Albino Sand Boa still not eating. AARGH

[CK SandBoas]

Originally Posted by Journeyman

Are your snakes in a closet or do you keep your whole house at 78? I'd be sweating all day I do have fuzzies for our other, bigger snake (Rainbow boa) but they seem HUGE. I apparently have no idea what a snake likes because I can't imagine Surge being able to eat a fuzzy. Our Petco and Petsmart don't stock peach fuzzies unfortunately. Common sense tells me that if a snake is hungry, it will eat anything put in front of it, but plenty of people have said they are disinterested in smaller mice. I guess I will try the bigger fuzzy.
Do you buy your mice online or locally? I was just comparing prices at a few sites.

My snakes are in a separate room, and we actually keep our whole house at 78 and its quite comfy...I buy all my rodents online,in bulk,through RodentPro. Sand Boas can eat larger prey than most think they can.

Another possibility why your sand boa is not eating is if he's a male he may be interested in breeding. Males mature faster than females, so even though he is only 6 months old, it is a possibility.

And in my opinion, your setup is fine;aspen works fine for sand boas, its what I use with all mine. Maybe add another hide, on the cool side. Do not change to a wooden enclosure....you could also cover three sides of the enclosure to give your sand boa a sense of security.

Do not panic, I know its stressful when an animal is not eating for you, but he will eat when he's good and ready. My adult males usually go off feed for about 6 months for breeding season. If you can, buy a digital kitchen scale, so you can keep track of any weight loss.

[formica]

Originally Posted by CK SandBoas

Do not change to a wooden enclosure

can you qualify this please, there is a list of reasons as long as my arm, for why glass is not the best material for snake enclosures - but if there is a specific reason why it is good for Sand Boa's, i'd like to know!

[CK SandBoas]

Originally Posted by formica

can you qualify this please, there is a list of reasons as long as my arm, for why glass is not the best material for snake enclosures - but if there is a specific reason why it is good for Sand Boa's, i'd like to know!

You know, I've been keeping my sand boas in glass enclosures and I keep some in plastic tubs in a rack system, and I've had no problems keeping the correct temps and humidity required. And before this turns into another pissing contest, which I've noticed you are so g ood at instigating, I will end it here. Oh, and just to let you know; you truly are a jackass...

[formica]

Originally Posted by CK SandBoas

You know, I've been keeping my sand boas in glass enclosures and I keep some in plastic tubs in a rack system, and I've had no problems keeping the correct temps and humidity required. And before this turns into another pissing contest, which I've noticed you are so g ood at instigating, I will end it here. Oh, and just to let you know; you truly are a jackass...

why take my question as some kind of personal attack and then just be rude? I was asking due to the fact that I intend on keeping sand boa's next year, and thought it was a reasonable question to ask, given that I have a stack of glass enclosures which I no longer use, for the reasons I alluded to in my previous post.

[CK SandBoas]

Originally Posted by formica

why take my question as some kind of personal attack and then just be rude? I was asking due to the fact that I intend on keeping sand boa's next year, and thought it was a reasonable question to ask, given that I have a stack of glass enclosures which I no longer use, for the reasons I alluded to in my previous post.

Glass enclosures can be used, with the proper modifications. I've been keeping my adult fenales in them, along a couple of my smaller adult males. The tops are covered with lexan, cut specifically to fit the tops. To say that they cannot be used or are not proper setups for Sand Boas, when you don't even keep the species, is all hearsay. I apologize for my rudeness, but when the setup that the OP has will work, I just don't see the need to change it. As ive said, it may just be that his sand boa is sexually mature, and looking to breed.

4 weeks is nothing to be concerned about, as long as the sand boa is maintaining a healthy weight. When the Sand Boa is hungry, he'll eat. Keep an eye out for his head above the surface of the aspen, that usually means he's looking for food.


And again, to Formica, I apologize for my rudeness

[Journeyman]

Thank you CK, Formica, MizCandice, and Wrecker for reading my posts and the feedback. I've followed advice that seemed to be substantiated by other members/research and may still act on more of the advice in the near future (ie: thermostatically controlled heat mat and light; thermostat probe under heat lamp; live mice; weighing with digital scale). here is an update:

11/14 Wrapped all 4 walls with black paper to block about 95% of all ambient light.
11/15 removed white incandescent bulb. replaced with red bulb. Bulb is on about 12 hours/day. off at night. temp varies from 80 on cool side to 100 on hot side. He seems to prefer the middle of tank or cooler side of tank.
11/17 Concerned that his shedding has progressed. placed his whole body in warm water about 1/2" deep. he stayed in it for about 3 minutes. May have been swallowing it. Do they actually drink water? I guess I've never seen them do that in pictures or on tv so it seems odd. I"m waiting for the shedding to stop before attempting another feeding. We've limited our digging him up to about every other day just to look at him and see if he is still alive. He moves very slowly the few times I've picked him up. He moves a little faster after I've held him for a minute. I took the picks of his wrinkles/shedding, put him in the water bowl, and put him back in tank. he crawled back under the bedding.

Thanks for reading. DOES HIS SHEDDING PICTURE SEEM NORMAL/ACCEPTABLE (he started peeling about 6 days ago)?

[CK SandBoas]

Originally Posted by Journeyman

Thank you CK, Formica, MizCandice, and Wrecker for reading my posts and the feedback. I've followed advice that seemed to be substantiated by other members/research and may still act on more of the advice in the near future (ie: thermostatically controlled heat mat and light; thermostat probe under heat lamp; live mice; weighing with digital scale). here is an update:

11/14 Wrapped all 4 walls with black paper to block about 95% of all ambient light.
11/15 removed white incandescent bulb. replaced with red bulb. Bulb is on about 12 hours/day. off at night. temp varies from 80 on cool side to 100 on hot side. He seems to prefer the middle of tank or cooler side of tank.
11/17 Concerned that his shedding has progressed. placed his whole body in warm water about 1/2" deep. he stayed in it for about 3 minutes. May have been swallowing it. Do they actually drink water? I guess I've never seen them do that in pictures or on tv so it seems odd. I"m waiting for the shedding to stop before attempting another feeding. We've limited our digging him up to about every other day just to look at him and see if he is still alive. He moves very slowly the few times I've picked him up. He moves a little faster after I've held him for a minute. I took the picks of his wrinkles/shedding, put him in the water bowl, and put him back in tank. he crawled back under the bedding.

Thanks for reading. DOES HIS SHEDDING PICTURE SEEM NORMAL/ACCEPTABLE (he started peeling about 6 days ago)?

He definitely should have finished shedding by now. you are going to want to either place him in a deli cup with either damp paper towels or damp spaghnum moss, and leave him in it, or maybe it's even better to assist the shed off with a wet q-tip. You are going to want to get that shed off sooner rather than later, considering the amount of time it's been. If you use the q-tip method, make sure you have a bowl of warm water as well, to keep wetting the q-tip with. Gently rub off the shed with the q-tip, working from the head, down to the tail. Make sure you also work around the body, meaning go around the diameter of the body as you help the shed come off.