Baby dumerils boa hant eaten [Archive] - sSNAKESs : Reptile Forum

Dozer187

12-08-16, 08:57 AM

I got a baby(3 months old) from repticon in raligh on nov 19th, got her all set up and left her alone for the first week. I was told by the guy i purchased her from that she was feeding on live hopper mice. Tried feeding her on sunday and she showed no interest, temps and humidity are good and she has a couple inches of substrate to burrow in. Shes been very active and is eager to be handled as every time i go to changer her water she crawls on my hand, she hasnt pooped yet from what i can tell. Any help would be appreciated

Andy_G

12-08-16, 10:39 AM

Need specific temps and humidity. How large is her enclosure? What kind of substrate? Are you feeding inside the enclosure? How many times have you tried to feed?

Rule #1 for new snakes - hands off until they eat a few times. Completely stop handling until it's eating. That's all I can suggest for now.

PatrickV

12-08-16, 04:40 PM

from my own experience with a new baby i had gotten and who wouldnt eat: i suggest making sure that you give her a hide that is very small, like just large enough for her to fit into it so that she feels tight and secure when shes inside it. i noticed that this hepled with the feeding because she would hide inside of the new tight hide i gave her and she would stay there for days. this makes them feel more secure and less stressed. after a while of letting her get used to it, i would wait until i knew she was hiding inside of it, and then i would leave the food right in front of the door of the hide and she would stick her head out and grab it when she felt ready. this makes them less stressed, and its a good way to make sure she see's the food, and its less threatening than dangling food in front of them when their that young.

Dozer187

12-08-16, 06:26 PM

Temps are about 90 in the hot spot 80 on cool side she goes back and forth once in a while to regulate, substrate is eco earth which she burrows in readily. Humidity is usually around 50 to 55. She has 2 hides one smaller one bigger and shes in a zilla 30br, and she uses every inch of it with how active she is. I dont take her out she just tries to climb on my hands every time i changer her water. And i tried to feed her twice so far

bigsnakegirl785

12-09-16, 12:55 AM

A 3 month old Dum is going to need a lot more than just 2 hides in a 30 gallon breeder, I suggest adding more cover and see how that helps. I have my 27"-28" BCI in a 66 qt tub and he has 6 hides and a big vine for cover, started out with 4-5 hides and the vine and he was defensive. Added one or two hides and he settled right down (took one away now that he's grown some), so babies should have plenty of cover.

How are you providing the heat, and how are you measuring it?

Dozer187

12-09-16, 05:17 AM

trailblazer295

12-09-16, 08:00 PM

What does she do when you offer the food? Do you know when she was last fed? You mentioned you have tried twice. How often are you offering? Some snakes take longer to settle in then others, with some the constant on the move is because they are trying to escape due to stress.

Where is her cage? High traffic area? Pets?

bigsnakegirl785

12-09-16, 11:10 PM

I originally had more hides in there, she wasnt using them she only uses the 2 she has now, even then she doesnt use them alot she spends a lot of time exploring. Heat atm is a basking lamp setup and a uth i have a digital therm on both sides of the tank and i also have a digital gun style therm and a digital probe style that i use for checking in substrate temps since she likea to burrow, shes also not my first snake or durm for that matter just the first ive had trouble with feeding.

I would put them back in, if she's not using them and is constantly on the move outside of nighttime she's probably stressed.

Exploration behavior is ok, but only if it isn't constant and is restricted to species-appropriate times.

It's possible the heat lamp is causing problems if it's on 24/7 (visible light on at night can stress some snakes out) and/or if it isn't on a dimmer or thermostat to control the temps.

Is the UTH at least on a thermostat, and are you measuring the UTH's temps on the glass UNDER the bedding to set the thermostat (if you have one)?

Dozer187

12-10-16, 02:32 AM

Shes active at night, daytime shes usually hiding, ligjt setup is a dual bulb on timers on day and one night, night being a lower wattage, uth is on a thermostat and yes i probed temps under the substrate not at the surface for it, she uses the hides on either end i still have a jungle gym style branch/hide setup in the middle that she never uses

Dozer187

01-14-17, 03:13 PM

so im still not having any luck getting the girl to eat, she shows zero interest in food, even with assist feeding she wont take it

bigsnakegirl785

01-14-17, 09:29 PM

Have you added more cover: put the hides you took back out and tried adding more hides and/or some fake plants? Do you have photos of the set up? Have you been handling her at all?

I know in the OP you mentioned handling but have you since ceased handling? You really should not handle a new arrival *whatsoever* until it has eaten at least 1-2 meals for you. If you need to remove the snake to work in the enclosure, put it in a holding container and straight back in when you're done. With the snake having not eaten for you yet, I would wait for 3-4 meals in a row with no refusals.

Just because the snake seems to "like" being handled doesn't mean it does, people tend to misread their snakes a lot and they naturally hide any and all signs of stress as best as possible.

Dozer187

01-14-17, 09:49 PM

she has about 9 different actual hides to choose from, and the only handling shes had is the assist feed attempt which after the 4th time of her spitting it out i left her alone again. the only disturbances to her is when i change the water other wise her cage is covered and in the corner of my room, which is basically a zero traffic room, temps are consistent humidity is consistent. its been like 2 months now since she was fed before i picked her up, she hasnt thinned out at all though and readily drinks water so i just dont know at this point what to do with her

Dozer187

01-15-17, 02:52 AM

Do you think its possible the red night light is screwing with her? I have a ceramic heat emitter coming but wont be here till tuesday, i know the red never bothered my other snakes but she could be the exception

bigsnakegirl785

01-15-17, 04:06 AM

It's possible, I've experienced problems when using IR bulbs with my boa constrictor. I had a lamp with the bulb sitting next to his (then) new 6' enclosure in hopes to use it to watch him at night. It didn't bother my ball python (who had grown up with red lights), but the boa spent 5 days straight in his water dish without ever leaving it. I'd take him out once a day, dry him off, and put him back in. I would also fluff up his bedding to remove any tracks and there would be no tracks in his bedding after he went back into his water dish. The very same night I shut the red light off, he left his water dish. Now he only soaks if I fall behind on humidity, which isn't often.

There are a few questions you're leaving unanswered in this thread, though, so it will be difficult to fully provide advice.

Dozer187

01-15-17, 01:23 PM

What did i miss? I was half asleep when i responded last lol

bigsnakegirl785

01-15-17, 10:11 PM

What did i miss? I was half asleep when i responded last lol

Trailblazer asked how she acted when you try to feed her, and whether or not you have pets in the house.

Some photos would help, I know you said there's 9 hides now, but the photos would help us to see if anything is off that you may not think of or that we don't know to ask.

Could you also do a side by size comparison of the snake and the prey you're trying to feed her? The only other thing I can think of would be to drop down or go up a size in prey, but hard to tell without knowing how big she is. Or if you don't think that will be feasible, weigh her and the prey item.

Dozer187

01-15-17, 10:56 PM

Trailblazer asked how she acted when you try to feed her, and whether or not you have pets in the house.

Some photos would help, I know you said there's 9 hides now, but the photos would help us to see if anything is off that you may not think of or that we don't know to ask.

Could you also do a side by size comparison of the snake and the prey you're trying to feed her? The only other thing I can think of would be to drop down or go up a size in prey, but hard to tell without knowing how big she is. Or if you don't think that will be feasible, weigh her and the prey item.

oh i must have missed that post, when i tried feeding her directly from the tongs she would smell it then just try to climb the tongs, when i left a f/t at the opening of the hide she was in she just ignored it completely, ive tried numerous prey items ranging from fuzzy mice to rat pups, ideal prey size for her is hopper mice(did a side by side and thats what she was being fed b4 i got her). pics arent an option as my camera is broken on my phone and i dont think i even own a regular camera anymore, i have the sides and rear of her cage wrapped in the fishtank type backround and a towel over most of the top and front to help keep humidity where it should be as its really dry in my house this time of year. substrate is eco earth which she readily burrows in. ive tried feeding live too and she ignores em completely.

bigsnakegirl785

01-16-17, 01:39 AM

oh i must have missed that post, when i tried feeding her directly from the tongs she would smell it then just try to climb the tongs, when i left a f/t at the opening of the hide she was in she just ignored it completely, ive tried numerous prey items ranging from fuzzy mice to rat pups, ideal prey size for her is hopper mice(did a side by side and thats what she was being fed b4 i got her). pics arent an option as my camera is broken on my phone and i dont think i even own a regular camera anymore, i have the sides and rear of her cage wrapped in the fishtank type backround and a towel over most of the top and front to help keep humidity where it should be as its really dry in my house this time of year. substrate is eco earth which she readily burrows in. ive tried feeding live too and she ignores em completely.

Huh. If she's ever pooped for you, how did it look? If you're 100% sure your monitoring equipment is reading temps/humidity correctly really all you can do is wait her out, or take her to the vet and get fecal and other tests done.

Dozer187

01-16-17, 01:42 PM

I havent seen any poop, im probably gona transfer her to a tub for a little bit and give her some fresh substrate so ill know for sure if she pooped when i pull the substrate out incase she went while she was burrowed.

sattva

01-17-17, 11:13 AM

Dozer187

01-23-17, 06:00 PM

You might want to try the paper bag trick! I had a baby Jungle carpet python that would not eat... So the breeder I got him from, told me to put him in a small paper bag with his meal and stable the bag shut... I used a chip clip... Put the bag in his enclosure, make sure it's pitch black... I put a blanket over his enclosure to cut out all light... This worked like a charm and from that point on he would take it off the tongs...

tried the paperbag trick the other night, didnt work, she spent all night trying to get out of the bag, ignored the food completely. i really dont know what to do at this point, she acts normal for a dumerils aside from the not eating part.

sattva

01-23-17, 11:36 PM

Well I'm not sure what to tell you here... They say they will eat, when she gets hungry enough... I'd hate to see you go to assist feeding {which you can learn from Youtube}... But that should be a last resort option... You know as long as she is not losing weight she should be ok... I would not handle her at all until she eats... Except to take her to a vet maybe...

Dozer187

01-24-17, 09:18 AM

I know how to assist feed already. Had to do it with my friends bp that wouldnt eat. And i havent been handling, she trys to climb on me when i clean her water bowl but ive been resisting as much as id love to hold her shes so sweet lol

GyGbeetle

01-24-17, 09:44 AM

Where is her enclosure setup (high traffic area or low traffic area)? Are you still offering her live, or are they fresh kill or F/T? If you are offering live, I would suggest moving her to a less active room and then monitoring her feed response with the live. It might very well be that she's overstimulated where ever she's at.

When I have a fussy eater, I will put a towel over their feeding tub, and let them chill with the dead feed for a bit. If it's F/T, I try to warm it up to body temperature.

Have you checked inside her mouth for any lesions or issues with her teeth? She might have a sore that is preventing her from wanting to eat.

What size feed are you giving her? If she thinks it's too large for her to safely digest (snakes under duress often times will regurg or refuse feed if they don't feel they can safely digest the entire meal), perhaps provide the next size down.

2 months seems like a long time, but in snake time, it's not. If she continues to refuse feed in about 2 weeks, then you can try force feeding her, using olive oil to lubricrate the feed, and a pair of tonges, but if you're not familiar with this approach or feel uncertain, contact a herp vet and have them show you how to do it.