I have kept rattlesnakes and copperheads for many years now and have decided to get my first bitis, he is 12 inches long and a beautiful snake. I have had him for about 3 weeks now and I am having problems getting him to eat. I have offered an adult live mouse for 2 days all three weeks i have had him but to no avail. The second week he chose to vomit up his previous meal as opposed to eating the mouse offered. The terrarium temp is 77 degrees and the humidity level is hovering around 60% Please help, any advice would be greatly appreciated. thanks
Reptile & Amphibian Forums
Welcome to kingsnake.com's message board system. Here you may share and discuss information with others about your favorite reptile and amphibian related topics such as care and feeding, caging requirements, permits and licenses, and more. Launched in 1997, the kingsnake.com message board system is one of the oldest and largest systems on the internet.
new to gaboons PLEASE HELP!
texasviper619
Jun 22, 2009 07:31 PM
Replies (3)
po
Jun 25, 2009 06:41 PM
id go ask on the ven forum, the only ven i have is an eyelash...but id think of stress and parasites if its not wanting to eat and reguged after you had it for two weeks, do you know when the last meal was fed? seems like a long time for regurge to me. the temps seem right from what i quickly looked up, but maybe try a little higher?
-----
Winston
Jun 26, 2009 06:07 AM
I would raise the temp on one side of his cage to at least 85 degrees for better digestion. Other side about 74 so it can thermoregulate. Do not feed it again for at least 14 days from regurgitation. Digestive system needs to have time to heel from regurge. You will see him on the hot spot most of the time after feeding. If he still has good body weight do not offer food for 2-3 weeks. Many Gaboons do not drink much. They can get dehydrated if not eating. If this is the case, tube feed it VERY carefully a mixture of a small amount of Pureed' chicken, vegtable oil, Pedialite, and half a Tums tablet for calcium. This works great on Balls, Gaboons and almost all snakes. Some people making Antivenin feed their snakes this only, on a 1-2 week basis.
joeysgreen
Jun 26, 2009 10:52 PM
I agree with raising the temps. I also know that bitis are quite stressfull. Try feeding prekilled with tongs, or leaving a dead one in the cage. A live mouse might make the snake want to hide instead of eat. Take a look at your cage setup. A lot of finicky eaters (thinking bitis) do better in a semi-naturalistic vivarium instead of the traditional newsprint cage.
Most of what I have learned about bitis are from two people. Rob Carmichael and Al Corwitz (spelling?). They used to frequent the venomous forum regularly, I"m not sure if they still do.
Ian
