Hi! I have a 11 year old boa imperator. She has ate live for most of her life I’m pretty sure, at least the person I got her from fed her live. I tried frozen thawed twice, then tried a pre killed. After failing on those three rats I tried a live just to see if she was off food, she took it no issues. Only issue is I can’t be in there with her while she is eating because she is super shy while eating. I tried two more frozen thawed after the live just to see if she’d take it now that I know she isn’t off food. Didn’t take the first one. Second one I left in there longer, and even brained it. Absolutely nothing. Any advice on how I can get her switched over? Picture of the girl.
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Have you tried dangling a hot f/t mouse in front of her? I don’t know boas well, but reluctant colubrids sometimes respond to this. Dip the thawed rat in boiling hot water for ten or twenty seconds. Fingers crossed.
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If this is in fact the case, and imho, I believe you may find that switching her may be next to impossible. I am going to tag @tommccarthy. If anyone can help he can……
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An 11 year old boa that exclusively fed on live is going to be next to impossible to swith to F/T in my opinion. Not saying it cant happen but it will take a lot of patience and consistency. Warming the food source, enticing the boa with movement, etc will help.
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While I’ve never switched an adult BI to f/t, I did manage to get my sand boa to take f/t after she’d only eaten live for about 10 years with her previous owner. Granted, those are two very different species, but I wouldn’t say it’s necessarily impossible to switch over an adult snake who is used to eating live. Though it will depend on the individual snake.
How have you been giving her the f/t rats? I’ve noticed that my BI is much more triggered by movement than my other snakes, so I would definitely recommend putting some good effort into your zombie rat dance. Use the tongs to hold the rat by the scruff of the neck and really try to make it move like a living rat (as best you can). You can also try rubbing some dirty bedding from live rats on the thawed rat (if you don’t keep live rats around, you can ask a pet shop for some soiled bedding). Braining is good (that’s ultimately what worked for my sand boa), but if brain smell doesn’t spark her interest, you can also try making a small incision in the abdomen of the rat. Some snakes seem to think guts smell tastier than brains.
Also, keep at it. Don’t assume that because it didn’t work once or twice, it will never work. Obviously I can’t promise that she will take f/t for you, but old habits die hard, and it could take some time and patience before you see any success.
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She hates me being in the same room with her when she’s eating she’s very shy
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I’ve tried the rat dance, second it touches her nose she’s done. I’ve gotten slight interest from her last time I tried feeding her a f/t, accidentally touched her nose with it and she was done with all of it, no interest after that. I’ve tried the bring thing and didn’t get a single interest from that. Thanks for the abdomen tip I’ll def try that next time!
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Thank you!
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Thank you! I appreciate it
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Take the frozen rat and put it in a tub of cold water. You will have to change the water a few time as it thaws out. Once the rat is thawed out completely. It should be limp with no cold hard spots. Then put it in hot tap water for about 10 to 15 minutes. Then just before feeding it to your boa heat it up one more time for a few minutes.
If your snake still will not eat the FT rat then leave it in the cage over night with you boa. If it’s still there in the morning just throw the rat in the garbage and wait a week and try again.
You could also put the snake in a smaller container over night with the FT rat. I do this with stubborn babies and put the container in there cage overnight.
One other thing don’t put a frozen rat in hot water first as this will cause the cellular structure of the rat to become weak and it will burst open before or during feeding and you will have one big mess to clean up.
Take care
Tom
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I’d definitely try to avoid touching her with the rat. I’ve heard that with some snakes it can trigger a strike, but all my snakes hate it and it sounds like your girl does too. Try making the rat dance a little further away from her. My boa strikes more quickly and accurately if I wiggle her rat maybe 6-12" away from her.
Also experiment with moving the rat in different ways. Use different kinds of movements, move different parts of its body, try wiggling it up in the air vs. down on the ground, etc.
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Ok so here’s one more thing to try. This was what I did with my stubborn rosy boa male to get him to eat. I removed his water bowl for a least a week before I fed him. When I did attempt to feed him I unthawed his fuzzy mouse in very hot water. Then, instead of drying it off, I offered his fuzzy to him leaving it dripping wet, hoping he would be thirsty. He took it
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Thank you!!! I appreciate it a lot
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Thank you!! I’ll def give that a shot
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