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Recently my 4ft Brazilian male has been refusing to eat. My female is kept seperately in the same type of set-up and she continues to eat very well. I can't figure out what has caused this change so any opinions or help would be appreciated. I keep them in seperate rubbermade tubs that are about 3ft long. I use a rack sytsem and heat the tubs with heat tape so that the cool end stays at 80 degrees. I have a hide box on each end of the tubs. The hide box on the cool end is a wet hide. Each set-up includes a water bowl large enough for the animal to soak in, which also keep the humidy high in the tubs. I use newspaper for substrate. I have a "snake room" in my home that is secluded. I am the only one that enters the room and this is only to take care of the animals. I rarely hold the Brazilians because I have read they stress easily. When I did handle him today to change out his wet hide he looked good, was active in my hands, did not seem stressed or agitated, had good color, and seems to be keeping his weight on. So what can I change to get him eating? Here are a few pics of him:


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Jared Douglas

Jared,
. Fasting is very normal for adult male Rainbow Boas. Most of my males are eating well at this time of year though. They often go months without feeding during cooling before breeding and then into breeding season. If you have had even a small temperature drop in your snake room with the very slightly cooler weather it may have triggered thoughts of mating in your male. While they are fasting I do not worry about them for as long as five months as long as they are not losing too much weight. Your BRB looks great.
Jeff

>>Recently my 4ft Brazilian male has been refusing to eat. My female is kept seperately in the same type of set-up and she continues to eat very well. I can't figure out what has caused this change so any opinions or help would be appreciated. I keep them in seperate rubbermade tubs that are about 3ft long. I use a rack sytsem and heat the tubs with heat tape so that the cool end stays at 80 degrees. I have a hide box on each end of the tubs. The hide box on the cool end is a wet hide. Each set-up includes a water bowl large enough for the animal to soak in, which also keep the humidy high in the tubs. I use newspaper for substrate. I have a "snake room" in my home that is secluded. I am the only one that enters the room and this is only to take care of the animals. I rarely hold the Brazilians because I have read they stress easily. When I did handle him today to change out his wet hide he looked good, was active in my hands, did not seem stressed or agitated, had good color, and seems to be keeping his weight on. So what can I change to get him eating? Here are a few pics of him:
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>>Jared Douglas
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I live in Iowa and the night time temps have really dropped in the past month. We have been getting down into the low to mid 50's at night. This has affected my room by 2-3 degrees at night. I am not sure if this temp change affects the inside of the tubs because they are on thermostats but it is a possibiility. I have noticed that he has not grown much in the past four months so maybe he has reached his adult size and is slowing down on his feeding. The female has continued to show growth through this four month period. Thanks for your reply. Here is a pic of the female:

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Jared Douglas

I can't think of anything to add to Jeff's excellent advice but I did have to say I love the colors on your pair of BRBs. I can only hope my pair gets to be close to the shade yours are.
Lora