Reptile & Amphibian Forums

OK, I have a question. I will soon have two boas that will need to be separated for feeding. What do you use to put them in for feeding? Also, doesn't it stress them to move them and expect them to eat?

Thanks for any suggestions
Nina

Even if you only had one snake you would still need to remove it from the tank it lives in to feed him. If you feed them in the same tank they live in they will expect food every time you reach in and will cause some unecessary bites. I feed mine in a tank I had for my burmese python that he grew out of, but you can feed them in many different things. It does not stress them to move them into a different tank to feed them, but you should give them about a week or so before you feed them to let them settle into their new enclosure. Hope I helped you, and good luck in the future.

The separation of two boas housed together for feeding is definitely a wise idea....and this can be accomplished in a number of ways, preferably a different escape proof enclosure. But as far as having to remove a boa from its enclosure, into a seperate "feeding enclosure", is simply a personal choice. I have never done this with any of my boas...adult or neonate, and have never been mistaken for food during a non-feeding visit. Alot of people think that a boa will become "conditioned" to the opening of the doors with a feeding response, again I have found this to be completely untrue.

Good luck,
Philip Niforatos

NP

One thing to think about is building a cage with a seperator down the middle of the cage so that when you do feed, you can seperate them like that instead of putting them in a different cage each time. The thing about conditioning a snake when opening the cage is only true for the keeper that hardly ever gets the snake out in the first place. I never had a problem with my columbian. The only problem i have ever had in this situation is with a burmese i use to have. Burmeses are the ones that you really have to be carefull with. As long as you get the snake out for at least 15 minutes a day or so, then i don't see any problems. If you only open the cage to feed it, then yes, you will probably get bit one day.

If at all possible, it's best to house all your animals separately. It's quite simple, if one animal gets sicks, chances are the other also will. Accurately monitoring the animals through there fecal becomes more difficult when housed together. Perhaps most important is the stress one animal can have on another. There can be dominance patterns demonstrated at locations throughout the cage.

As far as feeding and the implied conditioning within their normal cage, from my experience I've found this not to be the case. That's not to say animals don't expect to feed from set locations in their cage, but it's matter of timing.

For the past 13 years, I only feed at night under very dim lighting. The animals are use to be me entering their enclosures during the day for cleaning, water and handling.
Once the lights to out, they know it's feeding time, after which they are left alone to digest their prey for two or three days. I never enter a cage at night for any reason other than to feed.

For me, it never made sense to handle an animal before or after feeding at a time when their instinct to strike is at it's highest.

I'd say try and get a seperate cage for each snake and house them seperately all the time, there's a few reasons why, the game of "who pooped?" if they're smaller snakes the game of "who shed?" is also fun sometimes, then there's everyone's favorite game "who puked?". When you have multiple snakes in one cage you're never quite sure which one is not feeling the best.

I just had a pair of 03 boas in one cage while we moved, well the WEEK we moved we had 2 bowel movements, and one "small puke" (coulda been a BM with lotsa hair) and 3 (yes 3) sheds in that week. I'm pretty sure I know who shed (it's an albino & a het boa so the sheds looked like 2 for the normal and 1 for the albino) but the BM's and puke(bm?) are unknowns. They're in seperate cages now that we're settled and boy am I glad.

Also boas tend to be aggressive eaters and I'd always be worried one of them would strike the other smelling mouse on the tank mate.
-----
Gary Harris - gary@mydixiesys.com
http://www.dixiesys.com/
http://www.8-95.com/