• Posted 12/19/2024.
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    I am still waiting on my developer to finish up on the Classifieds Control Panel so I can use it to encourage members into becoming paying members. Google Adsense has become a real burden on the viewing of this site, but honestly it is the ONLY source of income now that keeps it afloat. I tried offering disabling the ads being viewed by paying members, but apparently that is not enough incentive. Quite frankly, Google Adsense has dropped down to where it barely brings in enough daily to match even a single paid member per day. But it still gets the bills paid. But at what cost?

    So even without the classifieds control panel being complete, I believe I am going to have to disable those Google ads completely and likely disable some options here that have been free since going to the new platform. Like classified ad bumping, member name changes, and anything else I can use to encourage this site to be supported by the members instead of the Google Adsense ads.

    But there is risk involved. I will not pay out of pocket for very long during this last ditch experimental effort. If I find that the membership does not want to support this site with memberships, then I cannot support your being able to post your classified ads here for free. No, I am not intending to start charging for your posting ads here. I will just shut the site down and that will be it. I will be done with FaunaClassifieds. I certainly don't need this, and can live the rest of my life just fine without it. If I see that no one else really wants it to survive neither, then so be it. It goes away and you all can just go elsewhere to advertise your animals and merchandise.

    Not sure when this will take place, and I don't intend to give any further warning concerning the disabling of the Google Adsense. Just as there probably won't be any warning if I decide to close down this site. You will just come here and there will be some sort of message that the site is gone, and you have a nice day.

    I have been trying to make a go of this site for a very long time. And quite frankly, I am just tired of trying. I had hoped that enough people would be willing to help me help you all have a free outlet to offer your stuff for sale. But every year I see less and less people coming to this site, much less supporting it financially. That is fine. I tried. I retired the SerpenCo business about 14 years ago, so retiring out of this business completely is not that big if a step for me, nor will it be especially painful to do. When I was in Thailand, I did not check in here for three weeks. I didn't miss it even a little bit. So if you all want it to remain, it will be in your hands. I really don't care either way.

    =====================
    Some people have indicated that finding the method to contribute is rather difficult. And I have to admit, that it is not all that obvious. So to help, here is a thread to help as a quide. How to become a contributing member of FaunaClassifieds.

    And for the record, I will be shutting down the Google Adsense ads on January 1, 2025.
  • Responding to email notices you receive.
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    In short, DON'T! Email notices are to ONLY alert you of a reply to your private message or your ad on this site. Replying to the email just wastes your time as it goes NOWHERE, and probably pisses off the person you thought you replied to when they think you just ignored them. So instead of complaining to me about your messages not being replied to from this site via email, please READ that email notice that plainly states what you need to do in order to reply to who you are trying to converse with.

Adult boa off her feed for a few months...

M

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Hey all,

I am running into an issue getting my adult red-tail boa to eat again... I've had her for about 10 years, and during that time she's consistently eaten a frozen/thawed XXL rat every 2-4 weeks. She was never super "hungry", but she was consistent... she's a pretty sizable girl, too... around 8-9 ft. Always has fresh water, and I haven't modified husbandry in years.

Since the beginning of the year though, she hasn't eaten more than once a month, and I haven't gotten her to eat anything since April. She still roams her cage, flicks and shows interest while moving, has great muscle tone, and drinks water and passes urates. No obvious signs of RI or any yawning or chewing motions... no saliva/mucous discharges that I can see. She is starting to get a bit skinny though, and I'm not sure if I should be worried yet. I am about to undertake a "starting eliminating the obvious things" type checklist... get her on paper instead of cypress mulch (which I've kept her on for years, shouldn't be an issue, but hey why not). Order new feeders in case mine are starting to go bad (coming up on a year in the freezer since I buy in bulk from RodentPro and she is my only large snake).

My normal course of action is to drop frozen straight into hot water and let them thaw for an hour and a half and throw them in her cage on brown Kraft paper spread out. I've been doing this for years now, it's a routine she recognizes. More recently the last few attempts to feed I've let them "air thaw" and then sat them in front of a space heater for 20 mins or so before putting them in... I've heard that the "dry, warm fuzzy" character might provoke some interest when "wet, warm, drowned rat" isn't getting eaten. I have a 6ft long male Okeetee corn whose food I prepare the same way, and he's been pounding them fine all along.

So... I'm thinking of trying a smaller, new shipment from a different feeder supplier. I've grown increasingly dissatisfied with condition RodentPro's feeders show up in, and I'm wondering if something that's a bit "fresher-smelling" will work. If that doesn't work, what's the next logical step? Rabbits? Guinea pigs? trying live? I've been keeping reptiles a LONG time, but until now have never dealt with a feeding issue. Just looking for some advice.

Unless you see a bona fide husbandry issue above, I'm not sure that highlighting that I don't keep her exactly like you keep yours will be helpful... :) Shes been doing great, growing, and shedding every 2-3 months for the last decade. Thanks in advance for any help anyone feels led to offer! :)
 
Hi Tom, I'm sorry to hear of the feeding issues.
You've had her for 10 years, do you know how old she is?

I've noticed my girl (26 this year) has slowed down in her feeding the last few years. At times, shown no interest for months and then goes right back to her normal mode for a few months (she's fed once every 3-5 weeks, two f/t jumbo rats). This last time she fasted she started getting skinny (not bone skinny but lost weight to the point where it was noticeable) and I started to worry, just as I was getting to the point of thinking a vet visit was in order, bam, she's back on, feeding like normal. I am taking it as a sign of her old age. I wonder if your girl is going through something similar?

I'm rambling. Basically I think have the right idea, get new feeders (year old feeders are too old IMO and should be tossed) and try something a little smaller, a large or XL. I would try that before trying something else (like a guinea) but I would deff. not try live, not at this point. If you have to, you may even try putting some chicken broth on the f/t rat if she's still showing no interest after a few weeks of trying. Boas love chicken.

Good luck with her!
 
April,

Thanks so much, it's reassuring to hear. :) I'm not actually sure how old she was when I got her... I've had her ~10 years, and she was a healthy 5-6 long when I got her. Unless she was severely powerfed, I'm guessing she was 4-6 yrs old when I got her? Hard to say... if she was maintenance fed she could potentially be much older, I guess.

I have some new rodents coming from Big Cheese next week, and she just dropped fresh urates today so I'm going to put the worry on hold. If things haven't progressed in another month or two and nothing else has presented, maybe I'll look at rabbits or something. I will probably try the chicken trick first, I'd never heard that before! :)

Thanks for the guidance... I'll let you know how it goes!
 
Hey there Tom,

I've had a similar issue with my Ambrosius a few times. Once in a while he would stop eating, without any changes to temperature, humidity, etc. I usually just offer his normal XXL for a couple months, and if he continues to refuse I drop to a large. He always takes the large when offered, and after 6-8 feedings on large I increase to XL for 2-4 feedings and then he'll go back onto his usual XXL.

After they reach a certain age, they generally slow down in feeding. I've noticed that my younger boas will eat pretty much as often as I'll let them and need to be regulated, where my boas over 6-8 years of age prefer not to eat more than every 2-4 weeks and will regulate their own diet pretty well aside from the occasional fasting period.

Not sure how much help this will be. April is a pretty good source for advice in my opinion, and I haven't really added a whole lot to what she said. Just wanted to share similar experiences of mine on the off chance it might help. Best of luck to you and yours.
 
When my big girl went off feed for a month or so I was told to try mice, surprise surprise she ate. I gave her like 3 mice, 1 every few days, then tossed her a rat and she has been eating again ever since, I switched cages on her though so that's what threw her off. But maybe try some of the biggest adult mice you can find if she hasn't gone back on feed yet.
 
Happy to report that she finally ate a F/T rat this past week! Seems to have decided to rejoin the real world... thanks for the help!
 
Revisiting this thread... for the past year or so she has been consistently eating, but only once every 4-6 weeks, and only one rat at a time. Years ago, I would always drop two in and she'd eat both, but now she seems to be "done" after one prey item... the problem is that she's still outwardly fine, but she is basically skin and bones. I can't get her to eat enough to start putting on weight again... she only eats one prey item at a time, when she does eat. The feeding response is pretty vigorous, that's the other weird thing.

So, do I just let her have her "I only eat one thing" quirk and go out and get some rabbits or something, or is there a way I can combine multiple prey items in a way that won't hurt her? There was a guy on Bob Clark's forums years ago that had a gigantic retic and I remember he would tie prey items together front feet to back legs to get her to eat multiple things at once. Is that safe as long as it's one with a plain cotton string or something? Anyone else have any tips/tricks? The simple fact is I need to get more food into her, and this doesn't seem to be a medical emergency/force feed situation, so I'm looking for creative ideas... thanks all!
 
I'm limited as to feeder size, and I often feed more than one small prey item at a time when I don't have large ones (note, this is with hand-fed, very tame snakes, so caution if yours is not).

One the first prey item is almost finished but the snake is still actively working its mouth (i.e., when the first mouse or rat's hind legs are just disappearing, but the tail is sticking out) I put the nose of the next animal under the legs of the first, and the snake just keeps on chewing...

Also when I only have small animals I supplement with frozen (thawed) chicken wings. Many boas seem to love chicken, as April says, and either take them eagerly, or I feed them as the first animal goes down as above.

This way they still get all the vitamins etc from the organs of the first animal, but you add more muscle, fat, skin and bone to the meal. Also very convenient because I can buy them at the supermarket as needed.
 
One good size rats every month or so is fine for an adult female boa unless you're trying to breed her.
 
I would suggest that you get a scale and start weighing her if you don't already. It's easy to project weight loss onto a snake if you are concerned.

I think it's important to know if she is actually losing weight or has simply settled into smaller maintenance needs as she gets older.
 
I don't think she's losing weight, per se... it's just that eating at the "maintenance" level she is, she's simply not able to re-gain the weight she lost over the last 2-3 years when she decided to go off feed. I'm not worried about breeding or making her "fat", I just want to get a few pounds back on her so she looks normal again. I have to assume that her current condition, while she seems ok, is not ideal and could be taxing her organs unnecessarily... if not, then I guess I'll quit worrying. :) She just doesn't look that great, spine is clearly visible and skin is quite folded when she undulates around the cage...

I'm thinking at this point that I may need to just find much larger prey items and go that route for 6 months or so....
 
If you do order rabbits don't get a bunch at once if she's been on rats her whole life. Not all snakes will switch to them immediately. I converted an adult female retic (who was putting back four jumbo rats per meal instead of one four-pound rabbit) and one of my adult female BCI's in the past few months. I'm still working on my adult female dumerils boa and an adult male boa.

If your boa will take rabbit that would be great since rabbits pack more calories into a smaller volume as they have less fat, more muscle, and bigger bones than rats do.
 
bcr229 said:
If you do order rabbits don't get a bunch at once if she's been on rats her whole life. Not all snakes will switch to them immediately. I converted an adult female retic (who was putting back four jumbo rats per meal instead of one four-pound rabbit) and one of my adult female BCI's in the past few months. I'm still working on my adult female dumerils boa and an adult male boa.

If your boa will take rabbit that would be great since rabbits pack more calories into a smaller volume as they have less fat, more muscle, and bigger bones than rats do.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the help, I will definitely keep that in mind!
 
Just letting you know MR internet i have a 2009 male kahl iv'e had for 6 -7 years around 6 3/4 feet ~12 lbs i had an issue where he was going off feed or only ate once a month and turned into a finicky eater would not eat off tongs. He did this around 2 years ago and for about 6-7 months or so after his fasting he did turn back to normal and didn't lose any noticeable weight. I just came to the conclusion that i was feeding him not to much but enough were he just was storing to much muscle/body mass and was just trying to fix the problem himself by not eating and wasn't getting enough exercise in his 4x2x2 cage not a small cage but nothing massive.

Also consider the age of your boa and weight
 
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