Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i have a male dbl. het burm about 11ft long and 27 lbs. i bought him about 9 months ago, when he was 8ft. apparently his last owner fed him primarily rats because for the life of me i cant get him to eat anything else. he can scarf down 3 or 4 giant rats in one sitting and not even show a dent. it seems to me that he would get more out of a sm-md rabbit every 10-14 days than multiple small servings. i have tried soaking the rabbit with rats and rubbing rat hair into it to cover scent. i have also tried chicken broth(a pet store owner threw me that one) nothing seems to work. if i shouldnt worry then i wont. its just more efficient to store a couple of rabbits in a freezer than dozens of rats.

What you can try is placing a P/K rabbitt in the snakes mouth about the time that he gets the back legs of a rat down. Once he opens to take that last swallow, place the rabbitts head in his mouth. This will USUALLY make him just continue to swallow.
Some snakes this will work with. Some can be picky like this for a while. I say P/K cause if he doesnt take it the first time, you can freeze, and try again later.
If this doesnt work, try waiting a little longer than normal to offer the rabbitt. Get him good and hungry and see if it works.
Good luck with him

If so maybe try pig feeders. There are a couple ads for frozen pigs. They may work for you and will probably save you money if you are feeding 4 to 6 jumbo rats to the burm. I have done the technique offered in the other post but I don't think I would try it with an 11' Burm. Well not alone anyway!

yes, i always serve P/K prey, but instead of the net have been recently getting my rabbits from a local who doesnt breed feeders but always has extra rabbits.
Also, the second post was talking about guinnea pigs right?
or can you buy cheap pot bellied oinkers?
ive seen plenty of guinnea pigs but didnt know that they got as big as rabbits.
also, was it a big waste of time and a rabbit to pour chicken broth on it?
-thanks for the responses

I've never tried the chicken broth thing, but something else I've had luck with is scenting the rabbit with the rat, then giving the snake a rat to get her in a good feeding mode, then presenting the scented rabbit, they seem to be less picky once they get going.

Good Luck
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nope not guinnea pigs. Just baby pigs. I know Monster Cages sells feeder pigs.

phattony wrote:
"What you can try is placing a P/K rabbitt in the snakes mouth about the time that he gets the back legs of a rat down. Once he opens to take that last swallow, place the rabbitts head in his mouth. This will USUALLY make him just continue to swallow.
Some snakes this will work with. Some can be picky like this for a while. I say P/K cause if he doesnt take it the first time, you can freeze, and try again later.
If this doesnt work, try waiting a little longer than normal to offer the rabbitt. Get him good and hungry and see if it works."

I'll have to second that motion.
I've got a 10ft female that's a great eater, when it comes to rats, at least. She'd eat a frozen one if I'd let her. It's taking some time getting her to switch to rabbits but by placing a rabbit(p/k or f/t), the same size as the rats she's been eating (jumbo), in her mouth as she's finishing the first rat, has produced some progress.

I use 3-foot grabbers to feed mine with, the type of grabbers made for elderly or handicap.

I always try to feed her the rabbit first and then feed one rat to get her primed if she doesn't take the rabbit. Sometimes I have to give her another rat or two in between rabbits. Once you get it switched to rabbits, then you can work on increasing the size of rabbits.

No, I don't think you wasted your time with chicken broth, it;s worked for some people, but not for me. Just about anything like that is worth a try.

I think one large rabbit is better than several rats. Some say it is because of the meat/bones ratio but I beleive it's better because of how they lay in the stomach.

Best wishes!
Mike
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