Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I've had my Dumeril for almost a year now and I used to feed her once a week but after feeding her on one week the next week she would be very picky, so then I tried feeding her every 2-3 weeks and she goes for the live mouse/rat right away, it's just taking her a long time to grow. Anyone feed theirs at this interval or at a more frequent basis?

I've noticed a similar situation with my juvie girl. She takes the longest of all my other snakes to hunt her mouse - often even and hour or two after the mouse is introduced (with me supervising the entire time)!

I offer her an appropriate-sized meal once a week. The last few times when I didn't offer her food during her shed cycle, she was A LOT more aggressive in hunting the mouse after not eating for 2 weeks.

Since she does end up eating each week that I normally feed her, I will continue to do so...however, I do have a feeling when they are hungrier they are more inclined to hunt and eat quicker. Kind of like humans, LOL!

I feed both of mine every 7 to 10 days one medium size rat never a problem.

I feed my late '07 dumerils 1 med/large fuzzy rat every 7-10 days. He has never refused a meal offered to him.

My 3yr old female eats 2 med rats every 10-14 days. BUT, she also didn't eat for me the entire first year I had her. I am not kidding, she went right at 12 months without eating a thing. I got her as a 1yr old good eater at that. She is well on her way to making up for the lack of appetite now.

My 15yr old female generally eats 1-2 large rats every 10-14. She usally only eats one rat, but I always offer a second rat. Sometimes she will eat the second rat, if not I toss it to my albino burm.

The previous owner of my newest dumerils said that she has gone up to 6 months without eating and at times has eaten every time she was offered food. Her age is unknown. She was rescued from the side of a road in rural Oklahoma City and rehabbed for 2 yrs before I got here.

My 2 adult females will eat frozen/thawed and the 2 youngsters will only eat live.

The one thing I have learned about dumerils boas (snakes in general) is, even the most tractable snake will throw you a curve ball on occassion.
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1.3 dumerils boas, 1.0 pastel ball python, 1.0 albino burmese python, 0.0.1 wc prairie kingsnake, 0.2 bearded dragons, 0.0.1 sulcata tortoise

I got my Dum as a yearling with a shaky feeding history; he had only just started eating with any regularity, and had been a slow starter.

Whatever his problems were before I bought him, he forgot them completely. IF he has ever refused to eat for me, it had to have been while his eyes were deeply clouded over. He is my most reliable feeder, and plays clean-up for my finicky BP's! He typically eats even if his eyes are clouded over.

When my BP's are feeding on schedule, I feed my Dum 1 "medium" f/t rat about every 10 days. He typically eats small f/t rats a lot more often, as he is my clean-up guy. I'm going to have to cut back on how often I let him play clean-up for the BP's though; he's starting to get a fat "butt!"

The only things I would say I have noticed from this guy that is totally different from any other snake I have kept is that:
1) he takes forever to "kill" his f/t prey - like a couple hours, no kidding!!
2) [I feed in a separate container from the cage he lives in] the feeding bin had to be completely covered with a towel or a blanket before he would even consider eating... until just recently; only in this year have I been able to actually watch him eat!

~Rebecca
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1.0.0 Dumeril's Boa '04
1.2.1 Ball Pythons
[1.0.0 '05 Orange Hypo (Specter)]
[0.1.0 '05 Het Orange Hypo (Sylvia)]
[0.1.0 '08 VPI line Axanthic (Jane)]
[0.0.1 '03 Normal (Sue)]
0.2 American Pit Bull Terriers (40lb darling lap dogs:Brandy&Mara)

...and MANY more years' experience in colubrids