columbian boa at work wont eat... experts please!?

Question

ok, we have a columbian red tail at work that hasnt eaten in a while. we took her to the vet today, and he gave her a calcium shot and another one (i cant remember i wasnt there). well he also recomended feeing her wet dog food everyother day.... and the way to administer it is to just rub it on her mouth, and when she opens it, stick it in... now when i was told this... somehting went off in my head as, this doesnt sound like it would work... i want to adpot her and try smaller live food (our store only feeds frozen and doesnt resort to live). which i think i would be able to get a good feeding response, then slowly switch her back to frozen when shes at a good weight. the person told me the vet researched this method online, that its suppose to work well with red tails... has anyone heard of this, or had success in doing so? i dont want her to die there, and i want to present a good arguement on why i should adopt her, if this method is bogus. can anyone help me?

Answer 1

I know where your vet came up with the dog food idea.... (im going to date myself here but...) Wet dog food (many years ago) was a trend amongst amateur herpers that had an issue feeding snakes, the ywould put it in what is called a "pinkie pump" wich is a large metal surenge type pump, that you could load a pinkie in and literally as you squeezed it down would shoot the liquified pinkie insides into the snakes mouth, well the opening was large enough that dog food could also pass through it, and it actually sustained life because of the proteins and nutrients associated with dog food, still not a good idea, and definetly find a new, more up to date vet to bring your herps to. As far as feeding, if the snake is in a high traffic area, you may want to move it to another room, or a quarintine room, reduce stress by reducing activities around the animal. I strongly agree that frozen or pre killed mice are alot safer, but sometimes live is the only prey that may interest it. Start first with moving the snake, make sure its environment is correct (heat, water, hide spot etc, etc.) wait a few days until it has calmed down from the move and try another frozen mouse, possibly even move it around and tease the snake (with forceps of course) try the slap method mentiond above, or I even get a good response with literally, taking a pre killed mouse' head and running (sorta like a tickle) the length of the snake (down its back) this will stimulate attention and typically a feed response. then leave it alone, if this doesnt work, wait another day or two and try live, make sure you dont leave the mouse in very long with the snake, a couple hours TOPS, and try not to leave it unattended, it could definetly do damage via bites and scratches. Although it is typically breeding season for boas right about now, they dont have calanders in their cage and use the environment to cycle themselves, photoperiods, humididty and temps, and unless your promoting that environment, the snake has no idea if its late october or early march, so I doubt that to be a factor. anyway, good luck and hope this works for you and your snake.

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Answer 2

Before switching to live, because if it is petco or petsmart you work at, they most likely will not let you try live, even if it will save the snakes life, they are wierd about that. First try this. Put the snake in a dark container with the mouse, thawed and warm, and leave him for an extended period of time (If it is petco you work at, put him in the wellness room at night, when all the lights are off, you can use a petco box, and place the box inside an aquarium with a lid) Leave him in there overnight, and let the morning crew know to check on him. Also, make sure he has a heat source. After that much time, he should take it. Many breeders feed hatchlings inside their habitats, so being outside the habitat may be stressing him out.

You can also try force feeding, however this should not be done unless you are experienced because it can be quite stressfull on the snake. If any associates there are experienced with force feeding, that would be great.

They sell commercial appitite stimulators, R-Zilla makes a good one called "Jump Start" that I use on any emanciated reptiles that come into the rescue, ask your manager if they could order it, or pay you back if you can order it online. It is an appitite stimulator, and also a high caloric supplement, so it will give him some calories too.

Good luck. Don't give up on him!!

Answer 3

I have never heard of feeding dog food to a snake I would be very cautious about that . The other med wouldn't have happened to be vitamin B-12 would it ? The reason I ask is that is the first thing I give rescued non eaters it is an excellent appetite stimulant. If the red is refusing F/T and you have tried simulating that the prey is alive ,bag feeding also sometimes works . but if it is a matter of keeping the animal alive I would try live prey even though I don't . I had a bad experience a rat had a parasite that killed my albino burm haven't fed live since As Lee said try assisted feeding if that doesn't work you can force feed you may need some assistance with that though I have had to as a last resort for several animals ,but usually gets them going after the first time .

Answer 4

Turn up the heat,use f/t food from same provider,do not handle, turn environment into a hide by covering entire enclosure,keep plenty of water available, and give the snake at least three days of this treatment before attempting to feed again unless your snake is too far gone to wait then force feed it and set up environment as above and quarantine until you find another vet.If you decide to go live to get it on it's feet again use something smaller then it's regular food item ,or get canned monitor food and use a feeding syringe, you will have to thin it out a little and Gatorade or pedyilite is perfect for that with one dose per feeding of a powdered supplement.Oh yea, it would help in the future if you mentioned the age of the pet in question.

Answer 5

hi there

unless it's looking thin i wouldn't worry about it it is breeding season for most snakes .. and some will refuse to eat...do not use dog food this is definitely bogus...please for one it may harm the snake and another u may have a chance of getting bitten,,, u can try live food some won't take pre killed or f/t prey we have 3 snakes that refuse all dead prey(no matter what we have tryed) and they have never been bitten once by the mouse(if feeding live make sure u watch it closely just in case... if the snake doesn't show any interest then remove the mouse)..if ur set on feeding prekill or f/t then soak it in warm chicken broth not the soup (soup has salt in it)chicken broth has a higher smell then rodent the plays with the snakes senses and makes the snakes want it more ... we have used this method b4 for the more finicky snakes... hope this helps

Answer 6

My recommendation would be assist feeding frozen thawed mice. Push the head of the mouse into the snakes mouth and start it in. As the mouse gets to the back of the throat hold the mouth closed and gently pull the mouse back to hook it into the teeth. Leave the snake alone and they will generally swallow the rest of the way on there own as instinct takes over. This may take a few trials to get it to work, but I have used it successfully on boas and pythons. Just a side note that bothers be as a herpetologist who deals with many "reptile lovers" the correct name should be Colombian Boa with an O instead of a U in Colombia as in South America. Sorry just a pet peeve. I do not even like using common names at all when referring to animals so Boa constrictor imperator would have been even better or BCI for experienced herpetologists.

Answer 7

Red Tails are known to be picky eaters. I would def try the live food feeding. I also would try "Slapping" the head with dead prey. Firmly have his head in your fingers and LIGHTLY brush the head and jaws with the preys body. This can sometimes rile them up for a strike and make them more likely to feed. Some snakes just dont want to eat pre-dead animals, its not in there nature. I have had to do this with an entire clutch of Rat snakes once just to get them to eat.



I have heard someone mention once on here about feeding wet dog food which is so Absurd. I imagine in a pinch it might work so a snake wont die but its such a foriegn food for a snake that its more likely to cause a problem than be a help.

Answer 8

First of all- FIND A NEW VET!

Calcium shots & dog food? Freakin ridiculous.

Snakes go off feed periodically. If a snake is HEALTHY and being kept CORRECTLY, this is no problem. Eventually, it will be hungry enough to eat. Heres what I would do:

-Carefully review your care protocol, especially temperature.

-Have there been any changes in the snakes behavior?

-Continue to offer it frozen/thawed. Present the prey item on tongs or forceps, without disturbing the snake. Tease it into striking.

-If this doesn't work, try a smaller prey item. You might also try freshly killed, but I don't recommend switching to live.

If the snake is healthy and being kept properly, this WILL eventually work.

Answer 9

Don't put live mice or whatever in with your snake. Believe it or not they can harm the snake.You can try fresh kill. It's a little harsh but whack the mouse or rat in the head to stun it before it goes in with the snake. It will still be warm. If the snake does not eat it right away then remove it from the cage.



Snakes can go quite a long time before eating. You may want to consult a local zoo for more info.

Answer 10

feeeding the snake dog food is bogus but switching to live food might help just make sure it is once a week that you feed her and get her on a healthy diet so she doesn't gain to much weight.

Answer 11

i have heard that dipping the dead food into canned chicken soup can help with a snake that wont eat. for some reason it just gets there attention.