Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi All -

I've been away from the snake hobby for a while so I need some help.

I was contacted by the local animal shelter because they caught a stray 7 ft. Columbian boa. The boa shed about a week ago and they think he's ready to eat. Being that they are an animal shelter, they won't feed any live rats, mice, bunnies, etc. They also won't stun any of those to feed this snake.

I heard of someone feeding their snake thawed chicken legs. Is that possible and if the snake won't eat, can we leave the chicken leg a day or two? I didn't think boas would eat carrion. We don't know any other history on this boa so feeding him will be a mystery that needs to be solved. At least I was able to sex him as a male (long tapered tail with spurs).

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Paul aka "PuppyChulo"

They can take chicken parts but probably not real common, I had a burm that'd eat turkey drumsticks, calm as could be, I hand fed her, she'd just take the drumstick and swallow it.

Local petsores might have ratsicles for sale? He might be already conditioned to F/T feeders.
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Thanks,

Dave "Rainbows-R-Us"

0.1 Wife (WC)
0.2 kids (CBB)
4.12 Brazilian Rainbow Boa
2.1 Hypomelanistic BRB
0.1 Het for Hypomelanistic BRB
0.1 BCI "Elvira" normal from 1989
1.0 BCI albino / het-anery
0.1 BCI Hypo / het-albino
0.1 BCI Anery / het-albino
0.1 BCI Hypo (possible super)
1.0 BCI albino het stripe
1.0 BCI salmon hypo
0.1 BCI ghost

lots.lots.lots feeder mice and rats

Thanks Dave. The problem is that this is a shelter and where the snake is kept is visible to the public. They can't even have a frozen mouse laying in the cage. We'll keep trying with the chicken.
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Paul aka "PuppyChulo"

I understand the shelter thing but if they won't feed it what it needs, then they are the ones being CRUEL, denying an animal it's required nourishment. If they don't want the public to see, take it off of display and feed it elsewhere. Plastic tubs with lids work great as feeding bins, I always feed mine in them.

I assume they feed the cats and dogs cat and dog "food", why can't they feed the snake food it will eat?
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Thanks,

Dave "Rainbows-R-Us"

0.1 Wife (WC)
0.2 kids (CBB)
4.12 Brazilian Rainbow Boa
2.1 Hypomelanistic BRB
0.1 Het for Hypomelanistic BRB
0.1 BCI "Elvira" normal from 1989
1.0 BCI albino / het-anery
0.1 BCI Hypo / het-albino
0.1 BCI Anery / het-albino
0.1 BCI Hypo (possible super)
1.0 BCI albino het stripe
1.0 BCI salmon hypo
0.1 BCI ghost

lots.lots.lots feeder mice and rats

dont be so hard on them Dave. Im sure the shelter sent their best man to Wal-mart for a bag of "Snakey-Chow".
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1.1.0 Colombian Redtail Boas
2.1.0 Sumatran Blood Pythons
1.0 Black Blood Python
1.0 Dumeril's Boa
0.1 Coastal Carpet Python
0.1 Jungle Carpet Python
0.1 Surinam Redtail Boa

I feed chicken drumsticks quite frequently to my snakes (everyone of my animals have eaten chicken parts at one point or another including 1' long kenyans)

What I do is defrost it like you would to prepare it for yourself. Bake it or microwave it until it is cooked (don't have to worry about pink meat in the middle)I then put all of the chicken in a bucket of room temp water for a few hours (to cool it off a bit and also rinses off some of the excess grease) once it is cooled down but not cold I dump out the water and start feeding it. My larger snakes snatch it from the tongues like its their favorite food on the planet. If you feed parts I suggest only using either boneless tenderloins for smaller snakes and drumsticks for larger ones as the multiple bones in other parts can cause problems.
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Randall L Turner Jr.
Boas make the world go round.

A few questions. Do you have any boas the you only feed drum sticks to. How long have you practiced doing this with a specific boa? Have you found any benefits? What does the stool look like? Any info would be appreciated.
Michael Burton

I've fed chicken off and on for quite a long time but only for the past few years have I given parts of chicken rather then whole chicken or rodents (rodents are the majority of the diet) The benefits I've seen were the animals seemed to put weight on quicker then on just rodents ( I usually when feeding chicken parts will give atleast 1 rodent along with chicken, but the chicken is usually just used as a "supplement" when awaiting a rodent order or for breedable adults that need to add more weight). The downside is the stool is usually quite a bit looser and in some cases looks grainy/sandy in consistency. The longest I ever gave chicken parts and only chicken parts was a stretch of time that lasted around 4 months or so and that was due to my rabbit supplier quitting their production (this was only for 1 animal which required 4 xxl rats per meal or rabbits).
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Randall L Turner Jr.
Boas make the world go round.

THANKS!

We're doing what we can for the snake in the capacity that we best can. The snake just shed and he's not emaciated in any way so he can go another week or two of not eating without any harm to himself.
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Paul aka "PuppyChulo"

Sounds like the boa now needs to be rescued from the animal shelter.lol.
Feeding raw chicken parts to the boa will be exposing him to salmonella. He needs to be fed a dead large rat. If no one is willing to kill the rat, then you should order frozen rats from one of the many companies that sell frozen rats. If no one is willing to do that then I suggest you contact your local herpetological club. They will help you with the care of the boa.
Good luck

thanks...see reply above
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Paul aka "PuppyChulo"

The shelter can't be open 24 hrs. I suggest if you care about the boa, you will feed him the proper diet. If you are not willing please give him to someone that can and will take proper care of him. As I suggested, please contact your local herp club, they will help with the boa.

I understand your suggestion as I have been making it myself...however, at this time, they are awaiting for an owner to show up and they will not release the boa.

Just because he's not fed weekly doesn't mean he's in that bad of a shape. But thanks for the suggestion.
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Paul aka "PuppyChulo"

what state is the snake in maybe one of us could do better than the shelter, atleast until someone finds him a good home.

What business do they have taking this snake in if they are not willing to take proper care of it. Sounds to me like this snake still needs to be rescued.

The snake WAS NOT confiscated....the snake was found by the Fire Dept personnel and brought to Animal Control.

The reason for my post was to see if other boas out there can/will eat chicken pieces.

The fact that this boa is in a safe place now is more important. It's obvious the owner's either didn't care enough to secure the cage and they definitely have not claimed it.
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Paul aka "PuppyChulo"

From the things I have read a chicken leg you would buy in the store is not in a boas diet. What the others are saying is that the shelter shoud feed it the proper food and nothing else. I realize it is in view of the public and you don't want to upset them. But to me the snakes health is more important. It is great that they took him in because he would have surely died in the wild. But they really need to take the best care of him and that would include feeding him the proper food. You should ask them if you could feed him after hours when the facility is closed. Otherwise, definately take him to a herp society. Good luck.
Michael Burton

evidently no one there has ever been educated as to what snakes will eat. they eat rodents (GASP!!). yes it is true...they eat those cute furry little things that some people make pets out of. hard to believe but true. so if you and or the animal shelter just cant stand to see Mickey being swallowed whole, then I suggest you and the animal shelter take it to someone that can take of it and that wants to also. because it seems to me that the animal shelter has only changed the address of where the snake receives poor care. out of the frying pan and into the fire so to speak.
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1.1.0 Colombian Redtail Boas
2.1.0 Sumatran Blood Pythons
1.0 Black Blood Python
1.0 Dumeril's Boa
0.1 Coastal Carpet Python
0.1 Jungle Carpet Python
0.1 Surinam Redtail Boa

I just posted the reverse of the frying pan into the fire since it's probably better off with the shelter than on the loose but still not safe!!
-----
Thanks,

Dave "Rainbows-R-Us"

0.1 Wife (WC)
0.2 kids (CBB)
4.12 Brazilian Rainbow Boa
2.1 Hypomelanistic BRB
0.1 Het for Hypomelanistic BRB
0.1 BCI "Elvira" normal from 1989
1.0 BCI albino / het-anery
0.1 BCI Hypo / het-albino
0.1 BCI Anery / het-albino
0.1 BCI Hypo (possible super)
1.0 BCI albino het stripe
1.0 BCI salmon hypo
0.1 BCI ghost

lots.lots.lots feeder mice and rats

OK! I've done every friggin thing I can to let them release this guy to me. I know what to feed the snake if he were mine, but at this time the snake will not be released. If we don't try with chicken, then all he'll have is water for tne time being. It's not like he'll die if he doesn't eat in the next week.
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Paul aka "PuppyChulo"

As others have posted, sounds like the snake still needs to be rescued. I agree it's in a better situation now then when the fire dept(?) found it. Now in some sort of enclosure, hopefully getting heat and water. Fortunately snakes don't need to eat often so as long as warm and has water, it can "survive" many months without food, maybe even up to a year depending on it's current condition and fat stores.

I know I sound antagonistic, don't mean to just concerned the snake went from the fire back into the frying pan batter off but still not "safe"

Would the shelter try to feed a chocolate to a dog? Has lots of nutrients! I think not since chocolate is poisonous to dogs! They would feed the dog some sort of "dog food"!!
-----
Thanks,

Dave "Rainbows-R-Us"

0.1 Wife (WC)
0.2 kids (CBB)
4.12 Brazilian Rainbow Boa
2.1 Hypomelanistic BRB
0.1 Het for Hypomelanistic BRB
0.1 BCI "Elvira" normal from 1989
1.0 BCI albino / het-anery
0.1 BCI Hypo / het-albino
0.1 BCI Anery / het-albino
0.1 BCI Hypo (possible super)
1.0 BCI albino het stripe
1.0 BCI salmon hypo
0.1 BCI ghost

lots.lots.lots feeder mice and rats

heck no they wouldnt feed chocolate to a dog! A dog has fur and we all know that anything with fur is much more important than anything else!
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1.1.0 Colombian Redtail Boas
2.1.0 Sumatran Blood Pythons
1.0 Black Blood Python
1.0 Dumeril's Boa
0.1 Coastal Carpet Python
0.1 Jungle Carpet Python
0.1 Surinam Redtail Boa