Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Soo I am tring to purchase a Hogg Island Boy to go with my little Eos And i found one and paid for it but the breeder has been haveing trouble feeding the whole clutch and it has been close to 2 months now with only one feeding... He is now offering me the option of a full refund or to keep waiting. I really do like the colors of the male i picked out but im not sure i want to risk haveing a "problem feeder" on my hands or even worse have this poor baby die in shipping or in my care because he wouldn't eat.. I just need some opinions about Hogg island babies feeding. I know when i purchased Eos she was only a month and a half old but she has never missed a meal. I just need help with this decision i guess.. Any help is good help... THANKS!!!

Sincerely,
Rose Hipskind

Refusal to feed in captivity and/or a fear of domestic rodents was very well known in wild-collected Bci from the Hog is. In nature these boas probably subsist on lizards, birds, a few amphibs, crabs?... and whatever rodent comes by.

This trait of not wanting to completely act like a domestic animal has been largely bred out of the captive populations. The one's that do not feed well or breed less regularly end up in the hands of more patient hobbyists that are satisfied with an interesting pet boa and don't need a feeding/breeding machine.

Along with the loss of that worrysome trait the traits for larger size, reduced speckling and different colors has been enhanced to some degree or another.

About your particular question, I have seen a couple of Hog is. boas never feed voluntarily and ultimatelly die. Those would be an extreme rariity considering all of the babies being born, but that is a possibility. Many more born here have been stubborn getting started but did accept mice and grow and develop normally. How long did it take?.. up tp four months.

Methods used to induce feeding included everything you may have ever tried or heard of but the most successful seems to be housing the baby in a small private box, with a hide and a small water bowl, leave them alone for several days and then carefully introduce a live fuzzy mouse after dark.

Good luck with that,
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Gus
A. Rentfro
RioBravoReptiles.com

"Quality is not an accident. Perfectly healthy animals are a minimum requirement.. everything else is just salesmanship" gus

One of the most common mistakes made is trying to feed baby boas too soon.

Many babies will eat right away and show no problem at all. Others do have problems, the least of which can be that they are not hungry enough to eat and become scared of the mouse or rat-pup and then are slow starters. Still others may develop long-term digestive disorders probably because their digestive tract was pre-mature.

If you have a lot of experience with baby boas you can pick out the ones that have fully absorbed the yolk and have that 'I'm ready' look and feel. Beginners should simply wait at least a week or ten days after the first shed, that will not stunt the baby and will lessen the chance of a problem.
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Gus
A. Rentfro
RioBravoReptiles.com

"Quality is not an accident. Perfectly healthy animals are a minimum requirement.. everything else is just salesmanship" gus

Well I thank you for the information and from what ive seen of these babies its been about two months and only one meal down them, I want to wait it out because not only is this particular animal a beauty, but also cause i already have everything set up.

I am comforted to hear that it isnt odd for Hogg's to have a rough start at life, and im hopeing when this animal arrives I'll be able to give it the proper care it needs and deserves. And I will make sure to follow all the hints i have learned along the way. I guess i will just wait it out, and have a place ready for him when he gets here. I will give him a small/ dark cage and let him be for a week before i try to bother him toooo much. is there anything else you could think about for helping me with this baby boy? I only have one other boa and she never skips a meal. in fact none of my snakes have ever missed a meal so im a bit weary of getting myself in over my head. but i think/ hope i have enough experiance to get through this anything else would be helpful but im sure ill have more questions when the snakes actually comes. Thank you so much..

Sincerely,
Rose & Steve

You can take a dead pinky mouse. Use a playing card to ever so gently open the snake's mouth.Then take the dead pink,lube it with water & ever so gently put the head of the pinky in the snake's mouth. Remove the playing card & slowly work the pink down the snake's throat. You can use Q-tips or even a small pair of hemostats to help work the pink down the snake's mouth. After the pink is fully down the snake's mouth,gently & slowly use your thumb to slowly rub the pink down the snake's throat until the pink reaches the snake's stomach.
With that said,Force feeding should be done with someone that's had experince force feeding & force feeding REALLY stresses a snake out ! BUT,if your snake is gonna die from not eating..................what have ya got to lose ? Sometime this has worked well for me, the pink will stay down,the snake deficates & where it's stomach was full & now empty, they gets hungry & eat on their own. I'm not suggesting you do this......I'm just sharing with you what has sometimes worked for me in the past with newborns that refused to eat. Good luck with your Hog. Dave@ East TN Reptiles

When I had my first litter of Hog Island boas a third of them refused to feed. I had had offered mice that had just opened their eyes.

Since I am an opponent to force feeding I tried a prey item that offered a larger stimulation to the animals: I offered fully weaned mice (the size when they are jumping like mad and are very agile).

The result was stunning: All refusers started to feed. Normally I had considered these prey items as too big for the babies. But they digested it within a few days.

So if I were you I would lock up the Hoggie in a small box in the evening and after an hour (this gives the boa the possibility to calm down) I would put such a mouse into the box all night.

Don't forget to put also some food for the mouse into the box. That prevents the boa from being food for the mouse (such things happen).

Don't check every hour. Check the next morning. Good luck!
Boa constrictor

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Beware of Commies and Mutts!