feeding issues

[hammerhead]

i rescued 2 BPs awhile back and they have never been very good feeders. they will go weeks with out eating, and once went about 7 months. the female misses every time she strikes until i put the feeder right to her almost like shes blind, not sure what that means. most times she wont eat just kills it, strikes it, kills it, checks it out and leaves it. when she wants to eat it she will have a hard time finding the head to even start. the male strikes at in defense mode most time but when he wants it he takes it just fine. now they aren't skinny but are on the thin side and i want to get some weight on them. any suggestions on what i should do?

[JaGv]

could it be that they are stressed out? try feeding some where dark

[The Serpent Merchant]

Can you give us some more details on how they are housed?

• What type of cage?
• What are the cage temperatures?
• How are you heating the cage?
• What are you using to measure temperatures?
• Are they housed together?

What about the rodents?

• How big are they in respect to the snakes?
• Are they frozen, pre-killed, or live?
• If they are frozen how warm do you get them?

[hammerhead]

this is what they are in now, i built this about a year ago. there is a boa in the top one. i had to house the bps together because of space. it is 24x24x48 made of plywood and sealed. its heated with a radiant heat panel with a reptistat 500 thermostat. im using a indoor/outdoor thermometer from walmart to measure temp. temps are at 83 cool, 90 warm side with 32% humidity. i did have the same issue when they were in a glass tank when they were much smaller.



as far as rodents i have tried it all, live/prekilled mice and small rats (live rat pups or anything real small is hard to find along with clean pet store housing). F/T i have used mice, rat pups, hoppers and small rats. F/T thawed in baggy in water till full thawed then in hot water for about 15 min or till warm to touch. best result is with a prekilled mouse.

[The Serpent Merchant]

First off housing BP's together isn't the best idea, there are countless reasons not to. I would suggest that you put a divider in the cage so they can be housed separately.

But for now seeing that they are housed together in there do you only have 1 hide? You should have at least 4 (2 on hot side 2 on cool side)

I would look into replacing the thermostat that you are using, the zoo-med thermostats are junk. Here are 2 good thermostats:

Budget: http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B000NZZG3S

High end: http://spyderrobotics.com/home/products.html

I would also increase the humidity to 50%

[hammerhead]

i under stand the reasons as to not house them together, as i said i don't have the room. And i rescued them from a guy that had them in a small glass tank in a laundry room with no heat at all in the middle of winter, I couldn't leave them there. i have tried to re-home them but every time someone says "ill take them" they never show to get them. if i put a divider in the cage the heat gradient would not work right. as for the stats, whats so bad about the zoo meds? i have 2 and 1 is over 3 years old and both work flawlessly and maintain a steady temp. there is two hides in there, but they refuse to use the second one. even if i physicality put one in each, one will move to the other so they are both in one hide.

[Kaorte]

Hi!

Have you looked into setting one or both up in their own separate tub? I believe that separating them will solve all of your issues. A tub setup doesn't take up much space and is very cheap. I'm sorry but saying you dont have enough space to separate them just isn't a good enough argument. These snakes prefer small enclosures and actually feed better in them.

As for the 500r, obviously it isn't the best thermostat out there, and like all thermostats, they can and do fail from time to time. I use a 500r as a backup/quarantine thermostat and it works just fine. If you do ever plan on getting a new one I would look at some of the others that were suggested.

Where are you located? Perhaps someone here would be willing to take the snake(s) for you?

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

[hammerhead]

Where would you put a tub setup? Thats part of the problem, i dont want tubs or cages all over the place. My garage get to over 90 degrees and i would think thas not the best place. I am in bradenton fl. And if some want them come get them.

sent from my RAZR MAXX

[Kaorte]

I unfortunately live a few hundred miles away so I can't pick them up for you.

Surely you have a shelf or table or spare space on the floor where you could put a 1' by 2' tub? I'm pretty packed in my Chicago apartment but I could find the room if I needed to. One tub does not mean you will have tubs and cages all over the place.

The garage is not a good idea..

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2