doesnt like to eat, too weak...Salmon Red Tail Boa HELP!

Question
we have a salmon red tail boa, he is 8 months old.
we first acquired him and his sister when they were 6 weeks old. his sister began eating well but Karma didn't eat for the first month we had gotten him, other times when we have fed his sister she's wasted no time eating the rats (they are frozen NOT live) we have to put Karma in a all blue, no see in tuber ware container for him to even attempt to seem interested in his food, he has even just wrapped around the rats like he wanted to cuddle. Karma has gone up 3 months without trying to eat. He is very small, at his middle section he is the size of a dime... His sister Luna is the size of a quarter. Karma has kept getting weaker and weaker over time and yesterday i noticed he is listless, very flimsy, sluggish, he seems as if he is just fatty tissue hardly any muscle, he is not alert, doesn't even flick his tongue like he should, all together life less...right know i have him on a low setting on a heating pad hoping that might help some how.

tank temps:
85 degrees on cool side of tank
92 on warm side
44 percent humidity

the heat source is a ceramic heat lamp

Is this helpful?????

Skye Knight
(Connie's Daughter)

Answer
Hi Skye,

there are a few things you can try to encourage him to eat, but just to warn you, some snakes just never manage to eat and there isn't always a logical reason why. hopefully this isn't the case with your boa and hopefully i can help.

the hot end temperature of the tank is correct but the cool end should be much lower. the size tank you are using must be too small to get a good thermal gradient and therefore it is important that you try and get a temperature of about 82-84F in the middle. the cool end ideally should be as low as 78F and the hot at 92F. if this isn't possible try and get that 82-84F in the centre.

1) try smaller food items, going as small as a pinkies if necessary. try feeding him daily for the next week starting with the next size down from what you are currently trying to feed him. if he still refuses to eat try the next size down the following day and so on.

2)you can try and heat up the thawed mice/rats once they have completely thawed. this will help mimic a live mouse/rat and may help encourage your snake to eat. the best way of doing this is to boil some water and pour it into a small plastic tub with a lid. place the lid on and put the mouse/rat on the lid for a few minutes to warm gently.

3)if you don't already, use forceps and try to wiggle the food item around near to your snake's head and see if it attracts its attention. this can help to mimic live prey and will help to interest the snake. you can also try gently rubbing the food on your snake's nose. i have found this often helps snakes who are unwilling to strike at prey as they will simply open their mouth and take it from the forceps.

4) finally you can try bathing your snake. be very careful with this especially since he is very weak. make sure the water is only lukewarm and not much deeper than himself. ideally you could try and make a deep end and a shallow end that isn't deeper than the snake itself. this is encase he doesn't have the energy to swim or keep his head above water. bathing snakes in warm water can help rehydrate them if dehydrated, can help stimulate their metabolism and therefore encourage feeding.

your best bet is to try and combine all of these methods to get your snake to feed but these methods aren't guaranteed. i hope for the best - salmon boas are lovely snakes.

thanks for your question,

Andy