Dumeril stopped eating

[djtkach]

We have a 16 month old female Dumeril's Boa, who has been a good eater on F/T rats since we bought her (spring/13). She graduated from weaned to small rats in Sep and stayed at one a week until Nov 16th, which was the last time she ate. She last shed about Nov 10, and is not showing signs of shed currently. She is very active, and is behaving consistently with before, maybe spending a bit less time in her hide than usual but otherwise about the same. Temps and humidity in the enclosure are consistent with the rest of the year.

I continue to offer food once a week with no luck. I've tried putting nose-to-nose, dangling (she never has taken to this - fear strikes then ignores), reheating the head of the rat, putting her in a hide with the rat, covering her tank with a blanket, feeding in the back of the enclosure for privacy, etc., with no luck.

Two questions:
1) How long can she go without eating before I should start to worry about her health?
2) Any other tricks to try with a stubborn dum?

Thanks!

[Cruddown]

I'm still pretty new, but when I was researching my Dumeril's, a lot of people said that some snakes can go off feeding during the winter months. As long as the snake doesn't lose much weight, she should be fine.

A common piece of advice was to leave the snake alone for a week and try again, much like when the snake is getting used to its enclosure. Make sure to keep any disturbances to a minimum, and make sure the snake isn't in a high-traffic area. Even vibrations can bother a stressed snake.

Some people recommend braining the rat to arouse the snake's appetite. Some people also recommend switching back to live rats to get the feeding response kick started back into gear. Just take the precautions when feeding live rats. Some people (mostly UK) suggested trying chicks or quail. Those run the risk of the snake becoming accustomed to those items, and birds aren't as nutritious as rats.

I hope this helps. I researched this to no end when I couldn't get my Dumeril's to eat. Turns out, she didn't like mice. She's a pig when it comes to rats. I'm hoping she keeps up the habit.

[kwhitlock]

As long as the snake isnt losing a lot of weight, it not a big deal. There was a thread a while ago from one of the members on here had his python or boa go off feed for a year and a half and the snake was healthy jsut refused to eat and lost a lot of weight. It eventually picked back up recently I believe. Obviously this isnt ideal, but snakes can go a long time without eating. It being winter might have a reason why, I would stick with it and wait her out.