Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hey,

I got a new big (4 foot) agressive male sumatran red blood about a month ago and im having trouble acclimated him. hes always pushing all the cypress awat from where the heat paid is and burning himslef and i tried putting a inferred blub on him but it dries out that tank. He hasnt shown any interrest in food and I've tryied a few methods (feeding him while he was in a biting frenzy, putting him and the rat in a snake bag and leaving him over night, putting him in a bin with a mouse, live) nothing. Man bloods are so much harder to aclimate then carpets and retics. But im gonna try capping the mouse, and then force feeding if worse comes to worse. I'm also trying to find a big black bin (like 4'l x 2'w)and cutting a hole in the lid and then meshing it over then getting a heat dome fer that then drilling holes in the side for good ventaltion.

but anyways...you guys have any tips??
thanx in advance
Justin Morash

Dude, first of all get a dimmer switch to make a reostat so your heat pad isn't so hot.Another thing is make sure humidity is 60 %or more, and don't mess with him for a few days.Then get an appropriate size fresh kill rat, and just put it infront of his hide box that night.What was he eating before you got him?If you need added heat, do what you were planning on and cut out a hole, add mesh and put a cerarmic heat emitter above it.Make sure you mist your cage and put a big water bowl inside to help with the humidity.Shouldn't have to force feed, give him time. Good luck, Ethan

If you have a screen top cage (you never specified) you can cover it with saran wrap. When my blood was younger (photograph inserted) I cut two square pieces of plexi glass and taped it on the top so no humidity could leak out. I clamped my infra-red light on my dresser and let the light/heat pass through the glass. If I moved the cage closer in the day, the temps would be like, 87degrees, and at night Id move it away to make it about 83. The humidity was always at 82% without having the substrate bloody wet (i hate scale rot).
I gave my blood a cramped little hide box. He would use it a lot, but 50-60% of the time he liked to burrow in the substrate. Its what bloods do so you need to get that heat pad out of there (especially if you say its burning him).

Hey.
Well first off , you shouldn't be putting a stressed and non feeding animal in a bag with any rat, or mouse for that matter as quite the opposite feeding response can take place here in this kind of scenerio, with the blood becoming the prey. I think as was suggested in the last few post reponses, you should really give this guy some time to acclimate prior to feeding. Get some history on it if you can, ( call the seller, breeder previous owner). Place him in an appropriate sized enclosure that would make him feel secure. Some times what we deem secure is not always the case.

A way to control and gauge what the temperatures are within the enclosure is also, a good way to know if what you are doing to maintain temperatures is correct. Seldomly are these animals as difficult as you are discribing, but obviously this animal is not a young one, and judging by its size its been eating for quite some time. The trick here is to figure out what its preferences are.

I would definately get my hands on a dimmer switch and monitor the temps on the surface where your blood likes to lie and regulate it by measuring that point of contact with a infrared thermometer. Secondly, providing it with a hide box of appropriate size too, can make quite the difference with whether he eats or not. Security to bloods is upmost. If they don't feel secure and feel threatened they will go with out food for some time. Cage or housing conditions are your number one priority before any thing else.

Do not for any reason attempt to feed live food until this animal is acclimated and only after attempts to feed frozen thawed (F/T) have been made should you try. Feeding a non feeder with live food will only exacerbate matters and prolong its fast.