Keeping my Dumeril's happy.

[Team Slytherin]

Hello, friends! I know I'm probably just being an over-bearing mom, but I thought I'd just weigh in with some fellow Dumeril's keepers to make sure I'm doing the best I can with my little one. Fresh eyes are often helpful.

I brought my Dumeril's home almost exactly 1 year ago, when she was 6 months old. The owner of the pet store where I purchased her fed her in front of me, I guess to prove that she was established and a good feeder? She took the mouse instantly and that was the last time I saw her killer instinct.

She has always been a trouble feeder for me. She's perfectly healthy, has a great temperament, and is an absolute joy. The pet store owner told me he was feeding her hoppers on a 7 day schedule back then. I think she may have humored me on a 10-14 day schedule a few times back in the beginning, but 7 days? Never. On average, I'd say these days she eats maybe once a month? I think she fasted in July, again September-October, and she hasn't eaten since December 29.

She is shedding normally and hasn't lost any weight, so I'm not overly worried. It's just that she's still so small for her age (30 inches and 205 grams at a year and a half). I want to make sure she's skipping meals because she's not hungry and not because she is stressed out. When I tried to feed her a couple days ago, she struck defensively twice and seemed visibly agitated by the mouse, so I turned out the lights and left it overnight. No dice. I'm realizing that in the past, when she's "seemed interested," I think she's actually just territorial. She doesn't like the prey to touch any of her hides.

Anyway, I'd just like to run through some husbandry things to see what you guys think. I moved her from an 18x18x18 into her old 10gallon at Christmas because I was going to be out of town and I was worried about keeping temps/humidity up while I was gone (really for the scrub, not so much her). They'll both get moved back this month. She has a branch with foliage, 2 tight fitting hides, lots of substrate to burrow under, as well as a pile of sphagnum moss. Her humidity ranges from about 40-55% on average. I just lowered the thermostat slightly, thinking maybe I was keeping her too warm (she's been less active than usual the past few months). Just checked her temperature gradient with a gun and the coolest spot (her cool hide) reads 76 and the warmest spot 86. Warm hide internal temp is 83 and she alternates regularly between the two. Two sides of the enclosure are covered with a desert scape.

For heating, she has a 60W CHE and a basking bulb on a 12 hour cycle. Now that I type this, I realize I turned off her basking bulb because it makes the smaller enclosure too hot. She is definitely less active since I did that.

As far as feeding goes, I've tried varying prey items, braining, feeding in the dark, leaving overnight. Can't seem to find an obvious pattern that suggests a preference. Hell, maybe I'm overthinking all of it and she'll just eat when she's hungry. Just thought I'd make sure nothing is glaringly out of place. Of course, I will cease handling until she eats again. Thanks for any advice!

[GoingPostal]

Hmmm, weird she is a poor feeder, mine will eat anything and everything and shooting out the door to grab it. Have you considered trying moving her to a tub setup? How was she setup at the pet store? Seems like she can be a good feeder so some changes might help. My cage temps run from 78-84, they do prefer it cooler. Does she burrow? Are you offering live or f/t? live rat pup?

[Team Slytherin]

You know, I’ve never thought of setting her up in a tub. She was in a very small glass tank at the pet store. She ate live for the first couple months, but I switched her to f/t because it was annoying to keep the poor things alive for a week after her refusal 😂 Sometimes I'd just let them go, figuring they’d dodged fate a couple times and deserved their freedom. I maybe responsible for starting a mouse colony in the neighborhood, haha.

Live prey often seemed to stress her out. She would hide from it in a corner and strike at the glass if I came to check in. But that was back when she was on hoppers. Maybe a slow, non-threatening rat pup would interest her. And now I have a second snake/garbage disposal, so the cast-offs don’t go to waste!

she does love to burrow and seems super healthy and good-tempered aside from the eating thing. Definitely a lap snake.

[GoingPostal]

Do you pre-scent the room before offering so she's in the mood to eat?

[Team Slytherin]

Do you pre-scent the room before offering so she's in the mood to eat?

I usually thaw the rat on top of her cage. Is that the same thing?

[L.West]

My male Dumeril just turned 1 year in January and currently weighs 800grams. Although my boy never misses a meal unless when he is in shed. Other than that I over about every 10 days. He is on small rats right now

[Team Slytherin]

My male Dumeril just turned 1 year in January and currently weighs 800grams. Although my boy never misses a meal unless when he is in shed. Other than that I over about every 10 days. He is on small rats right now

800 grams?! Wow! Maybe I should just take her for a checkup...she appears perfectly healthy. Just small.


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[Dutti]

My male Dumeril just turned 1 year in January and currently weighs 800grams. Although my boy never misses a meal unless when he is in shed. Other than that I over about every 10 days. He is on small rats right now

My male is 16 months old. I just weighed him yesterday. He is currently 800 grams although he did not eat anything since 3 months. He lost only 50 grams during that period

[Laura23]

I had a horrible time getting my new dum to eat, as you have probably seen some of my posts about it. I can't say for sure what got her to eat but I experimented until she ate. Something that helped me was keeping a towel over her tank 24/7 to help reduce stress. I also added in more humidity by using a tube attached to a cool-mist humidifier. I keep her tank at 50-60% humidity now and she is thriving. I tried everything, braining, pre-scenting, a live fuzzy rat but the thing that finally got her to eat was a very small/young adult mouse. At first she did not seem interested, and only defensively struck at it but I left it in the cage for over an hour and her hunting skills finally kicked in and she ate! Maybe you could try one of these small mice and leave it for awhile. Just be careful that the mouse isn't getting hungry and hurting your snake. Frozen is obviously better but its more important that your snake eats. Maybe she is stressed from moving tanks, just keep trying once a week. Good luck!

[Mstuppiello921]

Im lucky enough to have a dumerils thats a garbage pile but one thing I do for my girl that I read helps dumerils who r shy is put some type of covering over the front of the enclosure. I have a pvc cage so I went to home depot and bought a black thin anti skid mat. It was 48x24 and in the kitchen department. I cut it to size, screwed it into the top of the cage and rolled it around a thin pvc pipe (at the bottom)to give some weight. When i want to feed her or take her out i just roll up the cover and lay t on top. Here is a pic of the mat rolled at the top. I mention it cause it helped a friend whos wouldn’t eat for 6 months after getting him.







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