Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Aye, I dont really trust the people at pet land..
So I thought I'd take a crack at you guys

How often do i gotta feed my bull. Hes about five feet I'd say. Pet store said 5 adult mice every two weeks. And that they are already dead.. My dad is totally disagreeing and I dunno what to think! Sigh, Its hard being a newb snake owner, hahahaha

that sounds a bit light to me for a 5' bull but if that's what he used to maybe it's a good place to start. you can easily tell when they want more.....

LOL yes thats exactly how hes been
Very agressive and jumpy.

And I was also told I had to put him in a different container. I just wanna know why...

we'd love to see it. Post several if you can.
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Herp Conservation Unlimited
Mexicana Group Directory
Photography by Joseph E. Forks

oh yeah i want too!!
..but i cant find my camra. Soon as I find it im posting him up

Might be a little on the light side, but you don't want to over feed it, either.

It'll also vary on the temps you're keeping it at.

I'd probably start with 3 adult/jumbo mice every 7-10 days or so, and go from there...

Also- I don't really have a set feeding schedule with any of my adult snakes. I vary the feeding- sometimes they'll eat 1-2 jumbo rats in feeding, and then I'll wait 2-3 weeks, and feed them only 1, etc. (try to mimic what they'd get in the wild)

I try to keep them all looking nice and healthy (girth wise), but not over weight...

//Todd

LOL i knew I couldnt really trust pet land.
I dunno, they didnt even give me a tip sheet
And they also let me take him when im a totaly inexpierenced person with snakes. My first is this one.... heh

No worries. Pits (bulls, pines and gophers) make EXCELLENT pets, and I think are much more interesting captives than a lot of the other more commonly kept species of snake.

Here's a good general care sheet for your new bull:

Putuophis Caresheet

This forum is a great place to lurk and ask questions if/when you run into anything, too!

Post some pics!

//Todd

The thought behind a "feeding container" is that if you feed a snake in its cage it will always expect food when you open it and go into "feeding mode", ready to bite and eat. So when you feed you move the snake into another container and it eats there. This way it doesn't try to rush for food when you open its cage. It sort of makes sense to me but I've never done it. The snakes that have the big feeding reactions in my house are the big snakes. I'm not going to carry a 12' snake into the bathroom and feed it in the tub, then tote it back to the cage. Some people swear by it; you may want to try, and if it works for you, follow the practice.

You mentioned feeding pre-killed? That I definitely recommend. Even better is frozen thawed. Why is it better? I pay less than half as much for frozen rodents than for live. When I buy frozen mice I get nice sized adults, live ones I get small adults. Hmm, pay less, get more, that sounds good, right? Ever been bitten by a mouse? They have decent teeth. They can take out a snake's eye, punch a hole in it that can lead to infection, etc. Someone is sure to tell you that snakes eat live in the wild, it's their nature to eat live. You're feeding a snake in a cage, it isn't in the wild. There are other benefits to feeding frozen thawed, if you can't do that at least feed pre-killed.

Oh i know about the frozen mice. Defiantly better idea. I fed him tonight but I just did it in his cage, lol. I had everything out though, I had to clean it anyways. But next time im putting him in a container my mother gave me, one of those huge rubber made things... I had him in there while I was cleaning and he was really good. He seems wayyy more content now that hes been fed. I know when to feed him now too, so its awesome!
This forum really helps!

Yes- like viandy said... some people will feed in a separate enclosure, but I've never done it with any of my 20 snakes.

The one thing I do for the snakes that don't typically take it from tongs is I'll place the food item on top of a piece of paper towel or their hide box so substrate doesn't stick to it.

//Todd

thank you thank you!!
Yeah, I really like him... I had gone into the pet store to buy a turtle.. And I totally fell in love with it

Im learning so much too!
Im gunna be posting pics ASAP.

The one thing you may run into now that you have your first pit (bull), and you can ask any other pit owner here, is that one is typically not enough!

I'm up to 6 now, and LOVE finding them in the wild, and am always looking at picking up some more!

//Todd