Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I recently recieved my first brazilian rainbow boa and she has been eating live. Are there any tricks to getting her to eat f/t?
She also has folds of skin whenever she is coiled up and her skin feels dry. Does anyone have any tips to help this?

Thanks.

Establishing babies on frozen from the beginning is pretty easy. Switching them to frozen after they're eating live can be tricky. Here are some suggestions:

1) Let the snake go hungry for two to three weeks to build an appetite. Don't worry, a healthy snake can go months without eating.

2) Thaw during the day, then soak in hot hot tap water for several minutes before offering to the snake. Offer while warm.

3) If the snake doesn't strike and wrap immediately, leave in front of the snake. Check in the morning. I have animals that just pick it up off the floor and eat.

4) If the first type of food doesn't work, try something else. For example, if you want the snake eating mice, try these first. If the snake refuses, try appropriately sized rats. You may have to settle for this.

5) Tap the snake on the back with the thawed rodent. With a little agitation, I can usually get the snake to strike at the food. Once they strike, they usually wrap.

I have a few animals here that just prefer live. I've given up the fight. I offer a live mouse. Then, as the snake is swallowing the last part of the mouse, while the snake's mouth is still open, I slip the head of a thawed rat right in behind it. The snake just keeps on swallowing and takes the whole rat.

As for the "dry" skin, it could be dehydration or it could be nothing at all. Can you post a pic?

I'm going to assume that this is a young BRB. If so, they seem to do well with constant access to fresh water (a dish large enough for them to soak in will be much appreciated). They also seem to benefit from just a little humidity in their enclosures.
-----
Mike Lockwood
www.tooscaley.com

Thanks for the feeding tips.

If I had to guess at her age I'd say maybe 2 or 3 years old. She is about 3 1/2 to 4 feet long.

Here's a pic of her. You can see some of the wrinkles behind her head and in the bottom left coil.

Hmmmmm.....

Tough to say from the pics. The snake does look a little dehydrated. Not because of the wrinkles. They look normal. Is the snake in shed in this picture? Is there any wrinkling of the eye cap?
-----
Mike Lockwood
www.tooscaley.com

She shed thursday night (same night I got her), but it was not in one nice piece. I think that there may still be some stuck skin, but there is no loose ends to help pull it off. Luckily both eye caps did come off in the shed and her current eye caps appear to be good.

Right now I have a small damp piece of paper towel in her hide boxes to try to increase her humidity and a water bowl that is large enough for her to soak herself in, but she does not seem interested in it.

What is the temperature down in the bottom of the cage where she is spending most of her time?

>>She shed thursday night (same night I got her), but it was not in one nice piece. I think that there may still be some stuck skin, but there is no loose ends to help pull it off. Luckily both eye caps did come off in the shed and her current eye caps appear to be good.
>>
>>Right now I have a small damp piece of paper towel in her hide boxes to try to increase her humidity and a water bowl that is large enough for her to soak herself in, but she does not seem interested in it.

She spends most of her time in the hide box at the warm side of the cage at 83.4 F.

Some people like that temperature for their BRBs. Mine seem to prefer temperature several degrees cooler than that. She may be in the hide box because of the security it provides even if it is warmer than she prefers. BRBs should ideally shed in one piece (if they shed in two or three pieces that come off very easily that is fine) and they should not feel dry. It may be that your snake arrived a little dry and your temperature may be a little high and/or your cage may be a little too dry.

>>She spends most of her time in the hide box at the warm side of the cage at 83.4 F.

She has one other hide box on the cooler side of the cage, but she does not move around much during the day. I put her over on the warm side because when I got her she was only 60 F and in shed with very dry skin. I tried my best to up her humidity, but she shed that night. She currently feels smooth, but it looks like there is some stuck skin that can't be removed because some of the scales have a white lining around them.

What is causing the folds of skin on her neck when she turns her head?

I just am not sure I understand what you are saying about folds in the skin when she turns her head. These snakes do have some bending and folding of the skin when they move but it impossible to descibe in words how much is normal. Good photos would help, though the earlier photo you posted does look like the snake is okay.

>>She has one other hide box on the cooler side of the cage, but she does not move around much during the day. I put her over on the warm side because when I got her she was only 60 F and in shed with very dry skin. I tried my best to up her humidity, but she shed that night. She currently feels smooth, but it looks like there is some stuck skin that can't be removed because some of the scales have a white lining around them.
>>
>>What is causing the folds of skin on her neck when she turns her head?

I just had never seen the folds in any other snake before. She is my first boa and her previous owner said that she had had mites. I wasn't sure if the folds were a result of the mites, if it was because she still has some stuck skin, or if maybe she was too dry. So far she appears to be mite free.

I know though that I tend to worry more about my snakes.

Thank you everyone for the information.

My kids like it a bit cooler too. The area right under the heat panel is set to 80.5, they're rarely over there. My "hides" are open top tubs of cypress and moss, one on the warm side, one on the cool. They like mid-cage or cooler side, they seem to keep themselves right around 75-77 degrees. The racks are about the same gradient, 73-80, they're hanging mid drawer at about 75-77. I figure they know what they're doing.
-----
Julie
www.[url ban]/gfx

If you are still worried about shedding(and to a lesser degree dehydration) I would just lay out a significant section of sphagnum moss, that has been saturated in water, across the length of the enclosure. This will allow the snake to access the secure moist substrate at any temperature zone in the enclosure. Most snakes I've kept love to burrow in it.

I have never had a partial/stuck shed that did not come off overnight leaving the snake in an enclosed container of wet sphagnum moss. Not the compressed stuff but the rough stuff that still has it's natural structure. The humidity loosens the shed and the rough texture just pulls it right off. The high humidity can also help with the dehydration a bit.

Sean.
-----
1.1 BRB
0.1 Pacific Gophersnake(unproven Hypo)
1.0 Amel Pacific Gophersnake
0.1 Striped Anery Pacific Gophersnake
1.1 Triple Het TPRS's
0.1 Silver TPRS
1.1 Amel Bloodred Corns
0.1 Abbott Okeetee Corn
0.1 Blizzard Bloodred Corn
1.1 Thayeri Kingsnakes
0.1 Reeve's Turtle
0.2 Amstaff's
1.0 Pudytat

..of the moss structure I was talking about. Just in case you've never used it first hand.

Sean.
-----
1.1 BRB
0.1 Pacific Gophersnake(unproven Hypo)
1.0 Amel Pacific Gophersnake
0.1 Striped Anery Pacific Gophersnake
1.1 Triple Het TPRS's
0.1 Silver TPRS
1.1 Amel Bloodred Corns
0.1 Abbott Okeetee Corn
0.1 Blizzard Bloodred Corn
1.1 Thayeri Kingsnakes
0.1 Reeve's Turtle
0.2 Amstaff's
1.0 Pudytat

Thanks. I'll try that out. She needs something to make her cage look nicer and if it can also help her skin that makes it all the better.