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 #1733592


NEBherpdork
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 HELP!!

I have a female Waeigo Indo Tree Boa Candoia carinata carinata that I am having trouble getting to feed, she is a (to my knowledge) full grown adult female that I bought in October of last year, and (according to her previous owner) was eating a live fuzzy mouse every month or so. But so far she has only eaten once in my care (and it was a live fuzzy, not a f/t), I offered her another (thinking that she would be well out of her semi-burmation and ready to eat), but she wasn’t interested. Does anyone have any advice on ways to get her to eat, or does someone keep this species and know if this is normal?
05/12/08  10:28pm

 #1733895


Littleindiangirl
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   Message To: NEBherpdork   In reference to Message Id: 1733592


 HELP!!

First, are you sure this is a CB animal, or WC?
What are you keeping her in, temps, humidity, size? Have you brumated her in hopes of breeding?

How much weight has she lost since you got her? If you don’t have a kitchen/mail scale, go buy one from walmart. One that measures in grams so you can keep track of how much weight she is losing and if it is taking a detrimental toll on her body. Candoia can go off of feed for months without too much weight loss (as yours has)

Lastly, have you taken her to a qualified herp vet to do the necessary tests for parasites and check up?

If you can answer this, perhaps we can get onto what else we can suggest.

I would also highly suggest going to another (busier) forum for some more in depth answers to your problem, as everything I have read is in relation to the Solomon Ground boa, and the Viper boa. Try kingsnake for starters.

Hope this helps some.



05/13/08  08:50am

 #1733986


SusanC
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   Message To: NEBherpdork   In reference to Message Id: 1733592


 HELP!!

NEB,
I can only find 2 pages in my boa book about this subspecies. It says that they are rather difficult to get to feed.. but usually only as neonates. The maintenance is very close to a regular boa... I’m interested in your temps. and humidity. Did you give it atleast a week of no handling no feeding.. no contact when you first got it? It says in addition to eating small mammals, the also prefer tiny geckos, lizards, or frogs. Once it has refused.. be sure to wait a week then offer food again. Repeatedly offering prey items can only add to the refusal.
I would re-evaluate my husbandry...visually check for parasites on the snake... and if these seem ok.. take the snake along with a stool sample to see a vet. Good luck!

~smiles~

Susan
05/13/08  11:26am

 #1734105


Sra
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   Message To: NEBherpdork   In reference to Message Id: 1733592


 HELP!!

Candoia (which are mostly WC due to lack of breeders) feed on small frogs and lizards in the wild. You may have to scent your prey items, or start offering small, live prey items, such as tree frogs, or anoles. Make sure your temps and humidity are where they should be at (Candoia are notorious for liking cooler temperatures), so I would say run your temps to about 80-85 and your humidity should be at 60-80%. I hope this helps, please keep us updated. I love Candoia, let’s see some pictures while we’re at it ;)
05/13/08  02:34pm

 #1736750


NEBherpdork
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   Message To: Sra   In reference to Message Id: 1734105


 HELP!!

Ok I will try to answer the questions in the order that they came.
Littleindiangirl; she is (I think) a WC and is in a 29 gallon cage with another female (don’t worry they are close to the same length, but she is slightly bigger and "heftier" than my other female, so no worries about her being dominated by the other). the temps are (at the side with the heat lamp) between 78.4-80F (if that side gets too hot I turn the lamp off), on the heat mat side the temp stays around 80F with maybe a degree or two variation. She is staying at a steady 94-5 gram weight, and the last time she was in to the vet (for a RI) her gave her a check and said she was fine. and the semi-burmation was what I was calling it for the simple reason that she pretty much hunkered down, didn’t eat (apart from a live fuzzy on the 7th of December after I added the heat mat) and "slept" (my other female did this as well, so I know that it wasn’t health related)
SusanC When I got her she was (apart from necissary contact) left alone in the cage, feeding (going by the records of her previous owner) happened about once a month with a gap from December to late May (again, going by the previous owners notes), I was told by a herpetologist friend of mine that scenting the mouse (if she had taken them before) would make it harder for me to get her back on mice.
Sra humidity I am not sure about, but the cage is misted twice a day, there are live plants that are watered once a week and a water bowl that she could fit in (I am going to offer a larger one just to make sure that she can fit). as to the pictures...... sorry, but I only have a few and they are of the cage that I kept my first female (Fred) in.
05/15/08  09:08pm

 #1736835


Sra
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   Message To: NEBherpdork   In reference to Message Id: 1736750


 HELP!!

Quote:

is in a 29 gallon cage with another female



There is your problem. You cannot continually house two snakes together, unless you’re breeding them for a short period of time. Separate them as soon as possible, and let them both alone for a week, and try feeding them again. I forgot to mention too, Candoia are notorious for having very slow metabolisms, adults can eat every two or three weeks, whereas any other boa would eat once a week, or once every other week.
Please separate your snakes, there are alot of health and psychological risks you take when you house two or more snakes together. They are very independant creatures, and do not crave attention unlike most animals. Just a heads up, you may get a lot of angry posts for this.
Sara
05/15/08  10:47pm

 #1737409


Littleindiangirl
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   Message To: Sra   In reference to Message Id: 1736835


 HELP!!

Hard to say if it’s 100% stress related, or if she is in breeding mode. Simply because you said that both females attempted to brumate for the winter, and the previous owners notes had a gap between Dec and May, I’m inclined to believe that she is off feed because she wants to breed.

I would separate them for the reasons already stated. I find that keeping 2 snakes in 1 cage for reasons other than breeding is for someone with heavy experience in advanced husbandry techniques, like a zookeeping for example.

Like I said, separate, let them acclimate for 3 weeks then offer live food that they were being fed before. Springs coming around, a lot of animals off feed for the winter are coming back around. :)
05/16/08  03:19pm

 #1737893


NEBherpdork
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   Message To: Littleindiangirl   In reference to Message Id: 1737409


 HELP!!

(again these are in order of the posts).
Sra She has lost 12 Grams sence January (she was weighed today).
Littleindiangirl if she is in breeding mode how do I get her out of it??

Quote:

I’m inclined to believe that she is off feed because she wants to breed.

her previous owner did not (again to my knowladge) breed her, so does that fact really matter? (that she wasn’t, that I know of, bred).

Quote:

Springs coming around, a lot of animals off feed for the winter are coming back around

boy do I agree! LOL
Both does anyone know of ways to scent f/t mice?
05/16/08  10:52pm

 #1738143


Littleindiangirl
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   Message To: NEBherpdork   In reference to Message Id: 1737893


 HELP!!

When animals are of breeding age, they will often go off feed in preparation for the breeding season. Ball pythons for example are said to feel the barometric change of the winter, the low pressure is a stimulant and tells them it’s almost the rainy season and they should breed. The shorter day light hours, low pressure, cooler nights. These all stimulate them to go off feed.

I think the same could be said of this species if they both went off feed at the same time as last year.



05/17/08  10:36am


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