Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello, i recently got a Baby borneo. (November 16) Shes fat, active for a blood, and seems happy in her 40 gallon cage that she has to herself. I tried to feed her when i first got her and to no avail, however she did defecate so i know she eats. I have tried live, freshkilled, frozen thawed. I haven't tried feeding her in her cage. Right now i put two mice in little clear rubbermaids next to her so she can smeel them and ones dead and ones living and shes not paying attention to either. When i offered her live i saw she was breathing very fast, and was intimidated by the live food. Im not sure what i can do and shes fat, so its not an immediate danger its just id perfer an eating, happy blood then a non-eating one. Thanks

Pat Malloy

Humidity would be my main concern for you. A baby short tail needs alot of humidity which is hard to accomplish in a 40 g tank. I dont know if you are having problems with this or not, but something to check into. Your blood seems like it is intrested in the live food. I havent assosciated the heavy breathing with intimidation, it seems more like excitement to me. Whenever I feed my short tail he starts breathing heavy and wags his tail. Im not sure if I understand your post correctly or not. Are you actually tring to feed him out of the cage or just putting the food next to it to see if it is intrested? If not you might want to try actually putting the food in the cage, some snakes like to eat at night too. One thing I would look out for if you are feeding in cage is substrate as well. I used to use bark chips and I found if I fed in cage my snake would scoop them in his mouth while trying to strike, so I started feeding out of cage.
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"It's my snake, I trained it, so I'm going to eat it!" - Mad Max, The Road Warrior

I am trying feeding out of the cage (as i do with my other snakes), she is doing heavy breathing and what you stated.THe humidity i try to keep up. I use the spagnum moss, and keep it sprayed with hot water, and i use paper towels i also keep a blanket over her cage top to keep the humidity in. I plan on buying a humidifier or something similar soon. I use the bark chips as well. Thanks

Pat

The situation you described should provide a good amount of humidity. Do you have a humidity meter? Do the sides of the cage fog up? The animal might also be stressed because of the large enviornment. Sometimes baby snakes can get scared of such large cages. Right now I have my babies in rubbermaid shoe boxes (1.2L I believe). Something of a smaller size like this might be a good idea until your animal is of appropriate size for your tank (and only costs a few dollars). How big/old is it, and how long has the feeding issure been going on? If it is of good girth and you just recieved the animal, it might be stressed by just being in a new enviornment. This is not unusual and if in a good enviornment they will typically revert to normal behaving in a few weeks.
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"It's my snake, I trained it, so I'm going to eat it!" - Mad Max, The Road Warrior

What are you housing your snake in?

The Cages side fog up, but i do not have a meter. I am not to sure on age, however, shes fat, and ig ot her from a good breeder, so im not worried about her eating, and she did defecate in her cage so im not worried about her. Since november 16, when i bought her, well i did a trade for her. Shes around a foot and a inch and a half maybe two in her widest part, i think more along hte lines of 1.5 though.

Thanks
Pat