Eating

[KevinRanes]

Ok just a few details first before I ask my question so you know what I have. I have 3 balls one male normal 6 years old, one male spider born july 2010, and 1 female pastel born july 2011. They are housed separate and eat in a separate "feeding" cage. The temps are kept between 82 and 90 on the cooler side at night. I use aspen substrate in the tanks and the "feeding" tank just a towel. I thaw their rats in hot water then warm the nose up with the heat lamp. The spider hasn't eaten in 3 - 4 months which I just blew off as breeding season and the normal in probably a month. Well now the female hasn't eaten in a couple weeks. Can the rats be bad?? Am I doing something wrong?? Or can it all be attributed to breeding season?? I just got new rats last week and they didn't take them either. They show no visible signs of weight loss or sickness. They all look normal.

[Slim]

First thing I would do is to stop trying to feed them in a seperate enclosure. Sometimes they can get sensitive any handling just before feeding.

Rats can be "bad", but it's not a common occurance. If you suspect the rats are bad, try a different supplier.

Your cool side temps should be closer to 78-80 degrees at all times. 90 degrees is too warm for a cool side.

What are you using to heat your enclosures and how are you measuring your temps?

Your Spider could be on a breeding season fast, but if there are no breedable females within smelling distance, I'd look for another cause of the problem.

[KevinRanes]

Thank you Slim for the reply. I feed in a separate because I was told years ago if I feed in the enclosure they will associate your hand going in there with feeding and bite. My other thing is I am afraid of getting aspen on the rat then possibly "in" the snake. Heating ~ I have under tank heat and a heat lamp. the thermometer is in the middle of the tank reading 85 most days. Ironically heating was my next question. Any suggestions to change either?? Thank you and I appreciate any and all help you can provide.

[KevinRanes]

BTW the female is in a tank right above his and she isn't big enough to breed though. Not heavy enough.

[Slim]

Cage/Feeding aggression is a myth. They do not learn to associate your hand with feeding time. I understand your concern about the aspen, but if you keep your prey dry it really won't be a problem. These animals can digest hair, teeth and bones...a little substrate isn't going to hurt them.

For heating I would suggest that you put your UTHs on thermostats, if they aren't already. UTHs don't effect the ambient temp in the tanks, but they can provide a warm spot on the hot end of the tank. Most folks try to control the overall ambient temp in a tank with a combination of heat lamps and abient room temp.

Optimally you will want to measure the ambient temps on each end of the tank, and use a temp gun to measure surface temps under both the warm side and cool side hides.

[KevinRanes]

ok thank you I will try that. Do you use frozen/thawed and how do you thaw them to keep them dry? And should the temp ranges be the ambient temp on the 2 sides of the tank or the temp inside of the hides? The hot hide has a UTH but the lamp is also above the hot hide. I don't use a t-stat on the UTH. What are the advantages and can I put all 3 tanks on the same t-stat or do I need to buy 3 separate?

[Slim]

For F/T I use a hair dryer to heat them up after they have thawed out. That usually dries them up pretty good. I use paper for a substrate, so I would see wet spots if the rat wasn't dry. It's doesn't take long to fully dry a rat.

Your UTHs really need to be on a thermostat because an unregulated UTH can get hot enough to severely burn and even kill a BP. I've seen them get up to 130 degrees, measured on the inside of the glass.

Provided each of your UTHs are the same exact size and model, you could run them off the same thermostat. Plugging that together may be a challenge, but I'm sure someone has done it before. If your UTHs are not the same, don't try it because one will always run hotter than the others. An optimum set up will have each heating element on it's own thermostat.

Temps should be as follows:

Warm side ambient and hide = 88-92 degrees
Cool side ambient and hide = 77-82 degrees

Different care sheets will have different numbers, but all should be somewhere close to the temps I've listed.

[KevinRanes]

thank you Slim for the information. It is truly appreciated.

[Slim]

Anytime, Brother! That's how we roll here