9 month old sand boa refuses to eat!

[CosmicOwl]

Originally Posted by bluewind

I'm guessing you don't own a betta? I have a sorority in a 25 gallon tank and they love interacting with me. They like to follow my finger and eat from my hand. My old male (seperate tank) who passed away a few months ago use to play with.a ball and would come to the top of the water for a pet. Plenty of aquatic pets have very little individuality or interest in human interation beyond feeding, but there are several breeds that seak it out. Again, every creature is unique.

In general, snakes do not "seek out" human interaction, though. The problem is that you are anthropomorphizing the snakes(and fish) rather than considering their reptilian perspective. For instance, I have a corn snake who will come to my hand and climb out of his cage. It would be easy to think that he is doing it out of affection, but then I would be projecting my thoughts onto an animal that has a different motivation for its actions. Doesn't it seem more likely that at some point, he learned that up meant out, and thus a chance to hunt for food?

You have to think about what the snake would want, not what you would want if you were the snake.

[bluewind]

Tsub, I haven't held nor touched her. It was simply a visual inspection that was all of a couple of minutes. We haven't even been holding Lily so not to bother her while getting Lily. And she has had several sheds under my care. I know her normal. The tail tip was stiff before shedding signs even presented themselves. And I have listened to what everyone has said and brought it up to my vet. Like I said, deciding to do a visual inspection was a judgement call which I knew I would catch heck from yall for, but I wanted to make sure she hadn't developed any respirtory syptoms, had been injured during force feeding, was suffering, or had died. And if she doesn't know her name, then she responded to the sound of my voive which kept me from having to physically touch her to find a sign of life. It was also a one time thing for reasons above and she will not be bothered again until Monday for an attempt at a feed

I promise I am listening to all suggestions and taking them to my vet. And I mean everything. If anyone has scholarly articles I can take to him or enjoy myself, I would love them. I love reading. I can't pull up pdf on my phone, but text formate should be okay. I like data and stitistics too.

On another note, I did some research today and ran across some articles on IBD which have me ptetty scared. Her tail has been stiff for a while, so I did a search on it. The symptoms took me aback. Stiff tail, anorexia, abnormal shedding, and weight loss (including actual weight and apperence) are present. She hasn't regurgitated and I'm not 100% on stargazing, but I don't think she has. However, regergitation does not always occur and neurological symptoms can show up later in boas than pythons. Her age is an estimate although it can happen at any age with adults being most likely. Lily will be moved (need some help so have to wait until partner gets home), but odds are the damage has been done if this is present. Am I being paranoid or is this a possibility?

Edit: The coming to the hand is only for handling days. We actively seak them out on feeding day. I understand that they don't have our emotions, but it is possible that they find some enjoyment out of being handled? And out of curiosity, why is Lily facinated by hair?

Also, I just remembered an incident from several months ago. While feeding Carrot, someone knocked on the door. I took off to answer it not realizing I hadn't locked the lid. I don't remember who or why they were there (lost maybe?) but I do know their radio was loud and anoying. Next thing I heard was kerplunk! and turned to see Carrot on the floor! She had crawled out of the opening on the keeper and fell down to the floor. This all happened in the span of 5 minutes give or take. It was a drop of about 4 feet. We have lenolium floors too, so no padding. I was worried sick after, but she seemed okay. The xrays recently showed no bone or spine problems. I gotta say I have been careful to the point of paranoia since then.

[TeaNinja]

i literally handle my snakes like once or twice every week or two. when i do take them out, they'd rather hide most of the time so i just leave them alone to hide.

[CosmicOwl]

Originally Posted by bluewind

Tsub, I haven't held nor touched her. It was simply a visual inspection that was all of a couple of minutes. We haven't even been holding Lily so not to bother her while getting Lily. And she has had several sheds under my care. I know her normal. The tail tip was stiff before shedding signs even presented themselves. And I have listened to what everyone has said and brought it up to my vet. Like I said, deciding to do a visual inspection was a judgement call which I knew I would catch heck from yall for, but I wanted to make sure she hadn't developed any respirtory syptoms, had been injured during force feeding, was suffering, or had died. And if she doesn't know her name, then she responded to the sound of my voive which kept me from having to physically touch her to find a sign of life. It was also a one time thing for reasons above and she will not be bothered again until Monday for an attempt at a feed

I promise I am listening to all suggestions and taking them to my vet. And I mean everything. If anyone has scholarly articles I can take to him or enjoy myself, I would love them. I love reading. I can't pull up pdf on my phone, but text formate should be okay. I like data and stitistics too.

On another note, I did some research today and ran across some articles on IBD which have me ptetty scared. Her tail has been stiff for a while, so I did a search on it. The symptoms took me aback. Stiff tail, anorexia, abnormal shedding, and weight loss (including actual weight and apperence) are present. She hasn't regurgitated and I'm not 100% on stargazing, but I don't think she has. However, regergitation does not always occur and neurological symptoms can show up later in boas than pythons. Her age is an estimate although it can happen at any age with adults being most likely. Lily will be moved (need some help so have to wait until partner gets home), but odds are the damage has been done if this is present. Am I being paranoid or is this a possibility?

Edit: The coming to the hand is only for handling days. We actively seak them out on feeding day. I understand that they don't have our emotions, but it is possible that they find some enjoyment out of being handled? And out of curiosity, why is Lily facinated by hair?

Also, I just remembered an incident from several months ago. While feeding Carrot, someone knocked on the door. I took off to answer it not realizing I hadn't locked the lid. I don't remember who or why they were there (lost maybe?) but I do know their radio was loud and anoying. Next thing I heard was kerplunk! and turned to see Carrot on the floor! She had crawled out of the opening on the keeper and fell down to the floor. This all happened in the span of 5 minutes give or take. It was a drop of about 4 feet. We have lenolium floors too, so no padding. I was worried sick after, but she seemed okay. The xrays recently showed no bone or spine problems. I gotta say I have been careful to the point of paranoia since then.

Why would they enjoy being handled? What significance would that have to them? They could enjoy getting out of their cage and being able to explore, but why would they enjoy being picked up and handled if they don't receive the same bonding rewards that we do? There are some species of snakes(garters and saw scales) that apparently do very well in groups, but they still don't bond with humans.

The hair thing is pretty obvious. It's something she can burrow/hide in. My adult corn snake once entangled himself in some window blinds... they're just going to do certain things out of the basic instinct to hunt, hide or climb.