Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Okay, I don't have BCs but a friend does. He got a clutch last week and they all seem like little nippers. He is new to breeding and a bit panicked and I thought if I could get some advice other than "if it were me" it would help him a lot. He has eleven and they range from 8 or so to 14" and all are tagging him regularly. He interpreted that as hunger and I told him it was just little snake big hand thing and at least a likely good sign that they were vigorous. No one has shed and he has someone telling him to force feed them or they will die and NOT to wait. I told him to chill and try newborn rat pups after a shed. Or in a week or so, whichever.
One, should he wait for the sheds?
Two, what item to offer?
He did try to offer one of the larger ones a week old rat pup. It grabbed and wrapped but then dropped it and left it still alive. I told him I didn't think it was ready to eat yet or the pup was too big. This was a few days ago. And the clutch is just about 10 days Now.
Please help me calm his nerves. TIA
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Sonya

Hello Sonya,
Well it has finally, It has become easier to breed and produce babies then it has to simply care and feed them correctly. This is the one instance that I have worried about for over twenty years now. Everyone provides and asks questions on breeding and not enough care information is out there on raising the babies. Sonya it is your job to firmly lecture your friend and make him read a BOOK! If you take the responsibility of creating the babies you must know what to do with them. I will give you a few basics (this is going to be long!!!) and then I will post my standard feeding response also. It should give your friend enough information to get him started before he kills the babies by force feeding.
The only thing he has accomplished by trying to feed the babies too early with too large a prey item is to make them fear the scent of rats! What a snake can’t eat as a baby, it will interpret as a threat and try to avoid it in the future.
First he must wait until the babies have shed, this will give them time to absorb the rest of the yolk sac in their bellies. The babies are biting because it is what baby boas do. They are not trying to eat your friends hand out of hunger, they are trying to defend themselves from the giant predator that is invading their space. Once your friend has spent some time (possibly years of working with one species) He will learn to recognize the different nuances of their behavior. He will know what is a feeding response and what is a defensive response. When the snakes are babies, just about everything is a defensive response. I had several of my babies last year from my Striped Line that would get so worked up when I offered them food that they would hiss and almost turn upside down following my hand with the f/t mouse pup in it. It would take about 10 minutes for it to settle down and take the food.
Now for size of the food, start with fuzzie mice for the first few feedings, either live or frozen. Rat pups are almost the size of adult mice and are way too big for normal baby boas. But either way the should not even be offered food until 3-5 days after they shed. This will ensure an empty stomach and help reduce any regurge problems for their first few meals.
Now here is the rest of the information on feeding. Feel free to print this out and show it to your friend so he can have a guide to feeding, better yet go to the pet store and pick up one of Jeff Ronne’s books or buy one of his video tapes. I Know he covers breeding information, but knowing Jeff he also touches on feeding and caring for the babies, either option is not much more then $10.00 and well below the money he will make on selling even one of his babies. Please stress to him the importance of knowledge in the care for these animals. Nowadays there is no excuse for improper care, there is too much information out there if you are willing to take the effort to find it and use it.
Thanks
Jim Hopkins
Hopkins Holesale Herps
My snake won’t eat!

Ask yourself some questions about why the animal is not eating (snakes don’t go on hunger strikes for political reasons). Could the problem be environmental? Is the snake feeling stress due to its caging and refusing to feed because of it? A proper hide box makes a snake feel more secure and hidden from danger . Without this a young snake may not eat because it does not feel safe.

Is the cage too big? Many new herpers, in their zest to make the perfect snake habitat, will put their newborn Boa in a large cage or tank. The snake may just not find the food in such a vast home. A small, compact, well setup cage is often the key to getting started on the right foot.

What type of substrate are you using and is it safe? Cedar chips and most other aromatic woods are lethal to reptiles and other substrates may also be harmful, or less than ideal, adding to the overall stress of your animal.

Is the temperature too hot or too cold? A cold snake won’t eat. Many new herpers will keep their pets too warm because a pet store stressed to them to keep them "really hot". New keepers may also have a poor grasp of the actual cage temperatures that they are running. Measure the temperatures in your cage!. An 82-90 degree temp should be good for most Boids and many Colubrids. Understand the necessity and benefits of proper heat gradients.

Is the humidity ok? If you live in a desert type area it may be too dry. Clean water should always be present but spraying/misting may be needed several times per week.
That’s a basic look at environment now what about the food types?

Are you feeding it correct sized prey items? Something too big may intimidate the snake. Something too small may not stimulate a feeding response. Typically, the prey item should be as big around (at it’s fattest point) as the largest part of the snake, the width of the midsection. Baby Ball pythons and baby Redtail boas don’t eat pinkies, they eat hoppers or small adult mice. Baby cornsnakes will have no trouble fitting their little heads around an appropriately sized pinkie mouse (they can do it, i promise!).

Is the snake refusing rats or mice? If it is refusing one try the other. We have had snakes prefer either or as their first meal.
Are you feeding live or frozen? Some snakes may take to live over frozen/thawed. The body heat seems to trigger the feeding response. Others will take to thawed over live because the movement discourages them.

What time of day are you trying to feed the snake? Some snakes will feed better in the evenings while others will feed better in the mornings, try both.
Are you giving your snake enough time to feed, are you being a Mother Hen? Over zealous herpers will check on their new pet every few minutes while feeding. Your snake will develop a strong feeding response over time, but at first they need privacy to feel secure. Also try to keep the prey item in over a 12-hour period without disturbing the snake (be careful with live prey and aggression). Novice keepers will remove the prey after just a few minutes in the cage thinking that if it did not happen immediately it won’t happen at all.

Now as far as how often to try and feed? Don’t do all these suggestions in a day’s time! Check the cage environment and try 1 method every 2-4 days until the snake eats. That’s not to say try it every day for 4 days straight! Try it once and if it does not work try again in a few days with another method. Offering all these different things to your snake at once will confuse it and may prolong the feeding process.

FORCE-FEEDING should be the last thing on your mind! Too many people are too quick to force a meal on a snake. After weeks of pulling out your hair, trying all things under the sun and thinking about just freezing the "damn thing", one day you will walk in and find that the pinkie is gone. You’ll check the entire cage, under and around the water bowl, under the substrate/newspaper. You’ll even look around the outside of the cage as if by some miracle this small, blind, hairless animal climbed out of the cage to safety. Then it will hit you, oh my god it ate!!!

>>Hello Sonya,
>>Well it has finally, It has become easier to breed and produce babies then it has to simply care and feed them correctly. This is the one instance that I have worried about for over twenty years now. Everyone provides and asks questions on breeding and not enough care information is out there on raising the babies. Sonya it is your job to firmly lecture your friend and make him read a BOOK! If you take the responsibility of creating the babies you must know what to do with them. I will give you a few basics (this is going to be long!!!) and then I will post my standard feeding response also. It should give your friend enough information to get him started before he kills the babies by force feeding.
>>The only thing he has accomplished by trying to feed the babies too early with too large a prey item is to make them fear the scent of rats! What a snake can’t eat as a baby, it will interpret as a threat and try to avoid it in the future.
>>First he must wait until the babies have shed, this will give them time to absorb the rest of the yolk sac in their bellies. The babies are biting because it is what baby boas do. They are not trying to eat your friends hand out of hunger, they are trying to defend themselves from the giant predator that is invading their space. Once your friend has spent some time (possibly years of working with one species) He will learn to recognize the different nuances of their behavior. He will know what is a feeding response and what is a defensive response. When the snakes are babies, just about everything is a defensive response. I had several of my babies last year from my Striped Line that would get so worked up when I offered them food that they would hiss and almost turn upside down following my hand with the f/t mouse pup in it. It would take about 10 minutes for it to settle down and take the food.
>>Now for size of the food, start with fuzzie mice for the first few feedings, either live or frozen. Rat pups are almost the size of adult mice and are way too big for normal baby boas. But either way the should not even be offered food until 3-5 days after they shed. This will ensure an empty stomach and help reduce any regurge problems for their first few meals.
>>Now here is the rest of the information on feeding. Feel free to print this out and show it to your friend so he can have a guide to feeding, better yet go to the pet store and pick up one of Jeff Ronne’s books or buy one of his video tapes. I Know he covers breeding information, but knowing Jeff he also touches on feeding and caring for the babies, either option is not much more then $10.00 and well below the money he will make on selling even one of his babies. Please stress to him the importance of knowledge in the care for these animals. Nowadays there is no excuse for improper care, there is too much information out there if you are willing to take the effort to find it and use it.
>>Thanks
>>Jim Hopkins
>>Hopkins Holesale Herps
>>My snake won’t eat!
>>
>>Ask yourself some questions about why the animal is not eating (snakes don’t go on hunger strikes for political reasons). Could the problem be environmental? Is the snake feeling stress due to its caging and refusing to feed because of it? A proper hide box makes a snake feel more secure and hidden from danger . Without this a young snake may not eat because it does not feel safe.
>>
>>Is the cage too big? Many new herpers, in their zest to make the perfect snake habitat, will put their newborn Boa in a large cage or tank. The snake may just not find the food in such a vast home. A small, compact, well setup cage is often the key to getting started on the right foot.
>>
>>What type of substrate are you using and is it safe? Cedar chips and most other aromatic woods are lethal to reptiles and other substrates may also be harmful, or less than ideal, adding to the overall stress of your animal.
>>
>>Is the temperature too hot or too cold? A cold snake won’t eat. Many new herpers will keep their pets too warm because a pet store stressed to them to keep them "really hot". New keepers may also have a poor grasp of the actual cage temperatures that they are running. Measure the temperatures in your cage!. An 82-90 degree temp should be good for most Boids and many Colubrids. Understand the necessity and benefits of proper heat gradients.
>>
>>Is the humidity ok? If you live in a desert type area it may be too dry. Clean water should always be present but spraying/misting may be needed several times per week.
>>That’s a basic look at environment now what about the food types?
>>
>>Are you feeding it correct sized prey items? Something too big may intimidate the snake. Something too small may not stimulate a feeding response. Typically, the prey item should be as big around (at it’s fattest point) as the largest part of the snake, the width of the midsection. Baby Ball pythons and baby Redtail boas don’t eat pinkies, they eat hoppers or small adult mice. Baby cornsnakes will have no trouble fitting their little heads around an appropriately sized pinkie mouse (they can do it, i promise!).
>>
>>Is the snake refusing rats or mice? If it is refusing one try the other. We have had snakes prefer either or as their first meal.
>>Are you feeding live or frozen? Some snakes may take to live over frozen/thawed. The body heat seems to trigger the feeding response. Others will take to thawed over live because the movement discourages them.
>>
>>What time of day are you trying to feed the snake? Some snakes will feed better in the evenings while others will feed better in the mornings, try both.
>>Are you giving your snake enough time to feed, are you being a Mother Hen? Over zealous herpers will check on their new pet every few minutes while feeding. Your snake will develop a strong feeding response over time, but at first they need privacy to feel secure. Also try to keep the prey item in over a 12-hour period without disturbing the snake (be careful with live prey and aggression). Novice keepers will remove the prey after just a few minutes in the cage thinking that if it did not happen immediately it won’t happen at all.
>>
>>Now as far as how often to try and feed? Don’t do all these suggestions in a day’s time! Check the cage environment and try 1 method every 2-4 days until the snake eats. That’s not to say try it every day for 4 days straight! Try it once and if it does not work try again in a few days with another method. Offering all these different things to your snake at once will confuse it and may prolong the feeding process.
>>
>>FORCE-FEEDING should be the last thing on your mind! Too many people are too quick to force a meal on a snake. After weeks of pulling out your hair, trying all things under the sun and thinking about just freezing the "damn thing", one day you will walk in and find that the pinkie is gone. You’ll check the entire cage, under and around the water bowl, under the substrate/newspaper. You’ll even look around the outside of the cage as if by some miracle this small, blind, hairless animal climbed out of the cage to safety. Then it will hit you, oh my god it ate!!!
>>
>>
>>
-----
Sonya