Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I picked up my ETB from teh previous owner the other day. I was not planning on taking it so I did not have a proper setup at home yet. Over the next few days I got it dialed in with a "hot spot" of 83 during the day with the rest of the cage a little cooler. It drops 4-5 degrees during the night. When I took it at first the humidity was really low at 50%. I have bumped that up to about 80%. I am still going to change cages to get a little better control over the humidity. Two days ago it shed. It took about 36 hours for the shed to complete and it was in several pieces which concerned me but I am guessing it might be from the low humidity preceeding it. So now that it seems pretty comfortable and the paramaters are correct when should I try to feed it? The previous owner never got it to eat despite trying several food types but I don't think the temp or RH were proper at the time. The snake is about 18-24" and I was going to try a hopper for the first meal. Does this sound OK and if it continues to refuse food how long should I wait before trying something more drastic such as assisted feeding? Thanks in advance for any help

read the caresheet carefully below (see link).....you will know when its dinner time since your ETB will assume "THE position" when the lights go out....
http://www.kingsnake.com/emeralds/

I have read it several times. It seems that most people say to wait a couple weeks to let it settle in. Should I do this or go ahead sooner if it assumes the position?

I never wait a couple weeks to let anything settle in. Days perhaps. If there's a problem (not eating, puking, etc.) I want to know about it asap. I would try feeding it tonight a few hours after the lights go out with a hot fuzzy from long tweezers. If it doesn't eat tonight I would try again tomorrow night, etc. Let the snake decide. No reason to wait for anything in my opinion.

>>I have read it several times. It seems that most people say to wait a couple weeks to let it settle in. Should I do this or go ahead sooner if it assumes the position?

The fact that it recently shed shows that some growth is occurring so it may not be as hungry as you think. I would definetly make sure it is properly hydrated before offering food. I dont wait for the hunting posture to offer food, it wouldnt hurt to let the snake settle for a week or two and then trying to feed.

Chris H

I am no expert, but it doesnt take an expert to know when an ETB WANTS to eat and feels comfortable....when lights are out it will assume its stalking position usually hanging from a branch facing down with the first 3rd of its body in an "S" position....if it stays in a tight coil I would NOT try to feed it because you will probably just annoy it...if your ETB can hang low enough to reach the bottom of the cage you can leave a live large fuzzy/small crawler/hopper in the cage at night and chances are it wont be there in the a.m.....just make sure its not too big for him or you will experience the joys of ETB regurg...

well I gave it a try last night. He wouldn't take the small hopper from the tongs so I put it in a little tupperware dish on the bottom of the tank and a couple hours later it was gone and he was looking around in the dish for more. Now I just hope he holds it down. If he is going to regurgitate how soon does it usually happen? I think it was the perfect size meal because I really have to look to see where the meal is in the stomach. I was going to wait about 12 days before feeding him agian does this sound right? Thanks

Glad to hear he took a meal, was he in an "S" pose? Nevertheless, 12 days should be good. I tend to feed every 10-14 days but I only have one ETB so hopefully some more experienced keepers will chime in with advice.

Chris

We feed our adults every two weeks, might go 16 days, but no longer unless we have run out of F/T for some reason. Otherwise, 14-16 days like clockwork. Babies eat 7-10 days, then feeding gets stretched out gradually to 14 days as they get older. We don't have any problems with regurging in our animals.

Our rule of thumb- "No more than 3 meals without a bowel movement" With this in mind, our adults don't usually go without being taken outside for exercise on the Jungle-Gym. Being sedentary (sp) animals it is extremely important to get them out for exercise in my opinion. Once on the Jungle-Gym, we lightly "rain" on them with the hose. Obviously we don't take them out if the temps aren't warm enough. If we think they need to go and it's cold out, we set up in the shower. This might sound disgusting, but we'd rather clean the tub than have a prolapsed emerald.

CraigC

Thanks guys. There was no definitive S pose but the mouse was gone so that is all that counts. I am setting up my feed card wo as to track meals and defecation. Thanks for all the help

Mike

Great idea with the feed card! I keep a little book and record feedings, meal size, mating, shedding, just about everything. I have mostly ATBs and the one ETB. Im still working on the dicipline thing with ETBs (lol). Your off to a good start with yours. Good luck. Post some pics if you can..

Chris