Dumeril's Boa Feeding Help

[drezden]

So I have a 4 month old Dumeril's which I've had for about a week, tonight I tried to feed him (I did it in a separate container) with a mouse hopper (what he had been eating for the breeder), he struck at the F/T mouse many times, at first I thought he was just missing the mouse, but a few times he made contact with it but did not coil around it, just snapped backwards.

Do you think this was defensive strikes vs him missing his feeding strikes? I'm really anxious now thinking that maybe I was just traumatizing him and now it will be that much harder to feed in the future?

Any thoughts or suggestions. I know many boa people feed in the enclosure, but I don't understand that when people have to use a snake hook just to tell their snake it's not feeding time. Might as well feed in a separate container so opening of the cage doesn't = feeding response without snake hook conditioning.

Background: Temps: Cool Side is 73, Hot side is always between 89-91 He has 2 hides on both sides, on paper towel substrate with UTH.

thank you for any advice.

[The Serpent Merchant]

I have a 4 month old Dum as well that I picked up about a week ago. My understanding is that they are ambush predators who wait until there is an opertinity then strike. Also it helps if it is at night. I have aspen because they like burrowing and she just pokes her nose out like so:



When I feed her she springs out of the aspen and constructs the rat pup.

Yours simply may feel to exposed to eat.

[drezden]

Do you think putting aspen in the separate container will help? Or would that be too distracting for feeding time, will he just burrow and hide in the new strange place?

[The Serpent Merchant]

I'm not sure, it certainly is worth a shot

[drezden]

while on the subject of dumeril's I know their humidity requirements aren't as high as ball pythons, but what should I bump the humidity to during shed?

[The Serpent Merchant]

I was under the impression that they needed at least the same amount of humidity as BP's, but I could be misinformed. My cages stay at 60% humidity naturally (I live in tropical Florida and my PVC cages hold humidity in almost too well lol) I will probably bump the humidity up a bit during shed

[Vypyrz]

I would just feed him in his enclosure so he can ambush from his favorite hiding spot. Especially once he gets bigger. Dumerils may be fairly docile snakes, but once they smell food and go into hunt/feed mode, they can become quite aggressive, and trying to move an adult Dumerils in feed mode is not going to be a pleasant experience.

[dragonboy4578]

I know that many people like to move their snakes to different enclosures to feed. I prefer not to. I have had much better success feeding my collection in their enclosures. I do hook train the larger snakes in my collection, but have found that most of them I can still just reach in and pull out without a problem.

[TheWinWizard]

Indeed, feed in the enclosure. As already stated, they are ambush predators. Give him something to burrow in and then feed. They are nocturnal so feed at night. Good luck.

[fortoday634]

I would also recommend feeding in the enclosure and providing a substrate to burrow in. The strike you were describing sounds like "Get that thing away. I don't want to eat!" My Dumerils tells me when she's hungry by defecating and then burrowing for a few days with out moving.

Humidity should be around 40% - 50% except during a shed cycle. If you bump it up to 60% you'll have a clean shed every time.