Reptile & Amphibian Forums

After some discouraging opinions about Dumerils, so far all have been false with my guy.
Some told me they had a nippy temperment: Never even a hiss out of my baby,
Some say they are difficult eaters: May be true, but not with mine once I got a pinky rat, after that first meal its been as easy to feed as my ball python.
I just tried his first F/T for his 4th meal in 5 weeks (he's 6 weeks old), he didnt even strike at it, he just started to swallow it the second I placed him in his feeding box. I thought he was just resting his head on the rat, then I noticed his lower jaw was working on getting the rat down.

I dont know if it's my technique or that he's just a really great baby, but incase future dum owners want to know what I do:

Temps/Hum: 86(hot), 80(coolside)/50-60%
1. Get them to eat first, which may mean feeding them live and on substrate where they are in ambush mode at night just put the pinky rat an inch from his protruding nose and leave the room. Dont let them know you are around looking on, etc.
2. I got mine to feed in a feed box the next week, tossed him in the box where the pinky rat was waiting.
3. Make sure they feel comfortable and secure, I provide 2 inches of aspen bedding where he spends most of his time under during the day, and driftwood in case he wants to hangout. I handle him fairly often, but Im very gentle with him so he stays relaxed when he's out.
4. I dont use tongs, unlike my ball where he would strike a rat right from the tongs with great precision, my dumeril seems to have a problem with the extra heat from my hands, cause he would strike with horrible aim, so i just leave a food item waiting for him in a box before I drop him in. His accuracy then is much better.

Dont know what else to say, as this is getting long already, I just want ppl who are interested in this awesome species to not get discouraged about their 'reputation', seems like there is a wide range of opinions on these guys, but so far, to me, Dumeril's are very pretty, very docile, and very hardy/easy to care for boas species. (of course your mileage may vary) =)

Your right, they're generally a great species to work with. The general problem, I think, is that people buy based solely on PRICE, and end up with an animal that may or may not have ever been fed at all. Look on the classifieds and you'll see most Dumerils available are being sold by dealers rather than the breeders. The prices are so close between breeders and brokers/dealers that unless a dealer is selling a drop dead gorgeous animal, I'd go directly to the breeder. That's NOT saying all dealer deals are bad, I just think it helps to stem the "my dumerils won't eat" problem. Take care

Paul M.

I agree! It pays to pay more sometimes! I have never had a baby dum, but two of my female adults want to eat constantly (they don't understand what low metabolism is), my male is very reluctant though. My females will strike at sudden movements if it is dark (and do certainly have bad aim), but are very gentle when not in feeding mode (this has been greatly helped since I started feeding them outside of their enclosures). Overall, I really enjoy their temperments! I am a small girl, and to lug around a 6 foot, 15 pound dumerils and feel comforable says a lot!
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8.15 Normal ball pythons
2.0 Pastel ball pythons
1.0 Plains Garter
0.1 Normal Kenyan Sand Boa
1.1 Anery Kenyan Sand Boa
1.0 Mid-Baja Rosy Boa
0.1 Leucistic Texas Rat
1.2 Dumeril's Boa
-----My list is too long, so I'll stop here!
*Amy*

Hi,
I just received my baby Dum. He was born 7/17 and has not had his first meal yet. I get to do that. My question to you is that I worry about feeding him in his box with the aspen bedding. When you fed yours his first meal didn't you worry about that happening?

Of course there's a worry in feeding on aspen, which is why it's not advised to routinely do that. But, it's probably worse if they don't eat at all, I'm sure in the wild there aren't any clean feeding totes for them to feed in. So the hiding in aspen helps them feel more secure and confident about eating, once they take their first meal, they will develop an appitite, in which you could use to your advantage when feeding for the 2nd or 3rd time by waiting 1.5 to 2weeks before the last time they ate so they are hungry. Then you could try a feeding tote..

I just fed my baby a f/t fuzzy rat again, he doesn't even strike at it, he just starts to look for the head and gulps it down in 5 minutes! I guess I'm lucky.