my boas think they're balls

[latazyo]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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
http://bitz.net/~latazyo/Pics/Herps/boasizecomp.JPG

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]

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]

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

[kitkat]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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

[jjnnbns]

I have the third of these boas and mine has not eaten yet. We got four and the fourth I have already fed twice and she took em like a champ, but now she is sold...

I have tried all the same tricks and mine is kept in a rubbermaid with the same water dish and another small hide. my temps are 80cool and 93warm. I have even left a very small fuzzy live mouse in a paper bag with my boa but no success. My albino has eaten as well, so only 1 of 3 aren't eating here, but 3 of 5 total arent so thats not so cool overall.

I just need these babies to eat!

[djc3674]

WTF??? Somehow, my post has kitkat's name on it. I wrote that under my name..how on earth..her name is there, I don't know.

jj..when where these boas born? When I got my Hog Island as a neo...him and his clutchmates didn't eat for the first month. They absorbed all of their yokes and just were not ready to eat. If these babies are only a month or two old..then they just might not be ready.

[djc3674]

one more thing....

I just need these babies to eat!

Try to be patient, I know it's frustrating when you want them to eat and they don't. But overtrying will stress them out also. I'd put them in their enclosure and leave them alone. Let them come out on their own looking for food. I'm not saying starve them, but letting them chill for a week or two will not hurt them one bit.

edit: I don't mean chill as in making them cold..lol just want to clear that up. :D

[jjnnbns]

They were born 4.26.04 and supposedly eating already. I guess that all we can do is wait it out...

[latazyo]

they were born 3rd or 4th week of april

[Derrick]

well you had the critter less than 2 weeks and you've tried to feed it 3 times? give the kid a break. let it adjust to its new suroundings. Leave it for a week or 2.

Hows the enclosure devided? Cand they see each other? What was it fed on before you got it?

anyway just give it a break and keep it someplace quiet.

[HetForHuman]

I just brought home a baby hog island boa that had only eaten twice.

And i put him in a small shoebox size rubbermaid, with 2 hides and a water dish, and just a small human heatpad under 1/3 of it..

I left him for a week, and did'nt even look at him, and whammo he took a F/T mouse for me right when i offered it...

Maybe just give this a shot to get him eating and then after a few feedings try to move him back into the other enclosure..

Sorry i did'nt read your post above all the way through...

But like everyone else said just leave them be for another week and try again..

If all else fails after a few more attempts, get ahold of the breeder you got them through and see what can possibly be worked out..

[da_illest]

derrick, before i read the rest of this thread and your post, i thought the exact same thing... latazygboty (don't rememeber your name), you've been stating how you've tried numerous things and it all seems like your trying to much.. sometimes the key to healthy snakes is patience man... give it time, it'll come around

[jjnnbns]

Well, we tried on the 11th, hoping that they may eat right away as many snakes do when they arrive for me. The second attempt was on the 17th and finally last night, the 22nd

I dont think that that is too overboard. waiting 6 days and then 5 days. Quite a bit of time in between, but we can def. wait longer, I just thought that boas were notorious for being AMAZING eaters!

Brent Strande

[latazyo]

I've only tried to feed mine twice, multiple methods each time

he wouldn't take a rat fuzzy, so I tried a mouse hopper that I had...see? multiple attempts per feeding session....not multiple feeding sessions

[da_illest]

Originally posted by latazyo
I've only tried to feed mine twice, multiple methods each time

he wouldn't take a rat fuzzy, so I tried a mouse hopper that I had...see? multiple attempts per feeding session....not multiple feeding sessions

that's the way ta do it b... that's usually what i do and i admit at times i get impatient and brake some of the rules i imply on others here.. for example, i've attempted to feed a ball python on the 3rd or 4th day i had at home when in fact i'll tell people to wait a week before even touching the snake... now, if i do attempt to feed on the 3rd or fourth day, and the snake doesn't eat (which hasn't happened yet), then i will follow even the most strict of rules.. i usually do follow them anyways but i've made a couple exceptions ;)... in the end it's up to you, the herper.. it's your judgement and so long as you have some experience and are knowledgable of what your doing, you'll be alright...

[da_illest]

Originally posted by jjnnbns
I just thought that boas were notorious for being AMAZING eaters!

Brent Strande

you see, they usually are... i have a feeling once your snakes get accostomed to their new life after shipping (am i right?) and all, they'll be amazing eaters.. you just have to be patient and let them build up their confidence a bit.. like a said try to not handle them... IME, it's all confidence, they don't have the confidence at the moment to strike at something.. i believe it's kinda like fear.. it sounds like they've been shipped and if they have i'm blaming this on the shipping stress.. i'd not touch them till they're eating waiting 3-5 days inbetween feeding sessions... also, put them in a small rubbermaid with aspen and a bunch of airholes.. don't forget the water dish.. keep them kinda dark and quite for a bit...