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sand boa not eating

7K views 17 replies 5 participants last post by  Miscelatore 
#1 ·
so I got Wyrm, the male Saharan sand boa, from a reptile expo on August 25th, 2019

At the time of posting this, it's almost been two months and he hasn't eaten at all.

He pooped when I first got him, about 8/27, so he had eaten before.

I've tried:
leaving him in a deli cup with a f/t (both brained and not)
leaving him in a deli cup with substrate with both live and f/t (brained and not)
leaving live in his enclosure for a few hours
leaving f/t in his enclosure for a few hours (brained and not)
pestering him with f/t on tongs in a separate enclosure (brained and not, substrate and not)
leaving him with live for almost an hour in a smaller enclosure
tong feeding live

Next to try:
Live in a smaller enclosure w/o substrate
Leaving him cold for a week then increase heat

I wouldn't be too concerned as I've heard male sand boas don't eat much, and he was doing fine weight wise until this week. He went from 48g when I got him to 50g on 9/13 and then back to 48g 9/26 and stayed steady until recently when he's losing weight and is now at 46g.
Once the vet is open I'll see about scheduling an appointment, maybe an assist/tube feed.
I've contacted the breeder to see how they fed him. He was described as eating both f/t and live, but preferring live. Dunno when they'll respond.
I don't have access to mouse pinkies, but he's been offered rat and hamster pinkies.

tank is ~2ft x 16inch x 16inch plastic tub with about 3 inches of aspen shaving substrate. has hides, fake plants, light wood, etc. warm side is around 98F and cool side goes to around 85F. uses a basking light for 15 hours a day and a uth (set to about 90 via thermostat) 24/7

He's about 1ft 5 inches, estimate. Around a year old.

I've heard their breeding season is around this time, but there's a lot of different information of if they keep eating or if they don't.

any advice/other methods would be helpful, thank you!
 
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#2 ·
I had a similar prob with my baby sand Boa a couple of years ago ..

Solved it by putting the snake and the warmed up , thawed pinkie / fuzzy in a tiny little container ( with a lid) and left them for an hour or two in the dark ... I put the container in the sand Boas viv for security in case it forced the lid off .

Worked every time


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#3 ·
there is literally no need to assist or tube feed at this stage , he has only not fed for a few months.

you say you dont have access to mouse pinkies,does that include frozen thawed?? if not then this could be your problem, many snakes will refuse rats but readily take mice.

Also try lowering the heat slightly, my sand boa will refuse food if her temps are above 32c.

i honestly believe that all this moving him about is causing more stress for the little guy and is possibly contributing to the issues. focus on one feeding technique for a couple of weeks at a time and offer food in his enclosure.
 
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#4 · (Edited)
Firstly are you sure it's captive bred? Saharans are notoriously difficult to breed due to being egg layers, with most people finding that the eggs fail to hatch. WC saharans are difficult to feed and are predominantly lizard feeders.
Second off your set up. Ditch the heat mat. These snakes come from very hot regions and burrow down to escape heat. Having a heat mat under the substrate at 90 degrees will confuse the hell out of a sand boa!
Also, while the habitats they are found in a very hot, they are also very cold at night. So I would switch the heater off overnight.
I have kept and bred Kenyans, rough scales, Tartars, javelins and also had a lone male Saharan. Mine were all kept with a basking spot of 32-34C, overhead heating, no mats, and the heater switched off over night.
 
#5 ·
I have access to f/t pinkies yes, trying that too

I've only tried feeding once a week, ik the stress of handling can have feeding be not successful so he gets food, if he doesn't eat, he gets weighed and that's it, I try not to disturb him any other day

He was sold as a captive bred Saharan, also had the mother at the show. Eaten well beforehand.

(wouldn't be surprised if it actually was kenyan tho)

I can try the small container again, although I feel like the stress of that wouldn't be good, moving him around.

I realize tube / assist feeding now isn't a good idea at all, apologies for thinking right to that, was just extra worried at the time of posting. I'll also ditch the uth, then.

thank you guys, still! I've seen that brumating them can also help. For now I'm gonna try to calm down a bit aha and be patient with him. It's my first reptile that won't eat so just a bit alarming for me. thank you!
 
#12 ·
Here's what I would try.
Switch off the heat mat. Increase the temperature to 34C at the basking spot.
Leave the snake well alone. No handling, moving, weighing, nothing. Take out the water bowl.
After a week offer a defrost pink, thoroughly washed and dried and wrapped in lizard skin.
That should work.
When I had a WC Saharan male, feeding was not an issue. Strike fed on defrost mice every time.
So either your husbandry isn't right or it isn't recognising mice as food.
 
#13 ·
Gotchu. Heat mat is already taken off, ill get a stronger bulb today and take the water bowl out.

I can also get lizard feeders (surprisingly can get those easier than live mice) if that would be something to try? (either for the lizard skin or just as a feeder in general)

I feel terrible he's wc, but it's a learning experience I guess. I hope someone can come across this forum before getting one. Also gonna message / review the "breeder." Gonna give him the best life possible while I can.

Thank you all so much, honestly. It means a lot.
 
#14 ·
UTH removed, substrate is about 4 inches

Has lotta cover in form of large leaf litter and fake plants

No water bowl

surface of substrate is 31-33 C

Gonna not even open the tub for a little over a week. Gives me time to get a feeder lizard. Gonna try the lizard itself first, hopefully he'll take it. Then transition to mice.
 
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