Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have a female BRB born on 7/30/08 that I acquired from a friend of mine that could longer care for her. She ordered 1 male (44M) and 1 female (6F) for us from Jeff Clark, but I ended up with both of them. No complaints here They are both beautiful animals! I have no records on her other than she ate last on 10/10 08 a small live hopper. I acquired her on 10/19/08 and have not been able to get her eat. I also have a male BRB born on 8/26 that I have on a feeding schedule of f/t now with no problems and he is in an enclosure from HerpCages with pretty much the same setup.
I have the female set up in a 10 gallon tank with all sides covered, the top is covered to prevent humidity from leaving the cage, I have a small dome light up top that is on a dimmer, UTH on warm side of cage, with bark substrate, two hides, one on each end with moss in the cool one, water bowl, a humid air humidifier and a limb for climbing. She shed perfectly on 11/5/08. My temps are 75-77 on the cool side, 80 in the middle and 86-88 on the warm side under the hide all measured on top of the substrate. Humidity stays between 75-90%. I have attempted to feed f/t large fuzzy mice several times and she has struck the prey twice but then let’s go. She acts as if she is unsure of what the prey is, and goes to the opposite end of the cage. I have tried braining and I warm the prey to around 110 to 115 but still no luck. I have also left in overnight several times. My male, which is a month younger than the female is quite a bit larger than she is, so I am beginning to get concerned as I know it has been 30 days to date since she has eaten. I don’t see the backbone or any loose skin on her, but still the concern is there. I don’t have anywhere close around here to get live mice, but if I have too I know a place about an hour in a half away I can drive to get some if I have too. The monthly reptile show will also be back in town the 22nd of this month I believe, so while I am there if this problem is still around I know I could pickup some there. Jeff, do you or anyone else have any advice on husbandry or other aspects I may be over looking?

Drop the temps about 5 degrees; for that size enclosure it is too warm. Try for a live hopper mouse or pinkie rat after the temps have been in place about a week and your little one will be chowing down. After one or two live feedings a baby brb will switch to fresh killed or frozen thawed no probs.
Good luck,
Paul

If the dome light is not a night light then get rid of it. Even if it is a night light you probably don't need it for that size enclosure, probably cooking that little one. For baby brb's I always just use a heat pad on a dimmer; good to go.
Paul

Yeah the dome just houses a low wattage red heat light that is running very low just to keep the ambients up. Thanks for the advice!

I remember that snake well. I shipped her along with 44M on september 15th. I looked for feeding records on her but could not find them. I think she was only eating live hopper mice. I did find feeding records for 44M and he was eating frozen and thawed mice and live pinky rats. He probably never saw a live mouse here because I always have frozen mice and live pinky rats available but have to go get live mice. Like Paul posted try dropping temperatures a few degrees and also get rid of the light. After a few days try feeding a live hopper mouse if you can get one. If you cannot get one try a frozen and thawed one. I always get the best feeding response feeding a live hopper mouse or live pinky rat at night. Many of them will pass up a live fuzzy mouse and then agressively take a live hopper as soon as they see it. Not eating for a month is nothing to worry about for a healthy little BRB. Keep us posted.

>>I have a female BRB born on 7/30/08 that I acquired from a friend of mine that could longer care for her. She ordered 1 male (44M) and 1 female (6F) for us from Jeff Clark, but I ended up with both of them. No complaints here They are both beautiful animals! I have no records on her other than she ate last on 10/10 08 a small live hopper. I acquired her on 10/19/08 and have not been able to get her eat. I also have a male BRB born on 8/26 that I have on a feeding schedule of f/t now with no problems and he is in an enclosure from HerpCages with pretty much the same setup.
>>I have the female set up in a 10 gallon tank with all sides covered, the top is covered to prevent humidity from leaving the cage, I have a small dome light up top that is on a dimmer, UTH on warm side of cage, with bark substrate, two hides, one on each end with moss in the cool one, water bowl, a humid air humidifier and a limb for climbing. She shed perfectly on 11/5/08. My temps are 75-77 on the cool side, 80 in the middle and 86-88 on the warm side under the hide all measured on top of the substrate. Humidity stays between 75-90%. I have attempted to feed f/t large fuzzy mice several times and she has struck the prey twice but then let’s go. She acts as if she is unsure of what the prey is, and goes to the opposite end of the cage. I have tried braining and I warm the prey to around 110 to 115 but still no luck. I have also left in overnight several times. My male, which is a month younger than the female is quite a bit larger than she is, so I am beginning to get concerned as I know it has been 30 days to date since she has eaten. I don’t see the backbone or any loose skin on her, but still the concern is there. I don’t have anywhere close around here to get live mice, but if I have too I know a place about an hour in a half away I can drive to get some if I have too. The monthly reptile show will also be back in town the 22nd of this month I believe, so while I am there if this problem is still around I know I could pickup some there. Jeff, do you or anyone else have any advice on husbandry or other aspects I may be over looking?
>>

Yep those are the ones! I will drop the temps and see what comes off it. I may just have to make a trip and get some live food for her. While Im one here, what are the optimal temps you suggest throughout the enclosures,and is feeding every 7-10 days an ok schedule for these guys?

I know you didnt ask me, but since i'm here...

I keep my babies' cages with a gradient of about 70-82 degrees.
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1.1 96, 04 Het Albino - "Suzie" & "Lumpy"
1.0 06 TH-Moonglow - "Gargamel"
1.2 01 BRBs- "Gobball", "Larva" & "Tofu"
2.7 08 BRBs

I agree about dropping the temps 5 degrees, at least. I think most babies are kept around 77 degrees on the warm end... correct? Mine are probably closer to 79 on the warm.

Have you also tried feeding at night and leaving the mouse overnight? A lot of mine won't eat when I'm around. I had two finicky new babies refuse for me last night and left their food in their cage and sure enough, by morning it was gone!

Good Luck!
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7.22 BRB
10.20 BCI
1.1 Mandarin Rat Snakes
0.1 Kenyan Sand Boa
0.2 Corn Snakes
2.8 Leopard Geckos

I am goig to drop the temps and see what happens. I feed most all my snakes at night, so I am already doing that one. Hopefully the temps will help out. I know thye dont tolerate high temps well at all, I guess I was just unsure on exact temps. With the warm side being at 80 or so, that will put the temp under the cool hide around 70-73. Just seems cool but if thats what they need then thats what they will get! Thanks for the advice.

The cool side being 70-73 should be just fine. These guys really start to have problems when kept at higher temps. I'm guessing your snakes will start to eat as soon as they temps drop. As Jeff says, listen to what your snakes are telling you.

I've got a couple of nice critters from Jeff and I've found that they have a strong preference towards live. The dont get live very often so sometimes we have to play games to get them to eat. I've found that they will eat almost 100% of the time if I put a little bit of fresh quail liver on the nose of the f/t prey. Day old quail are also high on their wish list. Unlike some of the others, they like me to play with their food and put a little prey movement into the game.

Once you get the husbandry right, they should eat when they're hungry enough. Snakes are absolutely overfed in captivity, your snake can go several weeks between feeds, it'll just grow slower...and that's probably a good thing.
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Julie
www.[url ban]/gfx

I guess they are telling me, "Wow man, its hot in here!" I will drop the temps in both enclosures and attempt to feed in a few days. Thanks!

After dropping the temps down a bit I got some small live hoppers and my girl eat two of them right off! Thanks all for the advice!