Black roughneck not taking rodents?

[Melody]

I was just wondering if its common that a 6 month old black roughneck shows no interest in rodents? I just got him the other day, and the store said he eats everything else like a beast but shows no interest when offered a rodent. I've read that these guys more of insect/fish eaters in the wild, but every one that i've seen in captivity eats rodents too. Maybe hes not ready for them yet but will accept them as he gets older?

[Dube79]

Do you know how old it is? I have a roughneck that I didn't start trying to feed hopper mice until almost a year old.. I started feeding her crickets, roaches, ground turkey.. And she is a great feeder.
Are you trying hopper mice? Live? Frozen?

[Melody]

I was told he was around six months old... I haven't tried feed him any rodents myself yet, but I was told this by the guy who runs the shop I bought him at. He said he was offered live on multiple occasions and refused. He definitely loves crickets and roaches though! He's also in pretty good body condition so it doesn't seem to be a problem, I was just curious because it seems odd to me.

[Skiploder]

I was told he was around six months old... I haven't tried feed him any rodents myself yet, but I was told this by the guy who runs the shop I bought him at. He said he was offered live on multiple occasions and refused. He definitely loves crickets and roaches though! He's also in pretty good body condition so it doesn't seem to be a problem, I was just curious because it seems odd to me.

He's better off on insects, crawfish and if you can score them - clean feeder frogs, anoles or geckoes. Rudis are not really rodent eaters.

[Melody]

He's better off on insects, crawfish and if you can score them - clean feeder frogs, anoles or geckoes. Rudis are not really rodent eaters.

Yeah that's what I've been reading. I'll definitely be feeding him tons of bugs and crawfish for sure. And I'm going to see if I could find a place where I can order some feeder anoles. Know any good places to order those? A couple stores have feeder fish but they look pretty disgusting and I don't want my animals eating those.....

Oh! and another question for you skiploder!(or anyone else who knows lol), So I've been trying to keep his humidity around 70% and 86%, closer to 86-90 because hes beginning to shedding, and today I noticed there was quite a bit of mold on his big branch... I've had small amounts of mold occur in enclosures before and I just clean it and take it out, but there seems to be a lot more than usual in this one. I'm worried about all the spores that much mold could produce. Are monitors affected by mold? I understand if it gets out of hand mold is bad for anything, but are they sensitive to it? Maybe I should drop the humidity? but I really want him to be able to shed correctly

[Skiploder]

Yeah that's what I've been reading. I'll definitely be feeding him tons of bugs and crawfish for sure. And I'm going to see if I could find a place where I can order some feeder anoles. Know any good places to order those? A couple stores have feeder fish but they look pretty disgusting and I don't want my animals eating those.....

Oh! and another question for you skiploder!(or anyone else who knows lol), So I've been trying to keep his humidity around 70% and 86%, closer to 86-90 because hes beginning to shedding, and today I noticed there was quite a bit of mold on his big branch... I've had small amounts of mold occur in enclosures before and I just clean it and take it out, but there seems to be a lot more than usual in this one. I'm worried about all the spores that much mold could produce. Are monitors affected by mold? I understand if it gets out of hand mold is bad for anything, but are they sensitive to it? Maybe I should drop the humidity? but I really want him to be able to shed correctly

How are you boosting humidity in his enclosure?

[John1982]

Warm, stagnant air and high humidity almost always yields mold. You could look into getting some isopods to help battle the problem but I don't recommend keeping a monitor in a petri dish either. Better air exchange in your enclosure will help keep mold to a minimum.