Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I recently purchased a baby dumerils boa. I picked him up on a Saturday and fed him on Wendsday a prekilled mouse. It has been 3 weeks since that mouse and he hasen't eaten anything. When I put him in his fed box he gets very aggressive and bites everything but won't eat. He just shed this week. His cage is overall 82 with a hot spot of 95 He has multiple hide spots. I only feed him at night I total dark. I use a shoe box with paper in it so he hides under the paper with the mouse just slightly under. ( worked well getting my adults to eat) My adults eat about every 2 weeks but this is my first baby. My question is is this normal for a baby? Is there something else I can try to get him to eat?

My boyfriend also have a Surinan red tail baby in the same type of set up as my dumerils.He eats evryweek but every third week he regergatates his mouse 2 days after he eats. We dont handle them for 3-4 days after they eat. Any suggestions? I bought a dumerils and the surinan from the same people could I have just purchased problem snakes?

Thanks

As far as the Dumerils goes, I'd keep him in the shoebox container 24/7 until he's an established feeder for you. It sounds like your keeping him in a larger cage with the description you gave on temps. and multiple hides. Generally speaking baby dumerils do much better in small cages. There is also no need to move him to feed. Just offer food in the cage he is used to, as picking him up and tossing him into a different cage and tossing in a mouse doesn't help with a problem feeder. He has fed for you, so you know he'll eat, now it's up to you to get him feeling secure enough to eat regularly, which will mean very very little handling until you've gotten to this point. Don't worry about him turning aggressive, as that's a rarity with dumerils. Good luck, take care

Paul

thanks I'll try that