1st Feeding Attempt Fails!

[Mark Jones]

Ok. I tried to feed my BCI today.
I moved it from it's habitat to a box we set aside strictly for feeding and let her, (I'm gonna call the snake 'her' until I know different.), settle in for a bit. Then I added one live hopper mouse to the box. Nothing much happened for the first 5 minutes. Then she struck at the mouse four times - each time it came near her - but never once made contact. In fact, she never seemed into it. Just seemed pissed at the mouse for being there rather than hungry. I've seen a lot of snakes feed, both in captivity and in the wild, and there seems to be an 'intent' to their pose that my snake never had. We've had her since last Saturday and she seems in good health. I have no idea when she was fed last.

What do ya think? Not hungry? Food too big? (She's 18 nches) Try dead? Poor hunter? Eh?

She came out of her hiding hole today and soaked in her dish for over an hour before retiring again. Would that have anything to do with it?

Thx!
~M*
__________________
0.0.? Marine Aquarium - Lots-O-Stuff
0.1.0 BCI - 'Morrigan'
1.2.0 Betas - 'Spunky', 'Drunky', & 'Sue'
1.0.0 Lab - 'Buck' (rescued)
0.1.0 Shepherd Mix - 'Freya' (rescued)
1.1.0 Shih Tzus - 'Max' & 'Ruby'
0.2.0 Cats - 'Inanna' & 'Karma' (rescued - both)
3.3.0 Kids - 'Clancy', 'Kelli', 'Jake', 'Sarah', 'Jack', & 'Anthony'.

[bistrobob85]

Well at first, if you've just got her, i would leave her a little week with a hide spot ( and good temperatures and humidity, of course ). Then try feeding again in her cage, dead food preferably. A young constrictor that doesn't eat really isn't good looking... A healthy non-stressed and well kept baby boa constrictor is an endless feeding machine...

phil.

[Invictus]

If she's 18 inches long, give her adult mice, not hoppers. My baby boas (which I've had since their first shed) got hoppers only for their first 2 meals, then adults after that.

Secondly, you should really do some research into the dangers of feeding live prey. If you think a mouse cannot do severe damage to a snake before you even have time to react, think again. Feed it prekilled prey, and you eliminate ALL of the risk. In addition, if your snake is a shy feeder, you can bet that a mouse fighting for its life will win that fight.

Get a frozen adult mouse, thaw it to just above room temperature, and leave the snake with it for a few hours. You'll probably find that the boa will take it if left alone.

As for the soaking, it may be in shed. Many snakes won't eat during this stressful time.

[Mark Jones]

Thanks for the pointers! See the new thread.

~M*