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I have bought a 12 years old boa constrictor. She is a little thin, because she produced her fourth litter four month ago, but looks good. Her previous owner feeded her on rabbits(live), so after a few days a tried to feed her with small sized live rabbit and pre-killed rabbit, as well. I had no success. After 2 days I offered her a pre-killed rat, but she hadn’t shown any interest. In addition her mouth wasn’t closed perfectly. So we started a 10 days long antibiotic therapy against the bacterial infection with the well-known Baytril. The cure was ended on 17, November. She lost 1,5lbs (0.7 kilograms) of her weight during the past 3 weeks. She still refuses any feed, although she is much more active, since the therapy. I have no more idea how can I help her or what can I do to she starts feeding.
I would be grateful for any suggestion, idea, or just tip.

Thank you in advance,

Adam Botond

Ok I will start from the top. Does she show any signs of RI? This is a dumb one but ..are you using the same colored rabbits? It could just be a settling in thing as well. 1.5 is alot to lose. Drinking water? Got more info?
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She was very thirsty. After I put her into the cage, she was drinking long. In the first days she drank often. I have noticed that she made unusual bubbles during the exhalation while her head is under the water. I observed noisy breathing at only one time when I bathed her, but that was before the antibiotic therapy.Yes, I tried several colored rabbits.

Adam

and it's not unusual to have boas go off feed this time of year.

I expect all my adult boids to go off feed 3-4 months every year. Males usually go off feed 4-6 months a year. Normal stuff.

Keep the heat up and ask the previous owner if she normally fed less in winter.

Doug T

>>I have bought a 12 years old boa constrictor. She is a little thin, because she produced her fourth litter four month ago, but looks good. Her previous owner feeded her on rabbits(live), so after a few days a tried to feed her with small sized live rabbit and pre-killed rabbit, as well. I had no success. After 2 days I offered her a pre-killed rat, but she hadn’t shown any interest. In addition her mouth wasn’t closed perfectly. So we started a 10 days long antibiotic therapy against the bacterial infection with the well-known Baytril. The cure was ended on 17, November. She lost 1,5lbs (0.7 kilograms) of her weight during the past 3 weeks. She still refuses any feed, although she is much more active, since the therapy. I have no more idea how can I help her or what can I do to she starts feeding.
>>I would be grateful for any suggestion, idea, or just tip.
>>
>>Thank you in advance,
>>
>>Adam Botond
>>

one idea i have had some luck with is to dip the prey into warm chicken broth. for some reason this will trigger an eating response in most snakes. another thing to try is to "cook" the prey (warm it up under a heating lamp for a minute or 2) and offer it to the snake. if all else fails you may have to force feed (which is only as a last resort) and should never be done by yourself when dealing with a large snake. have a friend that is educated about snakes there with you or take your snake to a qualified vet and have him or her do it. good luck