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  1. #11
    BPnet Senior Member Sonny1318's Avatar
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    Keep us updated, best of luck. Sometimes, I use live to get an animal that’s young and never eaten with me before. Just make sure you definitely supervise. Again, just my two cents, Peace.
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  3. #12
    BPnet Veteran Caitlin's Avatar
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    Victory! He took a F/T day-old quail chick tonight. I appreciate all of the advice and helpful suggestions. And it honestly just felt good knowing I had the support of a bunch of folks who understand the worries and frustrations around trying to get a baby to eat.

    I'm not sure which, if any of these actions was the key to success, or if it was a combination of things - or maybe it was just the passage of time and him settling in. But for the sake of anyone else dealing with this in future:

    I moved him to a smaller enclosure (15-quart tub) in a quiet, dim room. It's heated with a UTH; warm side temp is 83; ambient room temp is 75. I also kept the tub covered with a towel just to keep the potential for startling/scaring him to a minimum. He has never used a hide, so I removed it; he has a couple of inches of aspen substrate, which he spends about 2/3 of his time buried in with just his head sticking out.

    Ambient humidity here has been pretty brutally low lately so I put a little tupperware container filled with damp sphagnum moss on one side of the tub. He immediately buried himself in it and stayed in it for three days. After that he went back to the aspen most of the time, but spends maybe a third of his time on or in the moss. He gets fresh water daily, and I've seen him regularly taking drinks at night.

    Over the last month I tried offering him a meal once a week, at night, in a dim room, and always used a hair dryer to warm the meal before offering. He showed no interest in the rat pinkys or mouse hoppers he'd been eating while kept with his siblings, but tonight he took the quail chick pretty quickly - thanks to suggestions offered here, I thawed the quail on top of his enclosure to get the scent circulating, offered it once with no results, and re-warmed it and re-offered it after about 30 seconds - he took it on the second try. He's an odd little guy - he didn't move a muscle, not even a tongue-flick, so I was not hopeful. But once he decided to go for it, he struck hard and fast and dragged it under the substrate right away.

    I won't feel at ease until he's taken a couple more meals, but just taking this first one has me hopeful. He only went a month without eating, and was in great condition. I know Boas have slow metabolisms so intellectually I understood that he was fine. I still worried, though, so am very relieved now.

    It's been a long time since I have had to deal with a reluctant feeder. Most of the time it's like Little Shop of Horrors around here, with all of my snakes basically signaling 'FEED ME' whenever they think there's any remote chance of a meal. Here's hoping this beautiful little Dumeril's settles in and starts eating like a Boa!

    In the meantime, thanks so much to all of you for your support and good advice. It doesn't matter how long I've kept snakes - when I've got a problem with one I've found it's best to maintain that 'beginner's mind' and be open to feedback! I'm just grateful there are experienced keepers here that I can trust, and that these boards are remarkably drama-free when it comes to offering advice. I admin a couple of snake groups on Facebook, so I know how crazy it can get, lol. I'm grateful for the sanity here.
    Last edited by Caitlin; 10-28-2020 at 10:50 PM.
    1.0 Jungle Carpet Python 'Ziggy'
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  5. #13
    Bogertophis's Avatar
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    I'm SO glad he ate for you...I know just how stressful it feels when one takes too long to eat.
    Rudeness is the weak man's imitation of strength.
    Eric Hoffer (1902 - 1983)

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  7. #14
    BPnet Royalty Zincubus's Avatar
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    Re: Dumeril's baby won't eat

    Excellent news ... and don’t we need it these days !!




    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro




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  9. #15
    BPnet Lifer dakski's Avatar
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    Re: Dumeril's baby won't eat

    Awesome!!!!!

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    Caitlin (10-30-2020)

  11. #16
    BPnet Veteran Caitlin's Avatar
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    The baby Dumeril's (I named him Gyre) just took his third quail, and I feel like we've had a breakthrough because he acted like a Boa tonight and not like a picky baby Ball Python!

    I'm still keeping him in a small tub in a very quiet, dim room. I've even kept his tub covered with a light towel to be sure he's disturbed as little as possible. Tonight when I took the towel off, he came up and out of the substrate and lifted his head toward me before the lid was even off of the tub. And he snapped that quail up as soon as I offered it.

    I knew he'd be OK as soon as he started eating a couple of weeks ago, but seeing him finally shift into acting like a baby Boa was another level of relief! I'm going to give him 2-3 more meals like this and if he continues doing well I'll start handling him and getting to know him better.
    1.0 Jungle Carpet Python 'Ziggy'
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    2.0 Dumeril's Boas 'Gyre' and 'Titan'
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    1.1 Children's Pythons 'Miso' and 'Ozzy'
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    1.0 Plains Hognose 'Peanut'
    1.1 Rough-scaled Sand Boas 'Rassi' and 'Kala'
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    1.0 Gray-banded Kingsnake 'Nacho'
    1.0 Green Tree Python (Aru) 'Jade'

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  13. #17
    BPnet Veteran Snagrio's Avatar
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    Re: Dumeril's baby won't eat

    Aww, he shares his birthday with me. Congrats on the feeding success.

    Sent from my moto x4 using Tapatalk

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  15. #18
    BPnet Lifer EL-Ziggy's Avatar
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    Re: Dumeril's baby won't eat

    The hunger ALWAYS wins and they ALL eat eventually. Glad your boa is getting on track. Now that he’s in a rhythm you could try offering him a rodent.
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  17. #19
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    Re: Dumeril's baby won't eat

    I had the same issue with my new baby dumerils. Refused any live or f/t rodents. I got my little guy going on f/t quail chicks too.
    Last edited by PeteV; 11-16-2020 at 12:19 AM.

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  19. #20
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    Lightbulb Re: Dumeril's baby won't eat

    I picked up a CBB babe that was born in August and didn't eat for me after getting home. One of my buddies had a babe from the same clutch that eats like a beast. His is kept in a rack system, so her enclosure is smaller, dark, and humid.

    I moved mine into an ET lg/lo when I got her (it was decked out with plants and 4-5 hides to make her feel as secure as I could). However, this was still a huge mistake. I was unaware of *just* how shy these little babes were. She didn't eat for me for a month and a half, although she wasn't losing weight either. Her parameters were perfect. I've been keeping snakes for 5 years or so and tried everything in the book to get her to take aside from assist and/or force feeding. The trick that finally worked for me was putting her in a shoebox with some of the bedding in her tank (half-on and half-off a small UTH), and leaving her in there for an hour before offering a brained PK fuzzy rat and leaving her with it overnight. It's worked twice now, and I'm hoping it'll continue.

    I also leave the container in her tank now as a humid/dark hide, and I used duct tape to black-out the sides of her enclosure to make sure she felt safe.

    Let us know how your babe is doing - has it eaten?

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