Feeding problem

[mmfh]

I'm worried about my 4' female hogg island boa. I have owned her since july. She does not seem capable of eating appropriate sized rodents. My 3' male easily eats small rats and he is healthy and plump. My female can only eat adult mice and only ONE at a feeding. If I give her more than one mouse she will regurgitate. She is underweight and dehydrated so I have started feeding her one mouse every 3 days. She does not need to go to the vet yet but i'm wondering if there is some type of dygestive problem I should be asking the vet about? Also, will one mouse this often be enough to put some weight on her? I have had snakes for about 6 years and have never come across a problem like this. I will be taking a stool sample in after payday to check for parasites.

 

[Louise E. Rothstein]

Dehydration is dangerous.
She DOES need to go to the vet.

 

[mmfh]

Yes. I had to wait till payday but i'm going to set up an appointment. I think she needs sub Q fluids. Thankfully she is still eating.

 

[skar]

Have you tried immersing/soaking her ?

 

[mmfh]

She does not like being immersed and with feeding her so often i'm trying to keep her stress level down becauss I absolutely do not want her to regurgitate

 

[kevin91172]

I friend had the same problem, a long time boa keeper told him to soak him in gatorade for an hour a day.The snake is now up and eating...

Sounds crazy,but hey the snake is doing great

Kevin

 

[skar]

She does not like being immersed and with feeding her so often i'm trying to keep her stress level down becauss I absolutely do not want her to regurgitate

I understand yet dehydration is worse than a missed meal right ?.. Use warm water and a tupperware container place on the warmer or half on the warmer end of
enclosure kinda forces her to drink .

 

[Bigboy]

Feeding her while ignoring the dehydration issue will only make her worse. It actually requires fluids to digest food so by choosing food over water for her you are making the situation much worse. She certainly needs to get to a vet, I hope it goes well.

 

[Shrike]

She does not need to go to the vet yet but i'm wondering if there is some type of dygestive problem I should be asking the vet about?

On the contrary, this is the perfect time to take her to the vet.

 

[mmfh]

Just an update: took her to the vet, he couldn't find anything "wrong" with her and her fecal was parisite free. I have soaked her in pedialyte twice now and it must be working because she has also started to drink from her water dish. I'm going to soak her again tomorrow and then feed her. She is looking much better since the soakings, thank you for suggesting them. The vet said that eventually, even with the small feedings she will start putting on weight.

 

[Shrike]

You did the right thing. I'm glad she's doing better.

 

[OphidianDelight]

I am glad that it is doing better. I have a question for anybody with experience soaking in gatorade/pedialyte--I thought that one of the functions of scales in reptiles is to withhold moisture; it seems to me that if moisture can't get out, then doesn't it follow that the moisture is impaired getting in as well? I know that it's not an absolute barrier, but I wonder if the cause of recovery from these soaking instances is because the reptile was inspired to drink while being soaked. No malice in this post, just seeking to clarify for my own benefit as I've never tried this method before; when dealing with dehydrated reptiles I have read to use a plastic syringe to administer the pedialyte. If soaking has better results I would consider using it for the reason that it is less invasive to a stressed animal.

 

[mmfh]

Imo I think some fluid gets in through the skin but a majority of the benefit is because they drink some of it. People probably soak because it is easier then using a syringe. Of course before coming to this board I never knew that gatorade/pedialyte could be used.

 

[kevin91172]

Imo I think some fluid gets in through the skin but a majority of the benefit is because they drink some of it. People probably soak because it is easier then using a syringe. Of course before coming to this board I never knew that gatorade/pedialyte could be used.

Like I said t seems crazy,but it worked. Luck? Don't know...I have allot of other means of doing things unorthodox to save a critter.I have done allot of silly things,but hey what ever works and keep notes and pass on the fails and wins to others so they do not have too go do the same hair pulling stress.

 

[skar]

Like I said t seems crazy,but it worked. Luck? Don't know...I have allot of other means of doing things unorthodox to save a critter.I have done allot of silly things,but hey what ever works and keep notes and pass on the fails and wins to others so they do not have too go do the same hair pulling stress.

I actually tried this method from u recently with my hog nose with powerade/h2o 50/50 mix for about 45 min .
fed her aft ward, Given the fact she wasn't severe (prevention is the best medicine) but all in all seemed to work for me .
Good yours is doing better MMF. . .