Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi,

I have a 9 month old CBB Biak that I received a little more than 2 weeks ago. The breeder was feeding him f/t. I let him settle in for a week then tried to feed him. First attempt was a night feed, frozen thawed mice off of 18" tweezers. The mouse was taken out of a jar of very hot tap water and presented. Lots of strikes and some half attempts at constriction. After 20 minutes of this I gave up. Tried the next day during daylight hours, pretty much same deal, he constriced and held the mouse once for about a minute and then dropped it. Then after more strikes he finally took and ate the mouse.

Tonight (a week later) I tried again and he displayed the same behavior, lots of strikes and very little constriction. Strike, grab, and drop. Any tips or thoughts to get him to hit and hold?

Thanks.

their is very little you can do to insure he will hold and eat... but their are a few basic things to remember... first, make sure the mouse is fairly dry, dry it with a paper towel or something... second, make sure the mouse is not too hot...

it sounds like you are doing everything good to me... getting him to eat is the most important thing, and you have done that...

keep it up.

maybe if you get some free time we could see some pics???

Shiloh
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Shiloh Hawkesworth
kansas
(Midwest Serpents)

Thank you both for your responses.

Shilo - The difference was like night and day. I dried the mouse off completely (before I was taking him out of the water and quickly dabbing it off then presenting) and warmed it by holding it near a light bulb, checking its temp with a Raytek. It took two attempts and success. Thanks! About the pics, the lens motor on my Cyber Shot broke and it will be awhile before I get a new one, but when I do I'll post.

RCulver - I was erring on the side of caution with the size of his meals. Also, even as a 9 month old he is rather large, 24" long with about a 4" girth at his widest point. I call it "He" but the animal is unsexed.

Thanks again.

Jason

Here are a few suggestions: First, try offering a slightly "smaller" sized food item. Many times these little fellas know the size of food that *they* want, and this just might not be what they are being offered. Second, try skipping a week and let this fella get good and hungry. I'd suggest trying the first suggestion for sometimes skipping a week or so can make them even more difficult to get to feed. But not to get overly confusing, on the other side of the coin, I've had them feed so aggressively after waiting an extra week that I keep this routine handy.

Good luck!

RCulver

I had to wait like RCulver said for one of mine. I kept offering her mice and it turned out that she wanted small rats. Even now that she's a regular eater she will only eat rats. She'll strike at a mouse off tongs but will only constrict it, not eat it. Once she smalls rat, look out its going down.
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Joe