Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I went to the snake show today looking for a kingsnake and came home with a 4 year old male dumeril boa. I have had a common boa and a rainbow boa, but know nothing about dumerils. He is striking, haven't measured yet, but is somewere between 4 & 5 feet. I have a couple questons.

1. The guy I got him from has had him since he was a hatchling and feeds him live rats. How do I switch him over to f/t. I've never had to do this before. My other two snakes ate pre killed, but I don't like to kill the rats, so I want to feed this one f/t. Which raises another question, what is the best way to thaw/warm up the frozen rats? (Also I did read a couple posts below about going first from live to pre-killed before going to f/t).

2. Both my other snakes were on newspaper or reptile carpet. This guy said that Frank (the name I gave the snake) likes to burrow. I bought frank a stone hidey place, but he hasn't used it yet. All I have ever heard about substrate (this guy used aspen), is about all the problems you can have with it. What do y'all think?

3. Since he is a "ground" boa, should I provide branches for him to climb on, or will they just take up space in the cage. Also, I have him in a 42"x24"x24" cage, is this enough room? I have heard that they are not very active and don't need or use a lot of space.

Thanks in advance for any help you can give!!!

Taylor & frank

put him into his tank and leave him alone so he can get used to his surroundings. a week should be good. if he still strikes try wearing the same shirt for 2-3 days 24/7 and then put the shirt into the tank. he will crawl through it and get used to your scent. you should be able to handle him (using caution)after a few days.

thawing out f/t is easy. you just leave them out in room temp then when ready to feed just plop them into some hot tap water for about a minute.

dums are ground boas so branches are just a waste of space.
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0.0.1 Colombian Redtail Boa
1.1.1 Sumatran Blood Pythons
1.0 Black Blood Python
1.0 Dumeril's Boa
0.1 Coastal Carpet Python
0.1 Jungle Carpet Python

also, good luck on switching to f/t. my dum has only eaten f/t one time. will only eat live. he enjoys the hunt too much.
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0.0.1 Colombian Redtail Boa
1.1.1 Sumatran Blood Pythons
1.0 Black Blood Python
1.0 Dumeril's Boa
0.1 Coastal Carpet Python
0.1 Jungle Carpet Python