Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello,

I have a Brazilian rainbow boa that we purchased which unfortunately will not eat normal rats.

We have tried African Soft Fur rats, which the snake did eat. However, the pet store that we were getting them from stopped carrying them because of the difficulty they had in breeding and keeping them alive (they are extremely nasty). We tried a few that were frozen, but the snake refused.

The snake's previous diet was hamsters, which, unfortunately, are fairly pricey to get from a Petco/Petsmart.

Our last hope is to breed feeders ourselves. I was wondering if anyone had any ideas on which species of hamsters are the most conducive to breeding, and the least dangerous to the snake.

To begin breeding hamsters, would I follow the procedures that people use to breed rats?

Thanks for any help.

Hamsters do often have large litters, unlike gerbils, so that would be a plus. (On the other hand gerbils are nice because they don't smell much.) But, you can't house a male and female together like you can mice, rats and gerbils. The females are very territorial. You have to put the female in the male's cage, and watch to see if they mate. If they don't do it fairly soon, the female is not in estrus, so you need to put her back in her cage and try again the next day. And so on, until she is receptive to the male (he is always ready!).

If you leave them together, there is a good chance they will fight, so after they are together (mating) for about a half hour, then put her back in her cage. It is also a good idea to have a pair of heavy gloves ready in case they do start fighting.

I think gestation is about 3 weeks. As far as feeding them, once they are much over 4 weeks, I would recommmend pre-killing them, or your snake might be in danger of a bad bite.

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Kent

Another thought: I have a pair of African Soft Furred Rats, and have not found them difficult to raise and breed. They do bite, so I use some large forceps to grab them by the base of the tail. But otherwise they are great. My cornsnakes love them.

If you can find a local breeder I would suggest a pair or a trio, in a 10 or 20 gallon tank with a good fitting screen top.

This is my male ghost stripe cornsnake. He is about 4 feet, and eats 4-5 week old ASFs, as well as adult mice.

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Kent