sick?

Question
QUESTION: I spoke with one of the All Experts herp vets a while back about this but cannot remember who. Anyway-
I have a 4 and a half year old female red tail boa, and am told she's a mix of Peruvian and something else. In the time I've had her since April) she's always eaten well, one frozen defrosted small rat once every 2 weeks. Defecated and shed pretty rarely (maybe once each every few months). She's active and bright eyed, social and quite curious. Her heat is usually 70-85 degrees, and humidity from 50-65. However the last time she ate was late November. She's been continuously refusing. I've tried braining, darkness, letting it thaw near her for smell... no luck. I'm starting to really worry. She also has not been soaking lately, and used to be good about it. Doesn't seem to be losing weight or energy, but did recently spend a day in her hide which is very rare for her. Gets natural light patterns, day and night. the last vet said keep trying, and if she hasn't eaten by March to maybe check it out. What do you think? Any ideas?

ANSWER: Have you tried live yet? If not, try live supervised feeding. You can always change her back over. Also, try a hamster. For some reason, they will eat a hamster when they will eat nothing else. Give it a try and let me know if she eats. BTW, I have a Macklot's python that is about 6 years old who does not eat in the winter, even though it is plenty warm in my herp room.

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QUESTION: Live hamster? Or live rat and/or a dead hamster?

At what point do I need to really worry?
thank you SO MUCH!!

Answer
A snake that size, I would start being worried after 4 months, depending on how big she is. Try a live rat (cheaper) and then a live hamster if that doesn't work. Don't get me wrong, I am anti feeding live anything, but sometimes you have no other choice. Give it a go and think about seeing the vet if this doesn't work.