Snappy Dumeril's

[TeamSlitherin]

Hey guys!

This is my first post, because I am a new mother to a beautiful baby Dumeril's Boa. I've had her two weeks tomorrow and I love the little baby to pieces! She's almost always pleasant and inquisitive, but the past few days, she's seemed extremely stressed out and has been difficult to handle (been snapping at me alot).

I know I should have probably let her acclimate to her surroundings before messing with her, but I couldn't help myself! Up until now, she's been handled every day and been fine. She's even slept in the bed a few times!

I have noticed the humidity has been much lower in her cage the last 3 days, so I've been trying to mist it. She has a day/night lamp and hot side temps have been 84-90 during the day and 72-78 at night, with 40-60% humidity. I've noticed the humidity drop to 20-30% several times over the past 3 days, hence the misting.

She has 2 hides, a tree branch, and coconut mulch substrate for burrowing, so I wonder if it's a temp/humidity problem? I've also fed her twice and she has yet to defecate, so I don't think I should feed her again until she does. Gave her 2 baths, hoping to aid her bowels, but no luck yet.

Any thoughts are welcome! I want to de-stress this little one.

[Scubadiver59]

Find the "ack" thread and see the length of time for some of our members before their snakes "poo'd"...it can be lengthy sometimes between episodes.

In the meantime...Welcome to SsnakesS!!

Hey guys!

This is my first post, because I am a new mother to a beautiful baby Dumeril's Boa. I've had her two weeks tomorrow and I love the little baby to pieces! She's almost always pleasant and inquisitive, but the past few days, she's seemed extremely stressed out and has been difficult to handle (been snapping at me alot).

I know I should have probably let her acclimate to her surroundings before messing with her, but I couldn't help myself! Up until now, she's been handled every day and been fine. She's even slept in the bed a few times!

I have noticed the humidity has been much lower in her cage the last 3 days, so I've been trying to mist it. She has a day/night lamp and hot side temps have been 84-90 during the day and 72-78 at night, with 40-60% humidity. I've noticed the humidity drop to 20-30% several times over the past 3 days, hence the misting.

She has 2 hides, a tree branch, and coconut mulch substrate for burrowing, so I wonder if it's a temp/humidity problem? I've also fed her twice and she has yet to defecate, so I don't think I should feed her again until she does. Gave her 2 baths, hoping to aid her bowels, but no luck yet.

Any thoughts are welcome! I want to de-stress this little one.

[Tsubaki]

Welcome to the forum! Please take this as friendly advice. :)


Stop bathing, snakes don't need baths unless there is a medical issue or if they get themselves really dirty ( and then it's still more for yourself, nobody wants a stinky snake :D). You were right, you should have left the animal alone for at least 2 weeks to settle in. They empty their bowels when they want to, not when you want them to. When stressed it could take them even longer to empty their bowels, and it can also make them snippy/defensive. In the mere 2 weeks you have had the animal.. You have been handling it a lot and for long periods of time as well, combined with the bathing which can also be quite stressfull. Sorry to say,.. yes you can handle snakes, but no they aren't cuddly pets. She is probably stressed out. Give her some rest... About the humidity, 20% / 30% is way to low, -to start with, you can't get that up enough with just misting. It's a husbandry issue I'm afraid, maybe too much ventilation.. Do you use a screen top?

[Andy_G]

Everything Tsubaki said. I also want to add that it's best to leave them completely alone until they've fed a t least twice consecutively (usually 2 weeks for babies) in your care. Your snake is undoubtedly stressed and although your intentions are good you are no doubt adding to their stress at this time. Give your snake what it deserves... time to let it settle in and leave it alone...once husbandry has been fixed if course. :)

[SnoopySnake]

She's even slept in the bed a few times!

What do you mean by this????

Also if you are using a screen top, cover all of the lid except your lamp. You can use aluminum foil for this, saran wrap, damp paper towel, or buy a sheet of acrylic/plexiglass. It will help keep in humidity.

[TeamSlitherin]

Thank you very much for your thoughts! Luckily, the little one did have a BM basically hours after my post (of course), so it seems we're clear on that front. Picked up some frog moss today and that quickly bumped the humidity back up to 55%. I'll keep a mother's watchful eye on that. She did refuse to eat today, so I'll leave her alone for a couple days before trying again. Hopefully some alone time and proper humidity will calm her nerves. :D

[regi375]

Thank you very much for your thoughts! Luckily, the little one did have a BM basically hours after my post (of course), so it seems we're clear on that front. Picked up some frog moss today and that quickly bumped the humidity back up to 55%. I'll keep a mother's watchful eye on that. She did refuse to eat today, so I'll leave her alone for a couple days before trying again. Hopefully some alone time and proper humidity will calm her nerves. :D
Since she skipped feeding this time, wait until you'd normally feed her again. Not sure about their metabolism, but it's usually a week.

[dannybgoode]

You've still not answered Snoopy's question about the snake sleeping in bed-what do you mean by mean by this.

Dumerils are stunning snakes so please keep asking questions to make sure you give it the best possible care.

Could you give some more details of the set up. Size, hear source, type of thermostat, substrate etc?

[Aaron_S]

Love the enthusiasm you have and how you've taken suggestions and implemented them.

I think the snake could be going through a shed cycle and that's why it didn't eat recently.



....I know I should have probably let her acclimate to her surroundings before messing with her, but I couldn't help myself! Up until now, she's been handled every day and been fine. She's even slept in the bed a few times!


Any thoughts are welcome! I want to de-stress this little one.

On this note, you know the problem (not letting her acclimate) but then ask for more ways to de-stress the the snake? You already know how to do this. Please don't ask for help so you can keep doing the wrong thing (over handling) instead of the right thing for the animal. (Less handling for right now).

You're on the right track but you'll have to have some serious patience for the next two weeks. That's only 14 days! The snake should live easily 15 years, that's 5475 days! You can handle 14 of those.