Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I got a Dumerils boa in September and have offered food to it many times since but the snake will not eat. I tried to feed it live and yesterday I tried a FT mouse. She seemed more interested in this than the live but still did not eat. I was wondering if there are some scents that I could put on the mouse to make her eat. I read that they only eat mammals but it seems that as a young snake they might want frogs or lizards as well. Any help getting her to eat would be great.

Thanks in advance,

Jeremy McManmon

Jeremy, It's very common for Dumerils to only accept rats.
Get a rat pinky and your boa should accept it.

Good Luck

Mike Greathouse
Reptilian Dreams

Dumerils love quail. Find the right size and I bet she takes it. That is how I got this guy started.

Wait! Don't go looking for quail and other food items or scents that you'll be stuck trying provide because it won't eat anything else. I don't know how you have it set up, but I'll assume that it is some sort of glass aquarium with a screen lid, and I don't know how old your snake is, but I'll assume it is a neonate based on the time of year you purchased it.

Here's what you need to do: go to wal-mart or some other store that carries rubbermade storage boxes. Buy a shoe box sized box for a neonate (larger if your snake is larger). Make sure the lid snaps shut well. Put the snake in that with minimum substrate for a few days. Provide a small dish of water and leave it alone for a few days. DO NOT EVEN LOOK AT IT (well, check it once a day for life). Leave it somewhere out of high traffic areas. Provide adequate heat. After a few days, as it gets dark drop a pre-killed (thumped, not FT). It will eat.

Too much space is a common problem as is stress associated with too much handling or even too much traffic past the enclosure. Providing your new snake with some privacy will do the trick. Lots of times snakes cruize only the perimeter of the enclosure and never explore the interior, so large enclosures aren't always better. I hope this helps. Most of all, don't worry; snakes can go for months without eating (provided they are healthy to begin with).

Good luck,

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Zoodude

1.1 Acrantophis dumerli
0.1 Python molurus bivittatus
0.0.1 Morelia veridis
1.1 Elaphe (panthertophis?) obsoleta lindheimeri
0.2 Bogertophis subocularis
1.0 Pogona henrylawsoni
0.1 Geochelone carbonaria
3.2.1 Phelsuma laticaudal laticauda
1.5.1 Eublepharus macularius
0.0.1 Lampropeltis gutulus hobrooki
2.1.12 Elaphe guttata guttata

Thanks for everybodys replies. The size of the cage could be the problem. That was acually somehing that I have thought of but have not yet got around to changing. I have heard from a number of people that small rats such as pinks and fuzzies will work well also. I put a mouse fuzzie half way in the snakes mouth and she took it. I am hopeing that this will give her the scent and taste to eat mice. I will try the rat pups and cage size and maybe the quail if nothing seems to work.

Thanks for the help.

Jeremy

Well, zoodude beat me to the reply, but I second his advice. I keep ALL my baby dumerils in the 98 cent rubbermaid or 88 cent sterilites(your choice Wal-Mart 24/7). I use a piece of newspaper for substrate, and fold a small piece up taking up one third of the cage, for the dumerils to "hide" in, and a small water bowl. I keep them in this set up until they outgrow it. I have babies start on mice hoppers(sometimes larger depending on baby) and rat pinks, either one will work. I have NEVER had to buy Quail or any other type of bird to get my babies going. A good thing to have with baby dumerils is patience. Take care.

Paul

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention "patience." I've always been able to get them to eat mice/rats; I've never had to resort to quail or other animals. My 5' male dum went off feed for a while and I did have to resort to feeding him large mice (considerably undersized prey), but it workd and he's back to large f/t rats now.

Thanks for posting, PBM. It's good to know that what works for me works for others too. You never know whe you're just getting lucky.
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Zoodude

1.1 Acrantophis dumerli
0.1 Python molurus bivittatus
0.0.1 Morelia veridis
1.1 Elaphe (panthertophis?) obsoleta lindheimeri
0.2 Bogertophis subocularis
1.0 Pogona henrylawsoni
0.1 Geochelone carbonaria
3.2.1 Phelsuma laticaudal laticauda
1.5.1 Eublepharus macularius
0.0.1 Lampropeltis gutulus hobrooki
2.1.12 Elaphe guttata guttata