is my rainbow boa in shed?

erantheking21 · 12-13-15, 01:49 PM

Hi
I got a week ago baby rainbow boa i put 29 celcius like i heard she needed, but she stil didnt ate ..she is small, do you tgibk she is at shed? To try ro feed her again this week?

Justinbolleurs · 12-13-15, 02:08 PM

Sometimes new rainbows just need some time settling in that could take up to 2 weeks, the best way to detirmine if she's in shed is waiting for like 2 days and see if it gets a slight milky colour. I have 2 brb's that I check on every day and my one female shed without me knowing she was in shed, started to look a little bit dull but not very noticeable and one day I just woke up with a shed in the cage.. My male baby boa is going to some type of colour change where it got more darker and more red after its previous shed even right after he shed

Tiny Boidae · 12-13-15, 02:37 PM

I don't THINK she's shedding (key word, think). The colors are bright and the eyes are pretty clear. Then again it's hard to know without seeing the animal when it's not in shed.

So long as she's not losing a significant amount of weight, I wouldn't worry. Especially since you just got her. It took some of my animals a month or more before they took their first meal with me- the key is patience.

I also wouldn't be handling the animal excessively until it starts to eat. You don't want to worsen the stress it's going through and it'll slow the adjustment process. I know it's tempting- but you'll have many years from now to baby her. Just give it some time- snakes don't like change and tend to be very routine in their behaviors. The new smells and the long shipment process and new enclosure has to be traumatic for her, so the best advice I can give you is try to be patient and offer a meal every week until she takes.

If push does come to shove, however, a trick that's never failed for me is to simply press the snout of the mouse gently against the snout of the snake and hold it there for a few moments. The animal will reluctantly take it after a little bit of fussing. Try not to do this unless as a last resort, however, as it won't do her any good if she's still stressed.

Btw, you have a lovely girl right there. Good luck!

erantheking21 · 12-14-15, 12:50 AM

how many days can Rainbow Boa can stay without food?
i had the same problem with my Yellow Anaconda, but now she is eating very well.(5 Rats or Cavia)
but the Anaconda was fat and the Rainbow is a baby, i read about them that they had to be setteld quickly.

1.to feed her in breeding box?(this is how i tried)
2.how many days she can storve her self without eating?
3.how many days do you think the stress will past, not to touch her even she loves to go out?

Justinbolleurs · 12-14-15, 02:15 PM

1. I prefer feeding all my boas and pythons outside the cage, definitely helps not getting mistaken for food at anytime. When my carpet was a baby I couldn't afford feeding him inside his cage more then one's before it started to become a problem.
2. Can be more then a month before it gets serious but as a baby I would get abit stressed at 2 weeks, keep an eye on it and as long as the snake isn't losing to much weight.
3. I'll say about a week but it really depends for example my two baby boas were settled in and eating in about 2 or 3 days, actually the first time I tried feeding them.

Snakesitter · 12-14-15, 03:33 PM

If I'm doing my math right, 29C = 84+F. Too warm! Drop it down by two degrees. That, plus the need to acclimate to new surroundings, are probably the two issues causing a non-feed response.

She does not seem to be in shed to my eye.

erantheking21 · 12-16-15, 04:06 PM

She was shedding , today she shed, but still didnt eat, i put her in a bredding box with cable heat under half of the box with water and spray it with some water for humidity, so she will not get stress in the large tank i put her baby rat and small mice but she still didnt took other of them, i try to it after dark but still no result she open her mouth its ok? Maybe some of her shed stuck in her had side?

Tiny Boidae · 12-16-15, 04:22 PM

If she held it open, there's a problem, but if the snake seemed to be yawnig that's normal. Do you hear any wheezing/clicking from the snake when you hold her to your ear? Any mucus? It'd also help if you give the humidity in the enclosure.

Snakesitter · 12-16-15, 05:10 PM

Ah, she was in very late shed when you took the photos then -- thus it did not show.

I'm unclear on your current temps, but make sure you lower them from the last answer if you've not done so already. They do not tolerate heat of that level well.

Offering food too much can actually stress them more. Try once a week, no more.

Humidity should be at 90%. If he shed was in one piece, than she probably was sufficiently humid.

Ditto what Tiny said on the mouth opening.

erantheking21 · 12-16-15, 07:02 PM

In the terrarium he his under a tree trunk in the cold part, and doesnt move from there, i sprying a couple of time water and put some cup under the heat light, he also has exo terra heat wave..the temperature in the heat is like 27.5 but now i put him in a breeding box with a cable heat under it and fresh water in a bowl, and spray it, what else should i try? He last ate at 4.12 before the shedding cycle, he took it today..maybe to try tomorow?

Tiny Boidae · 12-16-15, 07:13 PM

No sense in stressing her out, and if it's only been a few weeks since her last meal, I would honestly wait a few days and kind of leave her alone. Prolonged stress is a silent killer.

Do you have a hygrometer in there at all? Knowing the humidity is crucial for these snakes, and too little humidity tagged onto stress can lead to some serious infections. If you don't, you can get an anolog hygrometer from a pet shop real cheap. That's what I use for my lizards, I've heard the digital ones can be inaccurate at best.

bigsnakegirl785 · 12-16-15, 07:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tiny Boidae

No sense in stressing her out, and if it's only been a few weeks since her last meal, I would honestly wait a few days and kind of leave her alone. Prolonged stress is a silent killer.

Do you have a hygrometer in there at all? Knowing the humidity is crucial for these snakes, and too little humidity tagged onto stress can lead to some serious infections. If you don't, you can get an anolog hygrometer from a pet shop real cheap. That's what I use for my lizards, I've heard the digital ones can be inaccurate at best.

The opposite is actually true. Analog hygrometers are inaccurate, digital ones are not. For a multitude of reasons.

Tiny Boidae · 12-16-15, 07:22 PM

Really? I know that's true for the thermometers (which I use a temp gun for that), but I've heard awful things about the digital hygrometers being off by 20% or more, the ones with probes that is. When I got my water dragons I'd been recommended an anolog over a digital, repeatedly. Peculiar. I'll have to look into that. Ignore what I said about digital vs analog for now, but still you need a hygrometer.

erantheking21 · 12-16-15, 07:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tiny Boidae

Really? I know that's true for the thermometers (which I use a temp gun for that), but I've heard awful things about the digital hygrometers being off by 20% or more, the ones with probes that is. When I got my water dragons I'd been recommended an anolog over a digital, repeatedly. Peculiar. I'll have to look into that. Ignore what I said about digital vs analog for now, but still you need a hygrometer.

I have a digital one, but the % are not clear only if you spray water around it, it will give you information ..if the humidity in the other parts of the terrium is high in this part of the hygrometer is low, he will produce only this part i have the trixy one

bigsnakegirl785 · 12-16-15, 07:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tiny Boidae

Really? I know that's true for the thermometers (which I use a temp gun for that), but I've heard awful things about the digital hygrometers being off by 20% or more, the ones with probes that is. When I got my water dragons I'd been recommended an anolog over a digital, repeatedly. Peculiar. I'll have to look into that. Ignore what I said about digital vs analog for now, but still you need a hygrometer.

I've never heard anyone recommend analog hygrometers over digital before. Analogs can be off as much as 50%. Put like 3 analogs together and you could get readings of 20%, 80%, or 50% from any one of them, when the humidity could be more like 40%. They can be calibrated I think, but a lot of times they seem to fail and become unable to be further calibrated. This is especially true of the generic ones sold at pet stores, although cigar-type analogs may be better. Analogs also do terrible in higher humidity over 70-80%.

I've been in pet stores where the hygrometer was reading 80% but the snake had bad stuck shed, so there's no way it was anywhere near accurate.