my boas think they're balls

latazyo · 06-23-04, 12:40 AM

is it normal for boas to be such difficult feeders?

I am trying to feed fuzzy rats and they're definitely not too big for the snake

is this common?

da_illest · 06-23-04, 02:34 AM

i find that boa's pay no interest what so ever to small prey... at least my 3 (baby ones- i have more bigger ones) do.. you should probably be feeding rat pups or small mice... at least a hopper... try it and see what happens...

djc3674 · 06-23-04, 02:52 AM

Quote:

i find that boa's pay no interest what so ever to small prey... at least my 3 do.. you should probably be feeding rat pups or small mice... at least a hopper... try it and see what happens...

With all do respect, this statement is contradictory. Before advising him to feed small prey items, shouldn't we find out how old this boa is and how big it is? He said that a fuzzy rat is definately not to small for the snake, so why feed it a mouse?

If your boa is refusing food, you have to give more details as far as husbandry goes. It may have nothing to do with prey item itself.

latazyo...can you give more specifics...

How long have you had your boa for? How long as it refused to eat? What temps are you keeping it at?

My boas hardly ever refuse to eat. My Hog Island boa will eat even when he is in "blue" and is a psycho for about 30 mins after he eats (lunges at every bit of movement).

da_illest · 06-23-04, 03:15 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by djc3674
With all do respect, this statement is contradictory. Before advising him to feed small prey items, shouldn't we find out how old this boa is and how big it is? He said that a fuzzy rat is definately not to small for the snake, so why feed it a mouse?

If your boa is refusing food, you have to give more details as far as husbandry goes. It may have nothing to do with prey item itself.

latazyo...can you give more specifics...

How long have you had your boa for? How long as it refused to eat? What temps are you keeping it at?

My boas hardly ever refuse to eat. My Hog Island boa will eat even when he is in "blue" and is a psycho for about 30 mins after he eats (lunges at every bit of movement).

in my opinion, boa's should be fed prey a bit larger then their girth.. not extremely large, but bit bigger... my boa's won't take anything the size of their girth and i feed them rodents quite a bit larger then their girth... also, i have a baby boa born not too long ago and it's already on hopper/small mice... i was just giving advice that works for me.. so far i have not had one regurge out of this size... i've had a 4 foot boa regurge but not because the rodent was too big... also, i'd say it's safe to assume that, if in fact a fuzzy is "defenetly" not too big then the snake, that this snake is quite small... i'm gonna guess around 1 1/2 feet... now, what ever works for you, works for you, but i am giving him advice and so long as he doesn't handle the snake for a couple days or until the buldge shrinks down, it won't regurge.. my boa's (i have quite a few) will lunge and ANY prey item that's a decent size but pay no attention to small prey... i must have weird boa's then, you never know... no offense intended but i gave my opinion along with a suggestion and just now explained what brought me to give it...

peace

djc3674 · 06-23-04, 04:07 AM

Okay..no big deal. Maybe you just worded it wrong. He said he gives his boa fuzzy rats....you told him to try rat pups or a mouse. Then say that you don't feed your boa small prey items. I don't know, it sounded confusing. Anyhow, we still don't know anything about his boa or how it is being kept, so until then, it will be hard to guess as to why it isn't eating.

My boas (I have 2) are awesome eaters. Doesn't matter if what it is, if it's running around their enclosure, it gets eaten. My Hog Island is on either the biggest small rats I can find or the smallest medium rats I can find. BUT, if I toss 5 or 6 mice in there, he eats every last one. My 7ft Colombian, he is a freakin pig, he downs 2 jumbo rats and still wants more.

My point is...there has to be a reason this boa is not eating. Most boas are feeding machines. Especially if it is a younger boa, that thing should be eating every 5-7 days.

da_illest · 06-23-04, 05:33 AM

you know what, your may be right.. i just told him my experience with these... also, i believe that any snake, including boa's (specially that young), can stop eating due to stress which can be caused by over handling, bad handling, improper husbandry, etc.. usually, the day of feeding, i don't touch my snakes until they get fed, which then i slowly get them out of their enclosures and into a new one with no substrate to be fed... let's hear how he keeps the boa first and then we'll see what's happening...

latazyo · 06-23-04, 10:17 AM

alright guys, sorry for the incompleteness...here is the background information

purchased: June 11, 2004
length: 24"
weight: 65g
temps: 77cold88warm (I just upped the dimmer)
housing: http://bitz.net/~latazyo/Pics/Herps/rtbcage.JPG
and http://bitz.net/~latazyo/Pics/Herps/rtbcages.JPG
it is a 4x2x18" enclosure that is divided in half for the two babies (one of them I'm babysitting until it's sold)
handling: never, since I bought them I've handled them no more than 3 times
here is a pic for size comparison of boa vs. prey offered

my female boa that is the same size, same housing, etc was blue last night, so I wasn't surprised that she was aggressive and not feeding, but when I tried to feed this guy, he wasn't having it

I even offered him a hopper mouse last night, but no dice

Invictus · 06-23-04, 11:18 AM

Have you tried just leaving it with him overnight? I have a shy boa that won't take prey from tongs. Just because he doesn't strike right away doesn't mean he won't eat it.

latazyo · 06-23-04, 12:01 PM

I tried the first time with some rat pinkies...but they may have been too small?

kitkat · 06-23-04, 05:32 PM

setup looks good, but it seems a bit to large (at this time) for a snake that size..imo. I didn't know they were that little. They look like they can get lost in their own hide boxes. I myself would start a snake that small in like a 10 or 15 gal. With a smaller hide box so that they feel more secure.

Have you only offered dead prey? Sometimes it takes a live hopper mouse to peak their interest. Leave him alone for like 3 or 4 days, then toss in a live fuzzy/hopper mouse (maybe even at night) and see what happens..good luck! Once he settles in and is feeding regularly, then you can switch him to f/t or p/k. Also, like Invictus said, if it's dead prey, just leave it in overnight.

BTW..he is a nice looking boa!

da_illest · 06-23-04, 05:34 PM

hey, nice setups btw... and i think a rat pinkie would defenately not be too small... it's weird how you've tried all this stuff yet your boa won't eat... try leaving that fuzzy in with it in a *small* container where the boa will have no choice but to come in contact with the fuzzy many times thru-out the night... usually works for me...

da_illest · 06-23-04, 05:37 PM

that's a good point, those setups are too big at this point.. if you have a heat pad in there maybe you can put the snakes in small rubbermaids with a water dish until they grow a bit or are at least eating well....

latazyo · 06-23-04, 05:48 PM

alright, each unit is 24x24x18, so I could just put them in totes that are small

and I tried leaving pray in overnight where I blocked both entrances to their hides with prey

those huge grey water dishes have slots in teh bottom, so it's a waterdish and hide all in one, they can hid under the water dish...

edit: the prey I offered last night was live, both the mouse hopper and the fuzzy rats

da_illest · 06-23-04, 05:58 PM

no no, when feeding, put the snake in a small rubbermaid with the prey, something like, 12x6x4 or something... something small like a small sterlite they have at wal-mart...

latazyo · 06-23-04, 06:00 PM

I used to feed all of my animals in feeding containers, maybe I need to do that with these until they're good eaters