Considering Getting a RTB, some questions

Thanks Becky, that would be great. I think I've been trying for about 2 months now to switch him to p/k. so far my trick is to throw in a live mouse, have him strike that and then I can usually just drop in a p/k jumbo and he'll take it. I think he likes the thrill of the hunt. lol. The live mice part is easy, I breed those suckas, just don't have the room necessary to breed rats for my boa though. Once he gets a few more meals in him and is hopefully used to the p/k routine, I'll check out the info you give me and/or call up rodentpro.

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Originally Posted by Gooseman

Thanks Becky, that would be great. I think I've been trying for about 2 months now to switch him to p/k. so far my trick is to throw in a live mouse, have him strike that and then I can usually just drop in a p/k jumbo and he'll take it. I think he likes the thrill of the hunt. lol. The live mice part is easy, I breed those suckas, just don't have the room necessary to breed rats for my boa though. Once he gets a few more meals in him and is hopefully used to the p/k routine, I'll check out the info you give me and/or call up rodentpro.

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He strikes the live mouse and then what? I'm confused? Are you saying you remove the mouse from his mouth or something or does he always miss? My snakes always hit their target so that wouldnt work. Maybe your saying he eats that first. I'm just wondering what you mean when you say he strikes it AND THEN you throw in the p/k rat.

he strikes it... swallows it, then I drop in a p/k rat and as of late he's been content with that. every now and then he'll insist on a live rat, but I'm slowly moving him away from that. I have no problems with him eating, he has never skipped a meal with me, it's just the normal switchin him over to p/k process and it's usual tricks.

All my boas are on f/t. I just tap the rat on their face and they take it

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Originally Posted by Gooseman

i guess that depends on where you get your rats. live jumbos for me are $12 so $50 doesnt last to long when you look at the snakes lifespan.

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where are you buying your rats from?

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Originally Posted by Gooseman

yea... I have two places to get rats up here, Petco and some guy I know. Petco doesnt sell jumbos, and with large's at $8 that becomes a hefty bill quickly and my friend breeds them and sells me the jumbos for $12.

all the jumbo's he sells me are 500g plus, so they are some huge mommas.

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Here ya go: http://www.prma.org/breeder_rabbits.htm

It's also helpful to email the people from Texas on that list, and see if they know anyone in your area.

A Vet Tech friend of mine, Theresa Shisk-Saling, also breeds rabbits and you might want to shoot her an email or call her. She may have some extras you can buy. She works for A&M :) and is a complete hoot!

I just started breeding rabbits for my Boas. My Charlie wasnt to happy about it. He refused for 2 weeks. Well I tell you what after thaw and refreeze and thaw and refreeze that bunny was stinky. I wasnt going to give it to him I was gonna toss it and kill another one for him. Well I figured I would give it a try and sure enough that stinky bunny did the trick he ate it with in 10 minutes. I know it sounds gross but it will not hurt them to eat the stinky rethaws and I think the smell helps them decide to eat it.

....yeah...total hijack....
Well anyways, I've decided to wait until that Arlington reptile show to choose out a boa. I'll get a cage setup soon, though.
Feeders aren't that big of a problem for me. I can get mice almost for free, and I know some petstores that carry large rats. Plus, the petstore I work at usually has a nice selection of sizes; from pinky mice to young rats, and occasionally we'll have a few giant rats around (they tend to escape pretty easily though, even with a rock on the cagetop). We could always order some cheap rabbits, too, if need be.

Oh yeah, and money isn't really that much of a problem; I just wanted to get a good deal.

Check out the links and stuff Becky mentioned Ben. Our PetCo has those $100 bunnies as well (they are fancies plus they are neutered/spayed hence the higher cost). When we were feeding the big boa before she went to Becky we had a meat rabbit breeder only 5 miles away so got lovely rabbits (the guy bred for the restaurant trade) for about $10.00. That's a very reasonable feeding bill at two rabbits per month. Do a Google search on "meat rabbit breeds" so you can make sure you are buying that, some rabbit breeds have much less meat to bone ratio than the meat breeds.