How to feed a Boa...?

[rattekonigin]

So, as most of you know, I got myself a nice little BCI at the show on Sunday...Now, I tried to feed him on Thursday, but he wasn't interested...he just shed today and I'm going to try to feed him again on Sat. or Sun. He's already on F/T...now, my question is: is there a different technique to feeding a Boa than a Colubrid? Should I dangle the prey or leave him in a box with it? I tried both on Thursday, but now I realize that he probably didn't want to eat because he was in shed...how do you guys feed your Boas?
P.S. He's calmed down immensely, and his shed has revealed some lovely rust colouration on his tail. :)

[zouleous]

Well, when I had a BCI I used to just take him out and put him in a good size cardboard box (so he didn't get used to striking at things going in his cage). Then I would either hold a live mouse by the tail with a pair of tongs or just drop it in there. The only time he wouldn't eat is when he was getting ready to shed. In which case, if he doesn't eat within like 30 minutes I'd take the mouse out and try again the next day or whenever he shed.

Z

[PoiSoNouS]

with all of my boas and pythons, I only have to show them the rat and they strike it and coils around it...
thats it..
Dont forget they have heat sensing pit.. so the rat (or mice) HAS to be warm. Otherwise he wont show any interest in it...

When they are not hungry (usually in shed cycle), they usually never strikes at the prey.
they hide or simply go away.

Hope this helped :)

Congrats for your new little one btw :)

[sophia]

With ours we move them to rubbermaid containers to feed and dangle a warm mouse overy their heads with tongs. Sometimes you have to drag the mouse along their bodies and lay it on their heads then drag it away from them to get their interest up. I have found that the mice warm up nicely if you put them in a basket lined with paper towels and lay them on top of the fridge to thaw for about two to three hours. They're nice and toasty and ready to eat like an MRE instead of meal ready to eat, it's MRE mouse ready to eat!!! LOL

Tay

[Ryan and Katie]

I like to feed mine in their tanks until they get a little more comfortable with feeding in a new place, once they get a bit more established I usually feed them outside of their tank. All of our common boas like their food dangled.

[Linds]

I have a variety of feeders with my boas. Some will only eat once they are crammed into a *tiny* cardboard box, some will only eat in at night in the dark with their cages covered and nobody around, some like it dangled, some like it hot, and some really don't care if its hot, cold, dangled, or dropped. There isn't any differences between feeding boas and colubrids. Boas do have heat pits, and it often helps to make sure your prey is warm, but many arent that fussy and will take a cold meal no sweat.

[J.J.]

When I feed my boa, I just dangle the mouse in front of her, she is a very good eater, and she usually strikes at it, coils up with it, then eats it. So dangling has always worked best for me!

[wetlander]

When I feed my boa, I dngle a rat within 8" of her nose. If she doesn't take it, I leave it in the tank with her for a while. She usually only takes her food in the evening, just after her lights go off

[BIG SCOTT]

I bought a pair of 1.1 Red Tails at a show in houston and they both would not eat right away. I found that dangling the food infront of their mouth and touching the the mouses head to different parts of the snakes body got them interested. I also just kept hittin the snakes mouth with the mouses head and they struck at it.