Ill start with- I did search and came up with varying things - and im probably just being paranoid…but:
I got my Lipstick Junglow on 9/9/2022 (she was born June 22nd), it been almost a month. She has crushed food 3 times (f/t Hoppers), shed once, and has gotten bigger. She is being tap trained.
Tank conditions:
20G Tank
thermostat controlled UTM under the warm side, set at 90 degrees
dimmer switch controlled ceramic heat lamp to put a surface bask at 90 on warm side
24" UVB 5% (on for 13 hours a day)
ambient on warm side: 89F
basking temp: 90F
ambient on cold side: 79F
humidity, warm side: 70%
humidity, cold side: 80%
substrate: Coco Husk + Spaghum Moss
Ok with that out of the way I have never seen her do any of this yet:
bask
use the hide
soak in her water ( i have seen her score a drink twice )
POOP/PEE.
I spot check multiple times a day looking for defecation and nadda. She spends all her daytime in the warmside corner. Her temperament is perfect, I hold her nightly unless I have fed her within 48 hours.
I have tried multiple arrangements. One hide, two hides on either side ect. This is where I am currently at:
This corner is her favorite spot where she spend 99% of her time (with the moss ball moved).
Its been a month so getting kind of worried but probably over thinking, what do you think? Ive had a few boas, and they were always using hides/soaking.
She seems fine. She must feel safe in the corner with the moss. Remember each animal is an individual and will sometimes surprise us with new to us behavior.
Ya I hear ya, i feel like I am overthinking it…but she hasn’t pooped in a month despite feeding 3 times lol. All my previous boas as babies always popped within a week or two of eating haha
I will let you know that neither of my boas bask or soak in their water, and Willow doesn’t use her hides but sits out on her tree all day. I think it comes down to them all being individuals. She seems fine, definitely keep us updated on her.
So I have 4 boas. Three of them I got as in the hold in the palm of your babies. Two of them made themselves parents without my consent, long story lol. I kept one of the babies and she is in a Boaphile enclosure. She is all over the place in her enclosure. She and her 10 clutch mates were born May 26th of this year so she is almost 4 months old and eating ft fuzzies.
I am saying all that to say this. If she is constantly on the hot side maybe she is having trouble digesting her food so therefore no poop. Is there a possibility that she has ingested some of the substrate with her meals? From my experience I know that snake babies sometime have trouble passing substrate if it is ingested with a meal. I fed all my babies on paper towels until they got larger.
I may be all wet here but IMO it’s not a good sign when a snake stays in one spot all the time but as @lumpy says, in general boas are all individuals with different personalities.
If your boa is in fact impacted she may quit eating. If that should happen, a trip to the vet may be in order. I am just throwing this idea out to you because of my experience working for a vet who treated exotics as well as the usual dogs, cats, etc.
Plus no poop is odd.
My boa rarely uses her hide and sometimes she burrows under the coconut but has never soaked a day in 2 years. She’s 4.5 foot long and I can still have trouble spotting her feces, with the size of your boa I wouldn’t be surprised if it blended into the substrate.
Ya I am not seeing any indication of impaction, i dont see or feel lumps on her rear section and she takes food without hesitation. If she stopped eating then I would def be worried. Also she hasn’t eaten any substrate, i take the hide out and put a plastic bin in the cage, and pop her in there and feed her. She gets a lot of exercise nightly, and when I put her back in the cage will do laps or so, then go right back to her corner.
Sounds like you are doing everything right for her! I did not consider that her substrate is dark. I use shredded aspen and even with that, the poop is hard to see sometimes!
IMO if it’s not broke don’t fix! Lol:wink:. So as long as she is eating and shedding everything should be ok for her!
The basking temp i posted in the first post was taken with the temp gun. Also the cold side (when the thermometer is put on top of the substrate is within 1 degree of the temp gun.
. So as long as she is eating and shedding everything should be ok for her!