Help get boa eating rats

[Lindale450]

So got this boa from the local pet store,not much info on it, sex is unknown but I suspect it’s a male, looks to be a common BI it had been there for four years they claimed. He’s 4’ long and 938grams, seems small for a boa that old too me. now they hadn’t been able to get it to take rats, so I was just feeding mice at first then he went into shed and didn’t eat for three weeks “he was in shed for two” so I attempted to try giving a small rat, thawed it out in the same bag as a mouse, and when I presented it to it he came out of his hide right away and struck it held on to it for a minute and then left it. He then took the mouse after and ate it 😕. So do I just keep trying the rats and then feed a mouse if he doesn’t take it or do I just let him go hungry until he hopefully takes the rat?

[bcr229]

Adult boas can go a long time - months - before needing to eat. So if you wait him out you'll have to accept that he may not eat for quite a while.

You can continue to try scenting, or you could try to offer him a f/t mouse and as he's eating it, try chain-feeding a small rat behind it so he starts to associate rat scent with food. It does take practice, and a quick/steady hand to make this work though.

At his size you could also try rabbit fuzzies, those are about 80 grams (give or take a bit) and the smell is different enough from rats that he may take them instead.

Finally, make sure his temps and humidity are correct, if he's too cold he won't eat.

[Lindale450]

He is equipped with a heat pad, ceramic heater and a heat lamp that is on 12hrs a day, Hot side of his tank gets to 91-92 and cool side is around 78-79 in the day and cools to around 80 and 73 at night. I try keeping his humidity around 60% but I work irregular hours and it can be hard to keep that consistent so I’m looking at misting units to add. He seems to spend most of his time in the hide but comes out 2-3 times a day. He is a pretty aggressive eater, like I said he eagerly took the rat but then lost interest. I would prefer to get him on rats as I have a BP that’s on rats and would be nice if I could feed any rats she doesn’t take to him

[bcr229]

Your temps are too cool at night. Just keep him at 90*F hot 78*F cool all the time.

Are your heat sources regulated by a thermostat?

[Lindale450]

No I was advised to adjust temp by raising or lowering his lamp so that the temp is where it is at full power rather than trust a thermostat that could possibly malfunction, I do have a thermostat in my BP tank as the set up is different and I’m not able to adjust the lamp heights, but I run the lamps only in the day on timers on both and just the pads and ceramic heaters at night so both tanks cool down at night as it would in there natural habitat no?? Both have heat pads under a hide that reads 85-86 in the boa hide at night, the BP tank has a covered top and holds heat better so the warm side stays around 85 overnight and her hide doesn’t drop below 90 These temperatures I got from a temp gun.

[Jakethesnake69]

I recommend reading the care sheet for Boa’s. 88-90 surface on hot side and 78-80 surface on cool. Ambient temps should be 78-80 and not drop below 75. I’ve read on hear 88 or a little cooler even on the hot side for surface temps I would prefer to have a thermostat that turned off if it failed than trust a timer on a light burning full song 12 hours despite how high it is.
We are talking an ambient temperature here of a 5 degree swing from cool to hot if you do let it drop to 75 over night. Ambient temps are the air or room temps and not the surface temps that can be checked with an IR gun. These temps should be just above the surface or snake level for which you need thermometers preferably with a hygrometer for reading ambient and humidity. All these heat sources should be regulated by thermostat. A couple degrees here or there is a bigger deal for snakes than humans.

[Justin83]

Agreed it's too cold and he is miserable, whoever told you you don't need a stat is stupid.... Fact. Set the tank up properly and run the lamp 24-7 just like everyone does and I'm sure he will be eating in no time pal.

[bcr229]

An unregulated heat pad can also get hot enough to severely burn your snake. If you are lucky you will be left with a big vet bill and you will still need to get a thermostat. If you are unlucky it will kill your snake.

This is what an unregulated heat source did to a ball python that I took in last year. Unfortunately she didn't make it.
https://ball-pythons.net/forums/show...cks-Just-don-t!

[Lindale450]

Ok but doesn’t it screw with there day/night if I have a light on 24/7? The care sheet says 12hours of light, hence the timers for the lamps. And he eats mice no problem it’s just the rat that he looses interest in after he tastes it. So should I just scrap the lamps and double up on ceramic heaters? I will try to cover the other half of his tank better and see how much that helps. Also all the thermostats I’ve seen are only good for one or two Accessory so if I’m supposed to have everything hooked to a thermostat I would need to buy more that one for each tank. I do have thermometers on both sides of the tank but I don’t find them to be very accurate witch gets annoying, also have hydrometers, and have automatic misters that I just picked up to try and keep humidity consistent as possible. If it’s ok for them to have the light on all night I can do that I was just under the impression that it wasn’t good for them. Thanks for all the help guys

[richardhind1972]

Get a ceramic heat emiter(che) instead of a heat bulb it doesn't emit any light just warmth, should soon get him jump started to eating once the temps are regulated proper

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