Help get boa eating rats

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?

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.

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

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?

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.

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.

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.

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!

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

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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There is a ceramic heat emiter on his tank already, plus the heat pad, plus the light, I can put another ceramic in the lamp housing but he won’t have any light then. I also have a question about regulating the heat pad, where do you put the probe? Because if it’s not right inside his hide how will it know what the surface temp is?

UTH should be regulated by probe sandwiched between it and bottom of glass on outside. There should also be a probe for CHE at about surface level. If thermostate only controls one zone you would need two thermostats one for each. Do you really need both lamp fixtures going or is it just the dome with two sockets and your using both?

Two lamp fixtures, 150w ceramic and a 100w lamp

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Originally Posted by Lindale450

Two lamp fixtures, 150w ceramic and a 100w lamp

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Good lord that's going to throw a lot of heat. How big is the enclosure? And what is the room temperature?

With a four foot boa you really need to get your hands on a T8 or similar PVC enclosure as quickly as you can.

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Originally Posted by bcr229

Good lord that's going to throw a lot of heat. How big is the enclosure? And what is the room temperature?....

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This ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ????

It’s a 90gal aquarium with a screen top, the cool half i lined with plastic but the hot side is open screen. the room temp I’m not sure on, the house is 19c, but his tank is in my room which is small and the door stays closed so the room is noticeable warmer than the rest of the house. I will get the heat pads and the heater regulated as soon as I get back. Might try and see if I can get it to hold 90 without the lamp and more of the top covered as well

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Originally Posted by Lindale450

It’s a 90gal aquarium with a screen top, the cool half i lined with plastic but the hot side is open screen. the room temp I’m not sure on, the house is 19c, but his tank is in my room which is small and the door stays closed so the room is noticeable warmer than the rest of the house. I will get the heat pads and the heater regulated as soon as I get back. Might try and see if I can get it to hold 90 without the lamp and more of the top covered as well

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A 90 gal. aquarium is going to need some insulation to retain heat in a cold house. Your 19* C (house temperature) = about 66* F, so even if your room is "warmer",
I'm pretty sure that your boa is refusing food because he senses it's too cool...a healthy boa with adequate warmth is normally an "eating machine". I'm not here to
criticize housing a boa in a glass tank...I'm a fan of glass tanks myself, but you need to tweak things to make it suitable, especially in a cold house. I would advise
insulating the glass on the back, sides, bottom, top & partway up the front; many materials you can easily use to help keep the heat in, & you'll save electricity too
in the long run. You'll want to minimize the air flow, & I'd use both UTH under 2/3 of the tank (controlled by thermostat & seasonally adjusted) and overhead heat.
RE insulating the bottom, you need to leave a little air gap for the UTH to 'breathe' (for safety, to not over-heat) but that's easily done.

Yeah I’m gonna try getting it to hold the heat better when I get home. I might run a space heater on a thermostat in the room so the room stays Warmer. Figure something out so I can ditch the heat lamp for just a light for daylight hours. A bigger heat pad might be the best way to go if I can’t get it to hold 90 over night. I just find it strange that he eats mice no problem comes out in feeding mode as soon as he smells food, even the rats he comes and eagerly takes it but then looses intrest in it but will take a mouse and eat it literally right after

Well, some snakes do have personal preferences. Rats & mice smell vastly different (I've raised both for decades) so presumably they taste different as
well. While it's unusual for a boa to be a picky eater, perhaps you have that one out of a hundred? (& I'm just making up that statistic as an example)
It may not be convenient for us but I suppose snakes are entitled to have an opinion, lol...:snake:

BTW, when I kept a large BCI for many years, she lived in a very large aquarium too, ate voraciously & remained healthy. I did as I suggested above- I
insulated the tank, & ran 11" wide UTH (Flexwatt) under 2/3 of her cage, & over that heated area I built a custom hide out of wood (coated with non-
VOC waterproofing) with a tile-board top & 2 doorways cut at the one end so she could enter & leave easily, & sure enough, she seemed to love the ease
of movement it gave her. It was about 5" tall, and even with 2 doors at one end, it was long enough that she felt safe & well-hidden.

But the best part of that was the rubber-backed (non-slip) carpet mat I put on top...snakes don't like to slip & many hides (plastic etc) are slippery on top
so that space is wasted. Not this one...I made the hide to just barely fit inside the aquarium, and she used the top (carpeted area) as much as she did the
"cave" beneath. Over that hide I used a warming light for her basking pleasure...in this way she had a choice of belly-heat & over-head heat. Don't let
anyone tell you that UTH doesn't raise the temperature inside a cage: of course it does...heat rises! But the amount of heat your cage retains depends
on whether or not you insulate that cage, & while UTH alone may not be enough (depending on your ambient house or room temperatures), it still helps
make their warm hide super comfortable & helps their digestion. Remember that heat rises, so while overhead lights (or CHE etc) do raise the cage
temperatures, much of their output never goes into the cage...it goes up & away, inefficiently. Be sure you are measuring the temperatures where the
snake actually is...I'm wondering if the cage floor isn't as warm as you've been thinking it is?

The better your snake digests, the hungrier they get & usually, the less picky they are about food...;) So I cannot guarantee yours will get on rats, but
he may if his cage is better regulated for privacy & warmth. BTW, my BCI's water bowl was on the unheated "third" of her cage, and she sometimes laid
there as well...they need to have temperature choices, & she never turned down food. Her tank was insulated- first I put up scenery on the glass (for me,
snakes don't care) and taped snugly behind the scenery are sheets of bubble-plastic. (you can also use corrugated cardboard, styro-foam sheets, poster
boards -w/ foam sandwiched between thick paper outside-, carpet tiles, cork, etc etc.)

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Originally Posted by Lindale450

... 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...

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I wouldn't advise leaving a light on all night ("24/7") as snakes do respond to the photoperiod to instinctively judge the day length (& thereby the season), but you
can use a CHE (ceramic heat emitter, which emits no light) or use a black or red incandescent* bulb with a dimmer (rheostat) control to add dim light & warmth at
night. Most of our snakes don't like bright day light, so consider these options for day use also. But keep in mind these black & red incandescent light bulbs are
getting harder to find. The black bulbs (when dimmed) simulate moon light. Many of my snakes enjoy any of these options, even those that aren't nocturnal.