Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have had my BRB for about 2 months now and its always ate what i offered him. Id say about 2 weeks ago i started to notice i had not seen any signs of feces in its enclosure since i had owned him. Then i noticed it starting to look like some of the pregnant snakes that have been shown off on here recently, with a bloated look to him. Curious about what to do I was reading an old posting about someone having similar problems with there Colombian on here and she said she gently massaged the area of the snake a couple of nights in a row. Curious to see if it worked i did the same. 2nd time was a charm, today yeah i learned first hand haha. Anyway i was curious to know if this is common with BRB's. My Redtail goes every 2-3 days so im not worried about her, but not knowing if im doing something wrong with my BRB im unsure. I think in the post i was reading it mentioned to switch to rat's instead of mice, which would be one thing i should change because he currently feeds on mice hoppers. Is there anything else? Nothing looked out of the ordinary with his stool just the fact that i had to help him pass it because he had not gone and it was obvious.

Also what's the normal pattern with your BRB's?

Before i got him he was fed fuzzy mice and when i got him he looked big enough for hoppers so i stepped him up to hopper mice. He gets fed once every 5-7 days, which was what i was told to feed him by the previous owner. I also heard about the warm water trick but getting him to sit still in water is almost impossible. Ive seen him in his water dish maybe 3 or 4 times since owning him. He spends most of his time in the fir & sphagnum peat moss cool hide. I thought about switching him to rats of a comparable size, which im unsure what it would be. Another thing is he wont eat pre killed, only live.

Tomorrow will be the day i switch him to rat pups, but now Im finding him rarely if not at all moving around at night at all, within the past week. Im kinda confused because nothings been different. Did some research and started to closely monitor the temp on both sides and keep the tank even more humid then normal. the cool hide stays at 69/70 and the hot side stays at 82/80. I know ive heard of them stressing before and just dont know whats with this little guy. Maybe because hes starting to shed? Weird to say the least. I'll let you know how he does with the rat, but i doubt he will have any problems since he has yet to turn down a meal yet. I also took your advice and put him in a Tupperware bowl with water for him to soak, he didnt like it at all so it was a pain to get him in there with time to get the lid on.

a few days ago...

1.My humidity is always between 80%-60% < at the lowest ever

2. After forcing him to soak basically (water wasnt necessarily warm because i didnt want to cause a shock to the snake) in the enclosed tub, after about 5 minutes of placing him back in the enclosure he made his way to the cool side hide as always and yes he passed two massive 1-1.25'' inces long poop's haha. So yes it helped. As far as his activity still he never comes out from that hide. Its not 12am its dark in this room except for my laptop and his cage is covered and he still is not out ?

3. The rat pups were bought out by the time i got there... so pissed, because there supply comes in 2 hours before i got there. So looks like im waiting for this tuesday again to switch them. He's still eating fine though.

4. I handle him often, even if its for 5 minutes out of my day and then i let him roam the room on my bed or whatever. I always let 24-48 hours after feeding before i handle him so i have yet to handle him since the feeding. When he is handled he's so curious, always moving around smelling likes to climb from the top of my screen to anything else he can find on my desk.

Im going to soak him tomorrow again see if he goes again, im not worried since i know he went but if i dont see another one soon ill be keeping a close eye.

Thanks Cliff for all your help. Seems like he was out last night as he's in a different spot. Oh and i do have some grape vine in there for him to climb. Often he trys to climb the glass sides following in a fall but he keeps on going. I look forward to finding him a female in the next 2 years, possibly dig out the extra money for a hypo then? who knows.

Offtopic: Can you explain the "1.2.0" variations in everyones signatures?

Ahhh yes makes sense. You know what thats what i was thinking, but i told my self it couldnt be that simple haha. Ok thanks again, looks like i'll be the lamest sig arround...

1.0.0 BRB '09
0.1.0 BCI '10
1.0.0 English Bred Chocolate lab aka TANK

Finally got a hold of some rats today at the store, just born 3 days old. I have to say though for pinkies they were on the large side, i was surprised. The thickness wide wasnt the biggest thing i have ever fed them but it was near the correct size i should be feeding him for his girth. Most likely the store wont have them next tuesday when i go to get more though ...

Anyway I bought two, one for my BRB and one for the BCI of mine. Both of them ate it but literally it took about 3 minutes for them to strike after coming up to it initially. Then when they did strike both of my snakes, not just the brazilian, had a hard time killing it. Id say it took the brazilian about 5-10 minutes to strangle it to the point that it released and started to swallow and the Bci even longer. I dont know what it was maybe since they knew it was different food they were a little weary of how to kill it? I have no clue but i thought it was a little weird how both of them had this problem. The brazilian struck and strangled without a problem, but the red tail was having some trouble wrapping it up which is probably due to this only being its 4th time eating live food.

So yes the switch was a success maybe next time i can grab some rat fuzzies from somewhere, since these were not the absolute largest i could have offered them but the only ones in available in my area, although with my luck probably not.
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//LJ//

1.0.0 BRB '09
0.1.0 BCI '10
1.0.0 English Bred Chocolate Lab

Just wanted to let you know i fed them yesterday a day later then normal thinking this would help with them striking faster instead of waiting 5 minutes for an initial strike, and it did they literally struck within 3-4 seconds of putting the rat down. ALTHOUGH once again i dont know what it is but it seemed like the rats take longer to kill. I dont know if i get some sort of super rats (i joke) lol but both my BRB and BCI of nearly the same size had trouble it seems killing. Both rats gasped for air for about 3-4 minutes after they were initially constricted. This time i didnt feed pinkies, i fed something more around the pups size, which is the comparable size to that of which they should be eating.
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//LJ//

1.0.0 BRB '09
0.1.0 BCI '10
1.0.0 English Bred Chocolate Lab

my BRB has eaten larger mice before, by mistake of course, i asked for a hopper and the woman game me a full grown mouse almost. Knowing it was only slightly larger then what i was feeding him i offered it, and he took it without a problem. The BCI has never eaten live before i got it, and is also a January '10 born so i could see that beeing newbie syndrom lol but the BRB will be a year in August/Sept. Both are close to 26-28''.
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//LJ//

1.0.0 BRB '09
0.1.0 BCI '10
1.0.0 English Bred Chocolate Lab

Just an update, got the exact size rat i thought i should be feeding my snakes this week. a little longer though then what they were used to, and had some droopy skin like all babys do that may have made it a little tougher for them. Once again though the BCI had not a problem with it, where the BRB wouldnt take it the first night but took it within seconds of offering it the next day. It took the BRB FOREVER to kill it. At one point i went hunting for scissors to kill the rat because i thought the BRB was attempting to swallow it while it was still gasping for air that stopped soon after the hunt. Now im left with two snakes with huge bellies... not sure if thats a too big sign or a un button my pants im stuffed sign but they both have kept it down for 24hrs now so i assume there ok. Dont know what it is with my BRB and its weakness in constricting maybe? but i think i might start to knock out its prey before offering it to him. Unfortunately he hasnt ate frozen thawed when offered it before, and being my fridge is a shared fridge between me and 3 other people i have already gotten the talk about NO FROZEN animals in there lol.
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//LJ//

1.0.0 BRB '09
0.1.0 BCI '10
1.0.0 English Bred Chocolate Lab

Other than one snake that's occasionally picky, I have all my snakes eating frozen thawed rodents. For picky eaters, it helps to have the mice warmed up to about 85-90 degrees. I hold the mouse with some tongs and wiggle it in front of the snake. Most of the time they'll strike and constrict. However, if you have a snake that's interested but not striking, you can gently hold the mouse against the snake's mouth. With gentle pressure, the snake will usually open it's mouth within 10-20 seconds and take hold of the mouse. I'll try to make a video for you next time I'm feeding. I hope this helps out.

Paul D

P.S. I usually keep the room mostly dark when I'm feeding so the snake feels more relaxed.

If your roommates won't let you use any of the freezer space, you can always buy a small freezer just to store snake food

Paul D

LOL thats what i was thinking.
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//LJ//

1.0.0 BRB '09
0.1.0 BCI '10
1.0.0 English Bred Chocolate Lab

Sometime soon I'll be switching i think, within the next month. I just dont understand how he can kill mice fine but has trouble with rats? I have never heard of this. Its time for them to eat again so we'll see how things go this time.

fresh shed too
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//LJ//

1.0.0 BRB '09
0.1.0 BCI '10
1.0.0 English Bred Chocolate Lab

Cleaning the cages today, and my D70 is at nikon getting cleaned and recal'ed but im having a friend bring over his Sony DSLR so I'll see how i make out and while im cleaning and feeding today I'll get them outside for some pics.
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//LJ//

1.0.0 BRB '09
0.1.0 BCI '10
1.0.0 English Bred Chocolate Lab