Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi this will be my first post on kingsnake forums. I have been reading around on these forums and you are all very intelligent on the subject, so I would like some expert advice. I bought a CB baby BRB in November from LLLreptile. When I recieved her on 11/29/05 they told me she was feeding on live pinkies. So I quickly tried to switch to F/T. Well when feeding day came I tried to give her a F/T fuzzy, she wanted nothing to do with the thing. So after she didn't want the fuzzy I offered her a F/T pinkie. She loved it. Her first feeding day was 12/03/05. So since then I increased amount of pinkies as I tried fuzzies. On 12/10/05 she ate 2 pinkies, 12/16/05 she ate 3, 12/23/05 she ate 2, 12/30/05 she ate 2, and 1/6/06 she ate 2. Now each of these feedings she refused the fuzzy but took the pinkies. On 1/7/06 she shed. Now I know she should be eating fuzzies or even hoppers at her size which is around 22inches at this time and she still wouldn't. From 1/13/06-2/3/06 she refused all types of food. So I was worried and decided to see if something was wrong and fed her a live to see if she had some sort of feeding response. She ate a live fuzzy on 2/3/06. Now my wife is not keen on feeding living creatures so the live was just a check on the feeding response. So yesterday I thought hey since she ate a live fuzzy lets see about a frozen one. I bought her a F/T fuzzy and tried with not success. Now my question to you all is, How can I get my BRB to eat F/T fuzzies?

Zodiac,
....I have a few ideas. Baby BRBS are more inclined to eat at night with the lights low and very little distractions. They are more likely to eat a frozen and thawed rodent if it is very very warm and if it is gently dangled in front of it's nose. Sometimes they show no interest when offered like this but will grab it if you harass them a little tapping the dead rodent against the snakes nose or neck. You have to be careful with this as some of them are just too shy and will become stressed and hide their heads rather than grab the rodent. Watch to see the snake's reaction to the tapping and adjust your presentation based upon the snake's reaction. Long hemostats are ideal for dangling the rodent in front of the snake or tapping it against the snake. Your big hand right up close to the snake will definitely inhibit the snake's propensity to feed. If the snake does not grab the rodent right away try leaving it in with the snake in a small container overnight. Little BRBs are sensitive to temperature and humidity. If kept too warm or too dry they are much less inclined to eat. Frozen rodents are best as snake food when they are fresh and have a nice mouse smell to them. The longer they are kept the less appetizing they will become. Fresh killed rodents will always get a stronger feeding response than frozen and thawed rodents. You can feed the snake one live fuzzy and have a fresh killed one ready and there is a good chance the snake will take the fresh killed one if you leave it so that the snake finds it right after it finishes swallowing the one it killed. If you get the snake regularly eating fresh killed it will then easily switch to frozen thawed. These animals are creatures of habit. Make small changes and progress on to other small changes over time rather than trying to make large changes all at once. BTW, a 22 inch BRB can eat a mouse much larger than a fuzzy.
Good luck,
Jeff

>>Hi this will be my first post on kingsnake forums. I have been reading around on these forums and you are all very intelligent on the subject, so I would like some expert advice. I bought a CB baby BRB in November from LLLreptile. When I recieved her on 11/29/05 they told me she was feeding on live pinkies. So I quickly tried to switch to F/T. Well when feeding day came I tried to give her a F/T fuzzy, she wanted nothing to do with the thing. So after she didn't want the fuzzy I offered her a F/T pinkie. She loved it. Her first feeding day was 12/03/05. So since then I increased amount of pinkies as I tried fuzzies. On 12/10/05 she ate 2 pinkies, 12/16/05 she ate 3, 12/23/05 she ate 2, 12/30/05 she ate 2, and 1/6/06 she ate 2. Now each of these feedings she refused the fuzzy but took the pinkies. On 1/7/06 she shed. Now I know she should be eating fuzzies or even hoppers at her size which is around 22inches at this time and she still wouldn't. From 1/13/06-2/3/06 she refused all types of food. So I was worried and decided to see if something was wrong and fed her a live to see if she had some sort of feeding response. She ate a live fuzzy on 2/3/06. Now my wife is not keen on feeding living creatures so the live was just a check on the feeding response. So yesterday I thought hey since she ate a live fuzzy lets see about a frozen one. I bought her a F/T fuzzy and tried with not success. Now my question to you all is, How can I get my BRB to eat F/T fuzzies?

In addition to what Jeff has suggested, you might also try feeding a small meal (whatever the animal will take) and be standing by with a F/T fuzzy or hopper. As your snake is finishing up the meal it killed on it's own, you can position the thawed food so that the snake just continues swallowing it. I slip the nose of the second food item into the snake's open mouth as it is downing the first. This should probably be tried after all of the suggestions Jeff has given you. You want to be careful with this one because it's easy to scare the snake. It's a bit of a drag because it takes much longer to feed an animal. But, if you only have one snake it's a neat way to "connect" with your pet. In time you will probably be able to make the switch to F/T.
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Mike Lockwood
www.tooscaley.com

Thanks for the advice, hopefully it works. I'll keep you updated.

Just my two cents, never feed a BRB a mouse unless u absolutely have too. Rat babys and go up from there is ur best food source, one because mice have very little muscle mass for snake to digest. I would worry more on getting it on rats then f/t right at the moment.