Anorexic Kenyan sand boa

Hi, all!

I have a juvenile Kenyan sand boa that is 4-6 grams and about 7 inches long. She is currently housed on aspen, but as not eaten on her own since I acquired her around the end of November 2010. I started doing assist-feedings in January of this year and managed to get five good meals into her, but I offered live, brained, scented pinks for over a month before force-feeding. Prior to the feedings, she was quite lethargic despite temperatures in the 80s (which I realize is too low, but it was cold winter here), and her muscle tone was poor. She became more active and alert after the feedings and defecated normally. Starting in mid to late February, I was able to raise her temperatures to 95-104F on one end of the tank, and she has still shown no interest in live, scented, brained F/T pinkie mice. I have been thinking about finding some feeder geckos or anoles, but I need some seriously tiny animals as the snake is only able to eat day-old pinkie mice. Do any of you have suggestions as to where I might find a good supplier of feeder geckos/anoles of this size or on the situation in general? :confused:

Here she is after eating a pinkie...with help...
http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/k...a/IMG_5286.jpg
http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/k...a/IMG_5328.jpg

It might be that she is simply too cold. I work at a Petsmart and we are lucky if the temps in our reptile cages gets above 85. We have a kenyan sand boa and he wouldn't eat on his own until recently (store temp is going up a bit due to warm weather). I had to assist feed him twice until one day he just began eating on his own. I'd bump up her temps a bit.

Daytime temps are consistently 100F. You think I should go higher?

You are lucky she doesn't have a RI with temps that low. At that weight its either seriously under weight or just a baby still. Keep it between 95-105, Have you noticed any clicking when breathing or tongue forks sticking? I applaud you for force feeding, I haven't had to do it myself yet but I am sure you are giving it a fighting chance.

She has no signs of an RI, and I just took her in for a vet check a few days ago. They didn't find anything abnormal. I'm hoping to try feeder her a live feeder lizard...if I can find one small enough....

Anyone else have any ideas?

I would assume pinky mice would be the ideal food?? Lizards?

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Originally Posted by Shmoges

I would assume pinky mice would be the ideal food?? Lizards?

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Just to see if it would make any difference. I'm trying to feed her whatever she'll eat

That really sucks, Ours feed pretty good on live or f/t unless they are in that time of the year mode or sick like 2 of our males atm. They say they can have feeding issues when in shed but we haven't had that yet.

I'm working on it. I'm going to switch to a smaller cage as others have suggested to see if that will help.

What substrate? belly heat or top heat? Our animals seem to like sand and crushed walnut subs, we feed out side of there enclosures.

I had her on aspen prior to the switch, but now she's on crushed walnut shells with an ultratherm heater on the bottom of the tank. She's been fairly active since I made the change, so I'm hoping for the best. Temps are between 95F and 100F.

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Originally Posted by gecko_foot

I had her on aspen prior to the switch, but now she's on crushed walnut shells with an ultratherm heater on the bottom of the tank. She's been fairly active since I made the change, so I'm hoping for the best. Temps are between 95F and 100F.

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Mine eats like a champ. Eats 1 frozen pinkie a week (wont eat live), except when he went into shed and didnt eat for 3 weeks. He has an under-mat heater, and a 60 watt heat emmiter. Air temps are 75, sand temp is 80 on cool side, 90-100 air and sand temp on hot side.

How are you feeding her?

I've found that mine won't eat if I take him out of the substrate first. I have to scope out his little nose in the substrate and practically touch the f/t or live young rat to his nose, then he'll strike suddenly.