Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have a 7.5 ft albino green burm. He takes f/t rats with no problem but I can't seem to get him to take rabbits. I've tried scenting but that doesn't work. Lately I've been giving him a large rat and when he gets the rat most of the way down i place the rabbit in his mouth and he takes then. This morning i got him to strike at the rabbit agressively and he semi coiled it but eventually let it go and left it in the cage. Any suggestions?

Clint Wells
Illinois State Herpetological Society
Vice President
cwells@ilstu.ed

What we did to get our big burms to take rabbits was we would force the mouth of the F/T rabbit wide open and insert a F/T rat into it. The rat would be in the throat and mouth of the rabbit. It was a job to do, but it did work with great success. After about 3 feedings like that the burms would just take the rabbit with no rat. I know what you mean about the scenting. We tried that too and it did not seem to work. But doing it the way I described worked great. Just to make sure it was safe for the burm to eat we would remove the lower jaw of the F/T rabbit and break the upper teeth off, so this way the rabbits teeth could not scrape the burm since the mouth was wide open. I hope this helps.

Circusfan

Also after a few rabbit "power feedings" (what youa re currently doing, placing its head in his mouth as he finishes the rat), try scenting and if it works after a few of those he shoudl just ake a rabbit plain. Also give him privacy, try feeding in the dark and then leaving and coming back a few hours later (leaving the lights out and cage covered).
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Corbin

Is it just me or do you seem really stupid?!

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thanks a lot for the input..im going to try the 2nd reply first..then ill try the rat in rabbit mouth thing. thanks again.
Cwells

The easyest way I have found for stuborn burms to take rabits is to feed them a rat first, let them get into feeding mode. then throw a rabbit in after they get the rat down. They wont even look. After a while. stop with the rats. Good luck.
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Seth Mason.
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