Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My first question is regarding feeding. I have now a yearling dumerils, he's around 3 feet, not eating. I just found and read Dumerils.com site, fabulous by the way, I marked it for future reference. I have him in a 40 long tank with Carefresh on the bottom, so I think I'll try the aspen and a Rubbermaid container to give him more privacy. The site recommends a shoebox for babies - what size should I go for this guy? Or should I just try a smaller tank? Also, with the Rubbermaid, do you do heat by placing one end on a heatpad in a tank?
Also, I work educational shows with kids and stuff, I now use my kingsnakes and ball pythons, and was hoping to use this guy eventually. Right now he's extremely shy and fake-strikes at movement when he's out of his cage (comfort-zone). Do you think it's not too late to work with this guy and get him confident and docile enough for my shows? Is this a good species for this?Thanks in advance for advice and expertise - I think I need some encouragement!
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0.1.0 Boa, Elsa
1.0.0 Dumeril's Boa, Bruce
1.0.0 Mexican Kingsnake, Vincent
1.0.0 Graybanded Kingsnak, Boris
1.1.0 Ball Pythons, Pete & Sweetie-Darling
2.3.0 Bearded Dragons, Bela, Sally, Marigold, Phoenix & Spook
1.2.0 Fattailed Geckos, Sahein, Beltaine & Soltice
2.4.0 Leopard Geckos, Ian, Wicca, Rune, Ursla, Ostara & Pagan
2.0.0 Rats, Captian Howdy & Despero
0.0.1 Hermit Crab, Kraken
0.0.1 Pom-pom Goldfish, Jester
1.0.0 Pushy Lovebird Baxter

What I have found is Dumerils need to feel secure in thier cage. A sweater or blanket size plastic tub sterilite or rubbermaid box is best. And place them on a shelf like a rack system. Then a heating pad on one end of the cage. I keep mine at about 80 degrees cool end
and 85 on the hot end. Then don't handle, just leave he/she alone until it starts feeding. Once it starts feeding 2 or 3 times you can start to take it out for short periods of time. When a Dumerils as reached a fairly good size and is feeling secure you can then place them in a display cage. I hope this helps.
Chuck

This species is known to be very docile. It should tame easily with handling. Bill Love who published an article in Reptiles magazine this past December noted that he had never come across one in the wild in Madagascar that attempted to defend its self from him. If this one is nippy and dosen't settle down you just have a tempermental individual.

Someone wrote that they had success with stubborn dumeril feeders being in aspen. I can't remember where it was or who wrote it, but it can't hurt to try. How long has it not been eating for? Mine just went a month and then shed then ate her first pk mouse and she was fine. They are "lazier" than regular boas, and don't eat as much or as often. Dumerils.com is a great site, and they used to have great forums on there for dums, but it hasn't been up for like a month now.
I heard they are great snakes for educational shows because they are so laid back. Mine is pretty docile, unless you try to touch her face, or mess with the end of her tail.
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Tim W.
http://tsw.f2g.net

He hasn't eaten since I got him, two and a half months ago. But he doesn't seem to have lost weight, and my ball pythons are off-feed this winter, as well. Could it be a seasonal thing? But I'm gonna try the Rubbermaid sweater box and aspen. Should I just do this and leave him alone for awhile till he eats? Perhaps I should put a T-shirt or something in as well so at least he's getting used to my scent.
Thanks for all the great advice, and reassurance!
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0.1.0 Boa, Elsa
1.0.0 Dumeril's Boa, Bruce
1.0.0 Mexican Kingsnake, Vincent
1.0.0 Graybanded Kingsnak, Boris
1.1.0 Ball Pythons, Pete & Sweetie-Darling
2.3.0 Bearded Dragons, Bela, Sally, Marigold, Phoenix & Spook
1.2.0 Fattailed Geckos, Sahein, Beltaine & Soltice
2.4.0 Leopard Geckos, Ian, Wicca, Rune, Ursla, Ostara & Pagan
2.0.0 Rats, Captian Howdy & Despero
0.0.1 Hermit Crab, Kraken
0.0.1 Pom-pom Goldfish, Jester
1.0.0 Pushy Lovebird Baxter

I use a Dumerils (almost 4 ft) in my educational shows and he is an easy-to-handle animal that shows well (no problem, even at his first show). My 9 yr old daughter likes the fact that he'll just "hang out" on her while I clean his cage. I imagine that your Dum will become more placid with time and handling.

BTW, you might want to monitor the Boa forum at www.[bleep].com. They seem to have a fair number of posts about Dumerils.

The bleep in that address is [bleep].

It should be s, then the word snake, followed by another s.