Be careful where you buy your prey animals!
Needless to say that the health of the boas not least depends on the condition of the prey animals. How important it is to be careful in the choice of the source of the prey animals and to inquire thoroughly about their condition we will learn from this occurence:
A customer of ours reported a coordination disorder of a recently acquired boa. We agreed to take the boa in our custody in order to introduce it to our vets. One day before the handing-over the customer was in doubt whether she actually should give us the boa because its condition had improved significantly. We agreed upon to take the boa anyway in order to be on the safe side.
When we got the animal no disorders whatsoever was visible.
On the same day we got a call from the very upset customer. She related that she has just been in the local pet shop in order to buy prey mice for the boa babies. Standing in the shop she witnessed the pet shop clerk spraying perfume on the prey mice (!!!) with a spray flacon that stood at the ready in a shelf.
Questioned by the customer the pet shop clerk told her that this measure is applied on the mice in order to prevent them from fighting.
Needless to say that our customer went berserk after this information...
Dear pet shop clerks:
Chanel No 5 is bad for the system of a boa because it sticks to the fur of the mice! It is harmful to the liver and it is also not very well tolerated by the central nervous system of the reptile. The same is true for Midnight Poison by Dior.
However, it is a safe assumption that a private brand (3 litres for 2,99€ ) was applied.
All joking aside: When you buy prey rodents you should inquire whether the animals were exposed to some agents! About 10 years ago we have lost a brazilian redtail boa because the prey rodent dealer showered the rat with Neguvon shortly before the delivery in order to kill the mites in the fur.
Prey items for boas | poisoning of boas | symptom of poisoning on boas | toxic agents on fur of rodents |