Hi
I have a 22yr old boa that has gone 3-31/2 months without eating. We have tried everthing. He has the same heatsource that he always had (infloor heating) but did loose his humidifier and replaced it after a month of not having one. He always ate before we just had to put the dead rat in and he come just come over and eat it, but last year, we had to start shaking the dead rat to entice him to eat. We took him/her( not sure which) to the vet last week becuase we felt the snake had lost a lot of weight, he did weigh 35lbs now down to 28lb in three months of not eating. We also thought he might have mouth rot on his lower lip but the vet did not think so. When the vet pulled on it it came right off and it reminded me of when you get a cold sore and you rip the scab off. The vet felt he should go onto an antibotic which has three more days to go.

My question is this? Is it common for a boa this age to not want to eat? Maybe its just a sign of old age?

Any thoughts?

Hi, It is common for anything on antibiotics not to have an appetite, I currently have two large boas, not as big as yours though, on antibiotics and they have NO appetite. The 7 lb weight loss would concern me especially in just three months. Was the vet you took it to an exotic vet? As far as 22 years old I cant help you with that, I have never had one that old. I would start being concerned with the weight loss and if he does not start eating soon.

It could be due to age. 22 years is near the end of the expectancy range of boas. Did the vet do a fecal exam ?

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Ken
"Some people spend an entire lifetime wondering if they made a difference in the world. But, the Marines don't have that problem." -- Ronald Reagan

the vets not an exotic - the vet we used to have moved away and now there are no local vets that specialized in exotic. no the vet did not do a fecal exam... we are hoping that once the antibotics are finished we can entice him to eat - not looking forward to having to tube feed him. he's about 9 feet long and very very strong

When our common was on antibiotics for URI she didn't eat for a long time. She was on a course of antibiotics for 42 day. She wouldn't eat until about the last week before the she was done with the meds.

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Colleen

In what area are you located. Perhaps one of our members can advise you of a good vet in your area or close to you.

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Merlin,
What's Life Without A Little Magic!

Ooops just saw your intro! I am geographically challenged when it comes to Canada
Check out
Herp Vet Connection

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Merlin,
What's Life Without A Little Magic!

This kind of concerns me too because our baby columbian red-tail Seren is only about 4months old and she's on meds now for URI but she hasnt seemed to have lost her appetite yet, she's eating 2 pinkies every week. . .if you ever buy a grapevine make sure your snake cant get wedged between it because that happened to her and she was stuck for 24hours before we realized she was stuck and by then she had caught the URI. . .she's also having trouble shedding her head but I heard thats normal for babies.