Does she look healthy to you?

[monkeykoder]

Species: Dumeril
How long have you had this animal? Less than a week
Ambient Temps: 85-88 hot
Basking temps:
Size: about 2.5 ft
Diet within the past year for snakes--the past 6 months for lizards: supposedly fuzzys till about 3 mo ago
Last time this animal ate: about 3 mo ago
Frozen thawed/ live/ stunned/ freshly kiled? live I believe
Bulbs if any utilized (be as specific as possible--look on bulb to get make and wattage): not sure but red light
Heat sources (makes and wattage):
How are you measuring temps? 2 thermometers one on either side of tank
Cage size and type: 20 gallon aquarium
Substrate: Currently cypress mulch previous unknown
Symptoms: not eating seems soft/skinny/slack
Can you upload any pics? yes
Comments: kinda hoping you'll just tell me she is normal

[JuliusSqueezer]

fuzzy what? Fuzzy rats are too small. If you are offering fuzzy mice, they are even more too small and she may not have any interest in mice anyway. Dums break the old girth rule wide open. They tend to break a lot of rules wide open actually. Newborn babies often require not only live pink rats to get started but live pink rats in the cage on loose substrate. They hunt by burrowing leaving only their nose sticking out and wait for something to walk by. Some newborns are pretty picky about needing to be allowed to hunt this way. Some will eat f/t in a feed tote right away though so it's always a good idea to at least try them that way before risking live and loose substrate...but whatever works right? Once they become established feeders, they aren't usually one to take the rat from the tongs. The one I have now and every one I've ever had has always attacked the food very much the way candoia does...just nasty strikes in random directions. Just make sure it's late at night, that the rat is a little bigger around than the snake is. Your snake should be on a rat somewhere between what is commonly refered to as small and medium. And just kind of wiggle it in front of the snake to get it's attention and then toss it in and leave the room. (DO NOT DO THIS WITH A LIVE RAT) Turn out the lights and check back in the morning. Don't even peek in the room until morning. Likely the rat will be gone. They aren't usually problem feeders, just a bit quirky compared to other species. Good luck

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[JuliusSqueezer]

Wait...maybe the snake is smaller than I'm thinking. The picture with your hand...I was assuming was near the tail. If that's in the middle, a weaned rat or small rat will work. It's still bigger than what should be on fuzzy rats. Mine is more likely to take on something too big (Which they handle better than most boas) than something too small. She won't be bothered unless it's big enough and she only wants one. So maybe they hold out for the size they want?

[bleeding_sarcasm]

uh.. try bumping the basking up to 90, make sure there are lots of hides, and pay close attention, can you hear her breathing? is there any wheezing or clicking noises? if there are, totally dry out the cage, offer a water dish but stop spraying, i have a dumerils who currently has a respitory infection, and my best friend got a snake from the same litter as my male, and had issues on and off with respitory infections, and it would not eat, then it would eat and regurge, and never grew, and was always skinny.

oopse... i re-read the post. is she eating for you already? if she is, just bump up the size like JS said, and maybe the frequency? [once every 5 days instead of 7] if not, then thats a different story, and thats when you want to look at different issues.

	regurgitate Throw up. Reptiles will regurge when they feel they are in danger or if they have some sort of health issue. If your reptile has regurgitated his/her food please seek help!

[Sleepy_FF]

i dont know anything bout dumerils, but id follow bretts advice. he knows his stuff. (and, im keeping this thread for future reference when i DO get a dumeril)

[monkeykoder]

Thanks for the advice everyone I'll try a weaned rat next and see if that works

[monkeykoder]

I figured this was a decent place to post this question. Is there much chance that my snake has buried her prey in the last 10 min? If not she has successfully taken her first meal in approximately 3 months (according to first owner) and it is time to party...

[Rust316]

Good job. We have one around the same length just not as skinny. We feed it rat pups, but it definitely needs to move up to at least weaned rats, which I will do soon in my next rodentpro order. Squeezer is right as usual. Our Dumeril will not take anything off tongs. I just drop the f/t rat pup in the cage by its head, leave the room and the rat is usually gone in an hour. Works every time.

I learned something new about the girth rule as applied to this type of boa. Thanks Squeezer.

	Frozen/Thawed A rodent or other prey item that is frozen and then thawed to be fed to a reptile or other animal.