I have a 3 year old Dumeril Boa that I have had for over a year and For the life of me, I cannot get him to eat out of the enclosure. Every time I have attempted, he refused the next two feedings, in the enclosure he will attack the rat within seconds. This makes it complicated because when i want to handle him I put a sheet over him to let him know it isn't feeding time and I can tell he knows the difference. He is very sweet and has never bitten me. The warm sun and grass will get him pretty amped up though. I am just wondering if anyone else has any suggestions for my ferocious rat eater.. outside the cage. I have alot of experience with snakes in general but since dumerils are few and far between around where I live there isn't much help.
Some individuals have a difficult time taking food outside of the enclosure, the same way some individuals have a hard time converting to rats or f/t. He may never display such a good feeding response outside of his enclosure, but if you're determined to hold all feedings outside of the enclosure, you've got to hold out on him. Offer food weekly, ALWAYS outside of the enclosure (a single in-enclosure feeding will set you back quite a ways), and minimize handling. Personally, I don't believe that feeding outside of the enclosure makes a significant difference. Imo and from my experience, if the snake's an aggressive feeder and sees a warm, moving, rat-shaped object (i.e. your hand), it's not going to care where it is. The sheet is a good idea. Similarly, many people "hook train" their snakes; touch them lightly on the head a few times with a snake hook before each handling. The snake will associate the taps with handling the same way they would a sheet. But that's just my 2c. Go with whatever works best for you and your snake.
