Boa Wont eat!

jjmetro · #1 (**permalink**) 03-27-2007, 12:54 AM

Okay, my girl Lucy, is going on three years old and is about 6 foot and a good weight. has been on a once a week feeding untill about 6 months ago when i went to feeding once every two weeks. She's on jumbo rats, and has only ever had a problem feeding with all white rats (she's picky i guess). temps are 80 (+/- 3-4 deg) and 90 (+/- 3-4 deg). She's in a glass aquarium, with a screen top, and has been for about the last 6-8 months. i have analog thermometers in the cage and check once weekly with a digital infrared thermometer. Humidity is ambient which in huntington beach ranges between 60-80%. She's been on F/T since i got her at about a foot and a half long.

so here's the prob....... a month and a half ago, she refused to eat, so i left the rat in her tank overnight, still there in the morning. i covered the tank to make it nice and dark, which has always worked within an hour of offering the food, if she didn't strike right away.

so i waited 4 days after removing the rat to try again with a new rat.....wouldn't strike, yet again.......

so i waited a week and a half to try again. this time with a freshly prekilled rat instead of a F/T. nothing.............

so i waited 2 weeks, (and i know i'm gonna catch it for this one), and dangled a live just to see if she would strike, and she just turned away......., so i prekilled it and left it for her overnight.............. and nothing...........

now im starting to get frustrated and annoyed at the same time.......
she has no mites, is not in or close to a shed, her temps are good, humidity is good, no signs of any kind of illness aside from refusing to eat..............

ANY IDEAS???? IM STUMPTED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Rex322 · #2 (**permalink**) 03-27-2007, 12:59 AM

first of all, dont try live unless its last resort. analog thermometers can be way off. i would also not let my hott side get over 90, and my cool side not over 81. sometimes they like to fast, its not a big deal as long as they arent visibly loosing weight. i would wait a month, let her get nice and hungry and try again. also just because the humidity in your area is 60-80%, it could be more or less in the cage. id get a digital thermometer/hygrometer combo, usually made by acurite are the ones i find, their like $10 at walmart. as long as shes not loosing weight and ur husbandry is right, i wouldnt worry about it.

dhonaker · #3 (**permalink**) 03-27-2007, 01:02 AM

some times snakes go off feed i wouldent start to worry just yet they can go along time with out food

jjmetro · #4 (**permalink**) 03-27-2007, 01:22 AM

she doesn't seem to be loosing any weight........... so i'll just let it go for now...but what are the warning signs to look for, that she's gone too long???

Rex322 · #5 (**permalink**) 03-27-2007, 01:31 AM

when she starts visibly loosing weight

jjmetro · #6 (**permalink**) 03-27-2007, 01:34 AM

cool........thanx all........I'll let you all know when and if she decides food is worth the effort.

Rex322 · #7 (**permalink**) 03-27-2007, 01:34 AM

good luck!

Stargazer · #8 (**permalink**) 03-28-2007, 02:45 AM

Hijacking the thread here, but I spent my teenage years in Huntington Beach. Great to know someone here lives there.

jjmetro · #9 (**permalink**) 04-29-2007, 08:34 PM

Woo Hoo!!! She is eating as i type.......... she did just shed, she may have felt the shed coming on and didn't feel like eating anywhere near the beginning of the shed......... but she's loving the F/T rat i just gave her.

Thanks to all for the good advice!

All_American · #10 (**permalink**) 04-29-2007, 08:45 PM

Thats great to hear that your girl is all better and eating now. One thing that I do before feedings is take my girl out of her cage and put her out front to roam around and get all warmed up and exercised. Her sinces go into frinzy with all the new surroundings and when she gets back into the cage she is all worked up and I place my f/t in there and by the time I come back with in the hour its gone...

I know you have this taken care of, but for maybe future times this may help out.

HB is not far from me either, Anaheim is my home town, AKA "Mouse town"
Ed

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