snake won't feed outside tank

[Dannylatics]

my comman boa is a very fussy eater, turns away food often and never eats outside its tank.

I have small orchid bark in the tank and i dnt want to feed the dead large weener rat inside incase the snake swollows a bark. Any tips?

[luker3232]

some snakes refuse food outside their cage, but there is alot of fine ideas from some fine ppl here that can help much better than I

[Umpaidh]

Lay some paper down in viv over your bark and when he has finished take it out
Think that is the best thing to try

[DaveA]

The feeder box(es) I use have scent of rodent in them from their last meals. I place the snake in the box for a few minutes prior to feeding and all goes well.

I think they sit there smelling their next meal and when the rat comes they are ready to eat.

[Eric From Cincinnati]

Get a big rubbermaid. Put snake in rubbermaid. Put rat in rubbermaid. Get snake out of rubbermaid next morning after it eats the rat. Works for me like a charm. My big fella won't eat if I watch him. He's too busy watching me. But once that lid is on there and he's alone with his meal over night, gone...sometimes I can even hear him nail it in the Rubbermaid from across the room...kinda funny...Silence then a thud.

[JuliusSqueezer]

Maybe you have solved the mystery of nonfeeding snakes. Can I send my nonfeeders and see if they will eat in your cage? Please

[Dannylatics]

what is a rubbermaid, wudnt it be too cold to be left in all nite? my room is onli 70 degrees at night

ALso snake refuses to eat in cage as well now! been 8 days sicne last meal and meant to be one a week, just had t throw another rat away. WHen should I try again

My boa is so shy! lively as anything when he/shes out altho always trying to hide behidn my arm or under my pillow, soon as I out him.her back in tank its straight back into warm hide and i won;t see again until I get him/.her out of tank again, kinda annoyin reli cos my tank faces my bed, doesn't get hardly any sunlight as its udner the window sil but ican see the tank especially with the red heat lamp, shame i neevr get to see the snake moving about at night yet.! The boa is onli 6month odl thom, 2 foot 7 and the tank is 4 and a half foot long and 1 foot wide, probs just shy...i hope!

[Stargazer]

If it were my snake, I would get her on a regular feeding schedule in the cage if she seems stressed coming out. I would put some paper or a towel over the bark. But you still have to watch it because they can try to eat towels, too. Make sure temps are warm enough so she can digest her food. I have a finicky BCC and have better luck feeding him when he is over on the warm side of the cage. You also want to make sure that she has a really really good hide box that she can feel secure in. She may just need a few more days to digest her last meal. What does everyone else think?

	Boa Constrictor Constrictor Red Tail Boa Constrictor (Boa constictor constrictor). Refers to "true" red tail boas such as the Guyana and Suriname locales.