won't eat until it's been dark for at least an hour. He also only eats live mice from PetCo. I've tried live mice from other places, it doesn't work.

Don't put prey in there when he's on the floor. Parts of him will get eaten. He will hunt from his perch, he will get a particular pose, too, he'll look like he's hunting.

Mine almost never goes to the floor of the cage. Once every blue moon, but that's about it.

I notice that Alicia didn't ask you for the particulars of your setup.

I use an Ecoterra 18 x 18 x 24 with a 50w basking light at one corner. Make sure it's got a basking spot of about 91 degrees (f) and gradients away from that. It's ambient in the day time is about 85 and at night, the whole thing drops to about 75. Humidity is brought to about 80 with a daily misting and is allowed to dry out the rest of the time. If it's particularly dry, he'll get two. Mine has two perches, one about 6" off of the floor about 6" from the front, and one about a foot off the floor set about 6" from the back.

Take a look at how he coils when he's perched. Are the coils nice and tight? Does he look uniform? Loose coils are an indication that he's not comfortable.

Has he ever eaten for you? What was he eating before? What is your setup? Are you certain that it's CB? Who did you get it from?

Two months is about the time I start worrying about mine. ETBs seem to have a slower metabolism than other boa's, though. If he's round and not triangular yet, he's still ok.

I leave live mice in my guy's enclosure overnight all of the time, but mine never hits the floor. If your's spends a lot of time on the floor, don't do this.
 
If the snake had good body weight to begin with, I wouldn't be that worried even at 2 months. I may be concerned about why he's not eating, but not about starving. I certainly wouldn't be trying finches and geckos at this point. I also didn't see you mention small rats.

Others have posted some good ideas, don't feed til after dark. It's not that uncommon for them to go to ground, it happens more than you think. It also could be in breeding mode which would cause it to go off feed. Sometimes they are also in a shed cycle if you see them on the ground. Up the humidity.

Lastly, if it's an adult and CB (captive born, or captive bred, there is a difference), who had it before you. Sounds like maybe you need to ask what it was eating before it came to you.
 
emerald are really picky u should know that lol but try raising the humidity or temp/ maybe its not high enough the ground n is stressed wat i did was put a perch on a 10gal tank long side up n throw in a rat n left it really dark n he ate it
 
Since my husband got back from the army he is doing great.My husband knows alot more then me about snakes but the ETb is eating great now and I havent had a problem since.Thank you for all your help.
 
Back
Top