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98673
Steve,
Hi and welcome to the forum.....
Sounds like you have something happening.
First off I would separate the snakes. I know you view them as inseparable but its really better for them. Someone will be along to explain the whys and wherefors of that especially when they are not even the same species. Have you had them checked for parasites since purchase?
Next I would use paper towels so that if you do have a mite problem beginning you will see if faster and know once you have treated how its going. Paper towels or newspaper is really inexpensive and great as a substrate. Not the prettiest but won't cause problems to worry with if kept picked up and replenished. Housekeeping for snakes is really important because of bacterias and such. They have nowhere to go to get away from such problems.. even water spills so it's real important to take care of problems right away.
The next thing is the live rats thing. Medium rats are far too large and dangerous to the snakes even if you ARE watching. We can't watch quick enough to keep them from being injured anyway. I prekill my rats and also gas em and freeze them. Most of my snakes switched from prekilled to f/t easily. The boas really just really need to be hungry. We are generally the problem since we put them on schedules and expect things to go just so unless they are shedding or sick. There's tips on getting them to switch so think about it. At the very least prekill the rats. The advantage of frozen thawed I like the most is parasites found in rats are transmitted by ingestion into your snake.....once frozen those same parasites have died and won't harm the snake!
I'm sure some folks will be along to help you out. This is just where I would start. They can give you advise on pretreating aspen for mites before going into cages and what to use on the cage regardless of substrate and what can be safely used on your animal. There is a lot to learn and go thru......the links about feeding and mites are sure to come. If you go to the different forums you will already find them posted for others that had problems similar too.
Good luck and keep us posted.
Sandy
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