Posted by:
RichardFHoyer
at Fri Jul 25 11:28:35 2003 [ Email Message ] [ Show All Posts by RichardFHoyer ]
Jason:
It would help if I knew more details. When did you capture the specimen and what is its length and present weight? How are you maintaining your specimen--, what type and size container are you using to house the specimen, what is the substrate, is it by itself, do you have multiple hides for it, does it wander around in its enclosure during the day, at what temperature is it being maintained, do you allow the temperature to fluctuate during 24 hours, that is, do you allow it to cool off at night and early morning or are you maintaining its enclosure in an area with a relatively constant 24 hour temperature, is it exposed to the normal 24 hour dark/light cycle or is it exposed to constant light? Look at its tail and if it is partly collapsed (not filled out), it may be dehydrated and/or being kept at too high of temperatures and thus using up body reserves rapidly.
Even if I knew the above and recommended adjustments, there is no guaranty that the boa would take prey. After all, as I indicated in a prior post, there is one neonate from last year that has yet to take its first meal and it was born on 8/19/02 so is over 11 months old.
The first thing you might do is to take a quart or gallon jar and place the boa in about 1/8" of water in the jar with holes in the lid and leave it undisturbed for 15 -20 minutes. If it immediately begins to drink when you gently place it in the bottom of the jar with water, then there is some chance it was slightly dehydrated. If it continues to drink for a prolonged period of time - 30 seconds or longer, then it was definately dehyrated.
If that is the case, then I suggest you use a shallow, plastic lid from a half gallon or gallon container as a source of water and place it beneath a curved piece of bark or other such cover object so at night when the boa comes out to wander around, it can access the water source beneath the hide.
After killing the pinky mouse, have you washed it with detergent then thoroughly rinsed it? After doing so, poke only a small hole in the brain case with a pin or needle and squeeze only a small portion of fluid from the hole and spread over the forehead and nose of the pinky. Place the pinky under a hide with space for the boa to crawl beneath. Make sure the ends of the hide are covered so it is dark beneath the hide (as is the case when wild boas invade the nests of native small mammals),
then enter the boa at the entrance of the hide and leave it for 2-3 hours. At this time of year, this process is probably best done at night as the species is pretty much noctural during warm weather and thus actively hunting during the night.
Even if you do all of the above, some specimens simply do not readily take prey under captive conditions. I had one adult female given to me by herpetologists Dr. Robert Storm of Ore. St. U. back in the early 1970's that went for 14 months before taking her first meal. That was a great lesson in learning to be patient and for maintaining specimens of this species at relatively cool temperatures.
Richard F. Hoyer
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RE: Rubber Boas - RichardFHoyer, Fri Jul 25 11:28:35 2003