I need to pass this valuable information on. An experienced herp hobbyist gave me some advice a few years ago and it has proven to be one of the best pieces of herp advice I ever received: RUNT HOPPERS

On occasion I've had a few stubborn feeding snakes and have had much success using runt hoppers to feed vipers, new born amazon tree boas, and many other snakes that would refuse all methods of feeding pinks and fuzzies for months on end. These snakes would of course would only accept lizards and frogs. Vice force feeding, I offer them reptiles as I diet. I don't like to do it, but rather then stress them by ramming food down their throat, I offer them their natural prey and its works fine.

Earlier last week I had a group of several waiego island tree boas that had been in captivity by a friend for several months and they refused pinks and fuzzies. When I obtained the specimens, they were very skinny and close to death. I threw in pinks, fuzzies, frogs, and lizards and the reptiles disappeared and the rodents remained. I have kept them on lizards and frogs for a couple months now.

A couple days ago, I was finished feeding stuff and had some left over rodents so I decided to use the trick of a runt hoppers on the waiegos. I had four waiegos that were reptile feeders. They are separated in their own boxes, so I threw in one fuzzy and one runt hopper in each cage.

I returned a few minutes later and one waiego was coiled and quickly ate the hopper. The PIC is below. Notice how skinny this female has been on lizards and frogs. Well her skinny condition is gonna end as she will fatten easily on the rodents. And the next day, I discovered that 2 others had taken hoppers. One was a hold out but I will get it converted soon I hope. And I say converted, but who is not to say these snakes do not eat small rodents in the wild?

I notified a friend who has an Indonesian tree boa that has refused pinks and rodents and told him to throw in a hopper. Wamo. He called the same day to say his snake ate.

Somehow the erratic and quick movements of the hoppers entice a feeding reaction in snakes not stimulated by pinks and hoppers. And I have used this method for a few years for other species of snakes and it really works beyond belief sometimes.

Now what I mean by a runt hopper is a hopper that has just started to run and has been dwarfed a bit from lack of food and water. If you throw in a large hopper, then you may risk your snake vomiting the food item or the hopper biting the snake. The most important part of this method is the size of the hopper. I have made mistakes before and used a slightly larger hopper only to have my snake regurg. And I have seen new born tiny amazon tree boas refuse pinks and fuzzies, but they will attack a runt hopper with gusto. And simply dropping a hopper on a baby amazon makes them bite it and wrap it. And it perhaps does the same with an indo tree boa. I have kept several vipers and some will not touch a pink or fuzzy via tease feeding or any method. I raised them up on lizards for 6 months and throw in a hopper and the problem is solved.

Now the waiego/indo tree boa needs to be of adverage size to manage swallowing a hopper, however most might be very surprised to see how big a food item they can manage to swallow. I would say if your tree boa is over 12 inches and is stuck on lizards or refuses to take pinks, try a hopper. However the case, keep a good eye on the project. My snakes were confined to a small container and I checked them every few hours to see that the rodent was not making a meal of the snake.

Dan

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