Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I picked up a Kenyan Sand Boa spur of the moment at a show bc I thought it would be a cool animal for my classroom. It is housed in a 10 gal tank with a undertank heating pad on the side and for a few hours a day a 20watt bulb, that is elevated over the tank, comes on. I've had the snake 3 months and it has yet to eat. I've tried pinkies left in the tank. I put it in a paper bag overnight w a pinkie in there and nothing. The wierd thing is that it has shed twice though since I've had it and deficated (so I know it ate at some point). Ideas?

How old is the snake (baby/adult)? What type of substrate are you using and what is its depth? What is the temperature on the warm side (I would measure with a temp gun of some sort)?

-Chris
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Christopher E. Smith
Contact
Captive Bred Herps
Wildlife Research & Consulting Services, LLC

The snake is approx 6 inches long and I'm not sure about the age but it can't be mich more than 6-8 months old. The hot side of the tank is about 100 beneath the sand where the heat pad is. The other end of the tank is in the mid 70's.

Are you trying live or f/t pinkies? If f/t I would try live. Also, contrary to their name, kenyan sand boas are not from areas that are pure sand. Their natural habitat is more like an arid-desert scrub land type thing. I would try using aspen instead of the sand. It will allow their burrows to hold shape. For a small individual like yours I would give it 2" of substrate.

-Chris
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Christopher E. Smith
Contact
Captive Bred Herps
Wildlife Research & Consulting Services, LLC

Thanks....I'll try the substrate change and cross my fingers.

I have some picky little guys and I have also found that moving them to a much smaller enclosure and providing a hide box ontop of the aspen substrate helps. Then I just put the pinky in the hide box and avoid messing too much with their burrow. Minimal contact until they get back to regular eating is also a plus.

But I don't think it is terribly unusual for these guys to take a few months to acclimate.

Another option might be dixie cupping with multiple pinkies.

I'd try Chris' ideas first but if they don't work you now have some additional more aggressive steps.
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Mark Huntley
Sand Boa Morphs

Kenyan Sand Boa's
4.1 Rufescens
1.2 Albinos
0.5 Dodoma
2.1 Flame
2.5.8 Normal (orange)
3.4.10 Anery
0.1 Snow
2.2 Hopeful Yellow Snow
0.1 Splash Albino
1.0 Splash Anery
1.0 Orange Stripe 100% Het Anery
1.0 High Orange Stripe
1.0 Yellow Stripe
0.4 High Orange Tiger
2.2 High Orange
2.3 Boston Terriers
0.2 Sooners
8.30 Rhode Island Reds
0.0.15 Tropical Fish
0.1 Moody Wives
1.1 On the fence in-laws
2.1 Rug Rats

http://sandboamorphs.blogspot.com/