Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I just brought home my little CRB to the 20 long that I set up yesterday and tweaked til it was about right. I have experience playing, owning, and working with snakes all my life. I've studied and kept for brief periods everything I could find native in my area that was not venomous and also kept corns. At my current job I care for a variety of herps, inverts, frogs, toads, lizards, and snakes. This will be my first boa of my own, though I have cared for central american and colombian boas at work. I fell in love with rainbows years ago and could not turn down the chance to get this one, what with my brackish tank having just sprung a leak so it had to be dry setup only, it was fate right? I got her from a store where I know the management and knew their reptile dude knew his stuff. She seems fairly calm, a bit tense but has not struck at me or tried to jump out of my hands yet. One chick at the store was baring marks from her the day I went in to pay for her, but it was a girl I don't like so I pleased. She was fed this morning so I set her in her new home and she went straight to her warm hide and has yet to come out and explore. Since she ate this morning I was not planning on handling her at least until tomorrow evening so I wanted to ask if it would be better to wait for her to come out and explore before I take her out or shall I go ahead and pull her out of her hide? Even though she was fed this morning she had no suggestion of a bump so I don't think the pinkies they were feeding her on are quite big enough to fill her up. I went ahead and got a three pack of frozen pinks because she has been feeding readily on them but I think after I get through that I'll try a fuzzy and she how she does on that. I wanted to ask a few things about feeding, is there a supplement that anyone likes for rainbows? I'm looking at the different pre-killed feeders I can get from major suppliers online and I was wondering if there's any special reason that chicks, guinea pigs, quail, and so on are used for feeders. Is there a special advantage to any one of them, or a significant down side to using just one type of feeder? My baby is currently about two feet long, though I have not measured her as I don't want to disturb her digestion. She appears fairly young but since the shop got her from a chain distributor I have no way to know her exact age, is one time a week frequently enough for feedings? I was considering, especially if she turns down a fuzzy, stepping her up to once every 4-5 days. I posted some pics of my setup in cage photos, compared to the tiny cage she was in she has an estate now. I'm getting around 80 on my cool side and just under 90 on my warm side at the moment. I'm so excited and looking forward to watching her grow.
J.

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Expecting the world to treat you fairly because you are good is like expecting the bull not to charge because you are a vegetarian.
Dennis Wholey

First of all, congrats on the new baby!! Quite the cute little thing, do you have a name picked out for her yet?

I would give her at least a couple days to settle in before "playing" with her. As for whether or not you should wait until she comes out on her own, that is up to you. I, however, have had no problems digging them out of their hides if I want to handle them. Of course they don't want to be yanked out, but it doesn't seem to stress mine out too much. I don't do it that often anyway, so that could be why.

I'm not sure how much smaller CRB's are compared to BRB's, but I know that baby BRB's can take hopper sized mice or rat pinks as babies. Pinkies may be too small for her, but I don't have experience with CRB's so I don't know how big the babies are.

As for types of feeders, I think mice and rats are the best choice. (In my opinion, anyway.) I have heard that feeding chicks makes their poo runny, but I haven't tried it myself. There is no need to add any supplements, as whole feeders like mice and rats have everything they need to grow up big and healthy.

I hope I was somewhat helpful with your questions. There are some awesome experts on this forum that can provide you with a wealth of information. I'm sure they will chime in soon.

Also... welcome to the forum! There is a fee for this partictular forum, though..... lots of pictures!!!

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Aubrey Ross

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www.SlipstreamSerpents.com

and very pretty too!

yeah, for a two foot snake, you could easily go up a step in feeders. hoppers will work very well. and it won't be long for something bigger even!

snakes typically don't need supliments because they already get the 'balanced diet' in captivity that they would get in the wild. it's not like a lizzard, who you're gonna feed almost exclusively crickets, when in the wild their diet would be far more varied. or torts for that matter. I feed my cherries about six different types of leafy vegies per week, but it still doesn't add up to the diversity they'd get browsing in the wild. snakes just eat rodents and other small living things, that's fine with them, and that's the appropriate thing to feed them.

yes, there is a variety of feeder animals availible now-a-days. the resons they are offered are many, but it bois down to the fact that if you feed your snake a bird, for example, it may be that he decides he likes those better, and it will sometimes be a pain in the behind to remind him at mice or rats are good too! this is how, I think, some people end up with 'problem feeders'. another thing to consider, and it was posted earlier, was that birds DO change the consistency of what the sake leaves behind, but that's not the worst part. when I used to eed my burm chickens, his (feeces? it's hard for me not to use another word) would smell something aweful. so, no need to fix something that isn't broken, stick with mice/rats.

I typically give the day off to any snake that has just eaten. if your little guy comes out and looks around his cage, I supose he's fair game for some handling, but otherwise, he may just want to hang out in a heated hide box. it's normal, and I know how frustrating it can be, especially with a new snake, to not be able to hold him and just stare. there's time for that. he'll be around for well over a decade. you'll get to know each other eventually.

about how often you can feed him; there's mixed oppinions out there. I'm of the side that you coud feed him darn near as often as he'll eat. this i assuming that he stays active and alert. you gotta remember that pinkies especially are high in fat, so it's like eating a stick of butter ofr a little snake. having said that, I'm sure you will switch to something bigger soon, so it doesn't matter. but as long as he stays active and healthy, every four or five days would not be bad at all. don't for get to mark it on your calendar, or else you'll be asking yourself "was that thursday?"

hope that helps, I may have skipped questions, but the beauty of this community is someone will pick up where I left off.

Jim

congrats and good luck with your snake. that's a nice looking fellow!
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Scott

Reptiles
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1 Colombian Rainbow Boa (Rocky)
1.0 Ball Python (Sultan)
0.1 California Kingsnake (Leota)
1.0 Eastern Painted Turtle (Yugi)
0.1 Red/Gold Bearded Dragon* (Irwin, R.I.P.)

Other
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1.0 Betta Fish (Tyrone)
1.0 Hooded Rat* (Clubber, R.I.P.)
0.1 Albino Rat (Isis)

unless you own a BRAZILIAN j/k y'all you know I like them guys too

I went to spray down her cage before bed and saw her out and about so I stopped to watch her and saw a nice long skin twined through her branches and substrate. Which now that I think about it I remember her being in the beginnings of blue when I looked at her last weekend. She's got a little bit of skin on her head that didn't come off with the rest but I'll wait til tomorrow to see if she sort it out herself. I'll what I can do about some pics.
J.
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Expecting the world to treat you fairly because you are good is like expecting the bull not to charge because you are a vegetarian.
Dennis Wholey