Posted by:
Jeff Clark
at Fri Nov 7 02:24:28 2008 [ Email Message ] [ Show All Posts by Jeff Clark ]
It is common for baby Rainbow Boas to refuse frozen and thawed rodents. Most of them like live hopper mice best but will also readily take live pinky rats. I start most of mine on live pinky rats or hopper mice and make sure they are eating and growing. They will all switch over to eating frozen and thawed though many of them take some time and patience. Making slow gradual changes seems to work best If you feed your snake several meals of live and then the next time offer a stunned but still breathing same size and kind of rodent they will often eat it. Try feeding the stunned meal to your snake for a couple meals and then switch to freshly killed for several meals and then to frozen and thawed. Some baby snakes like their dead prey dangled in front of them and some are scared by that method and take them left in with them instead. Watch how the snake reacts to a dangled rodent. If it shys away you should not force the issue. If it seems to be investigating and smelling the rodent then be patient but be prepared to wiggle it a little if the snake seems to lose interest. As you know they often eat best at night with little or no light or activity around their cage. They often will also eat better if fed in a very small container. A deli cup works good for this. Live pinky rats are safer for the snake than mice though a small hopper mouse cannot hurt a Rainbow Boa. I use a general rule of thumb that I do not offer any rodent live if I would not want it to bite me. A hopper mouse can pinch when it bites your finger but it will not draw blood and does not hurt. Rat bites cannot hurt you or a snake until the rat weighs about an ounce and a half.
>>This Saturday will be three weeks since I got my rainbow and she still hasn't eaten. Conditions are the same.. high humidity and low 70s for temps. Has a hide and part of the rubbermaid has coconut fiber bedding and the rest is paper towels with some branches and a water dish. I haven't tried feeding it live mice because I don't want to get her hooked on them but I'm guessing at this point I have no choice?
>>-----
>>0.0.1 D. Leucomela
>>0.0.1 D. Azureus
>>1.0.0 Leopard gecko
>>0.0.1 Blue-tailed monitor
>>0.1.0 Brazilian rainbow boa
>>0.0.1 Pearl river map turtle
>>1.0.0 Red eared slider
>>1.0.0 Yellow bellied slider
>>0.0.1 Red bellied slider
>>4.1.0 Painted turtle
>>1.0.0 Three-lined musk
>>0.0.1 Musk turtle
>>4.1.0 Diamondback terrapin
>>1.0.0 Duck
>>0.1.0 Cat
>>0.1.0 Dog
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RE: its been three weeks still hasnt eaten - Jeff Clark, Fri Nov 7 02:24:28 2008