Reptile & Amphibian Forums

some one i just have a question, how do i get my baby boas to eat their first meal? they have gone though their first shed and i have offered them both live and frozen they have refused both, i need help. please

try mice and rat pinks...some will prefer one over the other...make sure their temps are up....and only one per tub...use the small shoebox size...they need the small size at a young age. Andy
-----

You have to remember they have never had their feeding drive kicked in before so it might take awhile before they will eat. Easiest way I have had is to drop a thawed feeder into the tub and leave the room for several hours. Some will come around and eat some won't.
-----
Randall L Turner Jr.
Boas make the world go round.

you've gotten some good advice already, and I would follow that to get them started on your prefered choice of food, or theirs...
If you really want them on f/t, try it all... mice and rats, diff sizes, wet or not, hot or not, dangled, left in for an hour, left in overnight, hiding spot - in the hide, just at the opening...
sometimes taking it away for a few days gets them hungry enough to nail it next time.
sometimes it may take as long as two weeks before the most stubborn will eat, but once they do, watch out!

When i've exhausted my options, and go to extremes, here's what I do:
Set the babies up in individual deli cups, the small ones, so there isn't much room to 'escape' from the site and smell and touch of the live mouse fuzzy you'll put in there.
I stack them up and leave them in a dark, quiet room (no traffic). There hasn't been one that hasn't eaten this way. It may take a day or two, or a re-introduction or two, but it won't fail.

You'll hear old timers talk about the 'little brown paper bag' method... same exact concept.
Small, dark place, no distraction, no way to avoid the food... eventually the light upstairs goes on... lol

Best wishes! Joe
-----
Thanks and take care - Joe Rollo
'Tis not the stongest of the species that will eventually survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change' Charles Darwin

I know it's obvious but was not stated. If leaving a live feeder in with your snake, make sure it is defenseless, AKA no teeth. pinky/fuzzy are ok, hoppers are borderline IMO, depends on size. If it can bite back, don't leave it with your babies.
-----
Thanks,

Dave "Rainbows-R-Us"

0.1 Wife (WC)
0.2 kids (CBB)
2.7 Brazilian Rainbow Boa (adult breeders)
2.5 Brazilian Rainbow Boa (sub-adult from 2004)
4.8 Brazilian Rainbow Boa (sub-adult from 2005)
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 Salmon (possible super)
1.0 BCI Albino het stripe
1.0 BCI Salmon
0.1 BCI Ghost
0.1 BCI Super salmon, possible jungle
1.0 BCI Salmon, possible jungle

lots.lots.lots feeder mice and rats