Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I've had my baby BRB since early Oct. '03 and she will only eat live pre-killed/stunned mice.
I am wondering if I am just spoiling my BRB by always providing her with pre-stunned mice, but everytime I try to feed her a frozen/thawed mouse she's always refused it, even back to feeding her fuzzies, luckily I have kingsnakes that will happily eat the frozen/thawed mice my BRB refuses and keep a colony of live feeder mice in my garage.
Have tried using warm water to increase interest for my BRB, but that doesn't work either and she won't eat anything outside of her own terrarium(seems to be afraid and disorientated). Not eating outside of her terrarium doesn't seem to bother me cause she has never been aggressive or shown any type of defensive body language since I got her. This is my first boa and since I got her at the San Diego show she has been nothing but a joy in my collection. My BRB is so much calmer, docile, and easier to tame than any of the baby to juvenile kingsnakes or cornsnakes I have ever had.
I think we are all lucky Mother Nature and the Great Spirit provided these beautiful boas specimens.

I am just wondering if anyone else has had this issue with their BRBs or if it is a common thing?
Utilmately I am hoping as my BRB growing into an adult I won't have to breed rats also just for one female BRB or, If I could just feed an adult BRB mutliple mice?

Uncloudy,
. If the frozen thawed mouse is enough like a fresh killed one it should be eaten just as readily. Something must be too different (than a fresh mouse) about your frozen thawed mice. If you are placing the frozen mice into hot water to thaw them you may be washing too much mouse smell off of them. Many people do thaw mice in water for their colubrids and they seem to have no problem with this but Rainbow Boas seem to want the mousey smell. If your frozen mice have been in the freezer too long or packaged so that they can pick up other smaells in the freezer that may be the problem. I always get a better feeding response when feeding thawed rodents if the rodent looks fresh and clean and if I warm it up to 100 to 110 degrees. An adult BRB can do well on a diet of mice. If you have enough mice available at reasonable cost this is not a problem.
Jeff

>>I've had my baby BRB since early Oct. '03 and she will only eat live pre-killed/stunned mice.
>>I am wondering if I am just spoiling my BRB by always providing her with pre-stunned mice, but everytime I try to feed her a frozen/thawed mouse she's always refused it, even back to feeding her fuzzies, luckily I have kingsnakes that will happily eat the frozen/thawed mice my BRB refuses and keep a colony of live feeder mice in my garage.
>>Have tried using warm water to increase interest for my BRB, but that doesn't work either and she won't eat anything outside of her own terrarium(seems to be afraid and disorientated). Not eating outside of her terrarium doesn't seem to bother me cause she has never been aggressive or shown any type of defensive body language since I got her. This is my first boa and since I got her at the San Diego show she has been nothing but a joy in my collection. My BRB is so much calmer, docile, and easier to tame than any of the baby to juvenile kingsnakes or cornsnakes I have ever had.
>>I think we are all lucky Mother Nature and the Great Spirit provided these beautiful boas specimens.
>>
>>I am just wondering if anyone else has had this issue with their BRBs or if it is a common thing?
>>Utilmately I am hoping as my BRB growing into an adult I won't have to breed rats also just for one female BRB or, If I could just feed an adult BRB mutliple mice?

Thanks for the information, next time I will try to thaw out the mice just at room temperature without water for the BRB and if room temperature doesn't work I will heat the mouse up to 100-110 degrees.
I need my BRB to eat thawed/frozen cause soon by feeding her I will have all but one of the males out of my colony of mice.
Thank You
Uncloudy

Something you might want to try, is thawing the mice in ziplock bags in hot water. It will keep the smell from washing off. When I got my pair of BRBs the female wouldn't take frozen thawed and it took a couple months of working at it to switch her over. I use tongs and present the prey to the snake while she's still in her hide box. She comes out to see what's happening and generally strikes and constricts the mouse quickly.
The male will eat f/t mice when I lay them on his hide box- no jiggling required.
Good luck!
Lora

I have a similar situation with my BRB, but having owned snakes that refused all meals ... I'm not one to complain, so long as my rainbow eats.

I would venture a guess that, like mine, your boa was started on either fresh-killed or live pinkies / fuzzies. Once they're started on them, it's fairly difficult to swap them over to thawed rodents.

I plan to start using tongs at feeding time, so my rainbow gets in the habit of eating that way. Then, when his behavior is firmly established (strikes the mouse from the tongs), I'm going to try a thawed mouse scented with a fresh-killed mouse. I'm hoping that his reflexes will overcome his finicky tastes.

If it doesn't work, oh well ... as long as he eats, I'm happy.

Good luck!

-Brandon
www.nosnakeban.org

Brandon my BRB did and has only eaten live mice since the beginning, but I'm going to try just thawing out a frozen mouse without water and maybe with your suggestion rubbing it with my other live feeder mice.
But again thank God I have lots of feeder mice always producing in my garage.
Uncloudy

Make sure the mouse is very warm. If my brb's don't take the mouse, i will rewarm it. a warmed mouse almost always elicits a feeding response from them. Rin