Reptile & Amphibian Forums

this is the boa I rescued. After months of getting her over the RI she at a medium frozen rat on 3 seperate occasions spaced two weeks apart. I then tried to offer a large rat thinking she was ready for a full sized meal. She refused. I waited a couple days and went with a medium rat - refused. I waited a week and again she refused a medium rat. I waited a week and today she went right for it, constricted it, and left it. THese are all frozen. I thaw till warm. Her temps have not changed although it is very hot here in texas and it is hard to keep things consistent from day to night. 80 on the low end 90 on the high end with gradients throughout the enclosure. She does not look sick at all.
I am going to leave her with the rat she constricted maybe over night to see what happens. I feed her in a smaller seperate container.
Here is my list of suspected reasons tell me what you think please:
Please note: I have no idea how she was fed by the people who dumped her off
1. She is a killer. She would rather eat live rats
2. Watching her figure. She was used to only eating every so often and is just not hungry yet (it has been over four weeks)
3. Needs her space. She does not like being fed in the smaller seperate feeding container

Please give suggestions, my friend at the pet store thinks we should offer live next while supervised. I would rather not go that way but will.

If I have a picky feeder - first - I won't move her before I feed her - try to leave her as hidden and secure as possible before food is offered. In fact, sometimes I'll wait until she's mostly hidden to offer food. Second - if you can - try to get her to bite the head of the rat. If I have a feeder that constricts and then lets go, sometimes they'll skip this behavior if the rat is already perfectly positioned in their mouth on its way down. And if she seems intimidated by big rats, stick with mediums for now. Personally I don't think any snake that's still in a growth stage should be waiting 4 weeks between feedings. If I feed a boa, it defecates and the lump is gone and it doesn't feed again I'm concerned. Not panicking but a little concerned. Maybe she's entering a shed cycle?

I have a couple of snakes that are very irregular eaters. My suggestion would be to put the thawed rat in a ziplock bag, put the bag in hot water for a few minutes. Feed your snake in a large cardboard box. Use a pair of long hemostats or anything you can find and wiggle the rat. This usually invokes a strike from a snake that is used to eating live. Good luck!

thanks for the reply. She was good on the strike response just did not eat it after constricting. Weird.
I dangled it as you described.
I think I may try offering in her own secured environment while she is in her hide as suggested above. Maybe dangle it in the entrance of her hide. Not the best place to feed but she is on newspaper so I don't have to worry about shavings and I can work her into a feed box later when she is eating regularly.