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My Dumeril Boa

P

poison2003

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Hey i have a make dumeril ground boa and his about 1 and a half years old and his about 20-21" is that normal for him to be that way
When i got him he wouldnt eat for about 2-3 month but now his eating every week but doesnt like anything big still likes pinkies and small fuzzies

So what do you think?

Ill post some pics of my snake once i get some access to a nice camera
 
poison2003 said:
Hey i have a make dumeril ground boa and his about 1 and a half years old and his about 20-21" is that normal for him to be that way
Click to expand...
Is it normal for him to be what way?
poison2003 said:
When i got him he wouldnt eat for about 2-3 month but now his eating every week but doesnt like anything big still likes pinkies and small fuzzies

So what do you think?
Click to expand...
Again - what do we think about what? That he didn't eat for a few months when you first got him? That you are feeding him pinkies and/or small fuzzies? That he is slightly under 2ft long?

As much as you are probably sure you are doing everything right, please describe how you are housing him - including type of enclosure, heat source provided, temperatures (warm/cool, day/night, high/low) and how they are measured, substrate, method of offering prey, type of prey (live, p/k, f/t, mice, rats, chicks) etc.

I'm hoping, but somewhat doubting you are referring to rats in your above comment about his feeding preference...because pinky/small fuzzy mice are next to nothing for even a newborn dumerils. Don't get me wrong - I understand about problem feeders, and about giving them whatever it takes to get them to feed.

How is his body weight? Is he getting thin? Or does he take those small prey items in quantity?
 
Usualy he eats around 2-3 live mice fuzzies each week (its usualy the ones which arent very active) when i tried giving him an active fuzzy he just used to strike at it withought trying to eat it
He now lives in a big container since he started eating from like may? or so
But i had him in a small box when he was stressed when i got him
I use a heating pad and i try to keep humidity around 60-70

Im not sure how much he weighs because i dont have any way to measure him
 
Unfortunately, by not answering the questions asked, you make it difficult to help you.
 
What kind of substrate are you using? (ie Paper, mulch, nothing, etc.)
What kind of enclosure are you using? (a little more than "container" please)
What do you use for heat? (you said heating pad. For HUMANS, or reptiles?)


Harald could probably help you a lot more if you gave SPECIFICS. He knows quite a bit. :yesnod:


IMO, you are not feeding it a large enough prey item based on your statements. That Boa should probably be eating weaned rat pups already, if not the next step above that. Boa seem to do better on rats than mice anyway. Ditch the mice and replace with rats is my suggestion.


Rick
 
What kind of substrate are you using? (ie Paper, mulch, nothing, etc.)
Im using T-Rex Coconut Bark Reptile Substrate

What kind of enclosure are you using? (a little more than "container" please)
length = 36" by 18"
Height = 16"
What do you use for heat? (you said heating pad. For HUMANS, or reptiles?)

Heating pad for reptiles i got it from my friend so im not sure the brand he used to have a 6 foot long ball python
 
hhmoore said:
As much as you are probably sure you are doing everything right, please describe how you are housing him - including type of enclosure, heat source provided, temperatures (warm/cool, day/night, high/low) and how they are measured, substrate, method of offering prey, type of prey (live, p/k, f/t, mice, rats, chicks) etc.

I'm hoping, but somewhat doubting you are referring to rats in your above comment about his feeding preference...because pinky/small fuzzy mice are next to nothing for even a newborn dumerils. Don't get me wrong - I understand about problem feeders, and about giving them whatever it takes to get them to feed.

How is his body weight? Is he getting thin? Or does he take those small prey items in quantity
Click to expand...
Since you made at least a token effort to answer questions (even if they were not the ones I asked), I decided to give this one more shot...in addition to the original questions which I quoted above (don't bother repeating the responses to the few you covered), I'll throw in a few more and clarify a few of the originals.
Clarification items:
- type of enclosure: Is it a tank? glass, acrylic, or otherwise? Is it a plastic storage container? Is it transparent, or opaque? Wood cage? something else?
- the temperature questions were pretty specific, no need to clarify. If you can't answer them, you aren't prepared to fix the problems...
- body weight: you don't need to be able to weigh him to tell if he is looking thin...
- food: have you offered him anything other than live mouse fuzzies? what specifically have you tried, and how?

and now for a few new things.
How long have you had it?
What was it eating before you got it (if you don't know, shouldn't you have tried to find out by now?)
How are you controlling the heat pad? Is it stuck to the container (did you get the container/pad from your friend as a unit)? How big is it in comparison to the container?
 
hhmoore said:
Since you made at least a token effort to answer questions (even if they were not the ones I asked), I decided to give this one more shot...in addition to the original questions which I quoted above (don't bother repeating the responses to the few you covered), I'll throw in a few more and clarify a few of the originals.
Clarification items:
- type of enclosure: Is it a tank? glass, acrylic, or otherwise? Is it a plastic storage container? Is it transparent, or opaque? Wood cage? something else?
- the temperature questions were pretty specific, no need to clarify. If you can't answer them, you aren't prepared to fix the problems...
- body weight: you don't need to be able to weigh him to tell if he is looking thin...
- food: have you offered him anything other than live mouse fuzzies? what specifically have you tried, and how?

and now for a few new things.
How long have you had it?
What was it eating before you got it (if you don't know, shouldn't you have tried to find out by now?)
How are you controlling the heat pad? Is it stuck to the container (did you get the container/pad from your friend as a unit)? How big is it in comparison to the container?
Click to expand...


Type of enclosure- Its a glass tank
Temperature is - 77F-78F
Body Weight - He looks just like i got him just abit longer his thickest part is about 7cm around
I dont think his looking thin if you ask me but this is my first snake i got it from an adoption agency (they did tell me that he was underfed when they got him and now he was fine)
I offered him unfrozen pinkies when i just got him but he wouldnt eat them and then after a month or 2 he ate a live rat pinkie and after that he continued eating every week i fed him 2-3 small mice pinkies
Now i feed him out of the cage in a bucket once a week
I got him last christmas so abit more then half a year

He was eating:
Winter- 2 pinkies or 2 fuzzies
summer 2 rat pups or 2 fuzzies large

Im not controlling the heating pad its just staying in the corner with the water on top of it and yeah i got it all together from a friend
Its about 1/4th of the container

Hope that helps
 
Its a start, anyway. I suspected from the start that temperatures were probably an issue...which was why I asked you to report them completely (warm/cool, day/night, high/low, and how they are measured). 77-78 doesn't really offer much insight without the other info. (as a cool side, or overnight temp, that is acceptable....but what is the temp over the heat pad? what is the highest/lowest the temperature gets.
A "reptile heating pad" on a glass tank is really going to do little but warm the bottom of the tank where it is attached. Typically, they are too hot to be comfortable for snakes, BUT they can be rendered effectively useless if the particulate substrate is too deep. You really need to get a surface temp reading over the UTH.

As I mentioned before, I never bother with mouse pinks for even newborn dumerils. Each year that I breed them, I get one or two that start out on f/t right away...the rest need the stimulation of live (and believe me, I have tried holding out for them to take f/t, lol). Usually, once they get 4-5 meals in them, they switch over without a problem. Typically, I start out with small, hopper sized mice (when available) for the first meals, then switch to small adults fairly quickly.
 
hhmoore said:
Its a start, anyway. I suspected from the start that temperatures were probably an issue...which was why I asked you to report them completely (warm/cool, day/night, high/low, and how they are measured). 77-78 doesn't really offer much insight without the other info. (as a cool side, or overnight temp, that is acceptable....but what is the temp over the heat pad? what is the highest/lowest the temperature gets.
A "reptile heating pad" on a glass tank is really going to do little but warm the bottom of the tank where it is attached. Typically, they are too hot to be comfortable for snakes, BUT they can be rendered effectively useless if the particulate substrate is too deep. You really need to get a surface temp reading over the UTH.

As I mentioned before, I never bother with mouse pinks for even newborn dumerils. Each year that I breed them, I get one or two that start out on f/t right away...the rest need the stimulation of live (and believe me, I have tried holding out for them to take f/t, lol). Usually, once they get 4-5 meals in them, they switch over without a problem. Typically, I start out with small, hopper sized mice (when available) for the first meals, then switch to small adults fairly quickly.
Click to expand...

On top of the heating pad which is under the substrate the temperature is 85.8F
I havent controlled the temp over day and night so its always the same just about unless the house temp drops
What is the UTH? btw
Would it be better if i used a lamp? or what could i do?
 
poison2003 said:
Now i feed him out of the cage in a bucket once a week
I got him last christmas so abit more then half a year
Click to expand...

Wanted to say, I don't believe in this, as it places undue stress upon the animal, right at feeding time, when their body is already changing biologically from feeding. Just My opinion.

I use paper as substrate, I feed in the cage ALWAYS, and they never misunderstand why I'm reaching in there.
 
crotalusadamanteus said:
Wanted to say, I don't believe in this, as it places undue stress upon the animal, right at feeding time, when their body is already changing biologically from feeding. Just My opinion.

I use paper as substrate, I feed in the cage ALWAYS, and they never misunderstand why I'm reaching in there.
Click to expand...

True but my substrate is quite big so it might choke on it
 
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