BRB feeding and stuffs.

[Vanity]

So I've had a BRB for about 4 months now. When I got him, he was about 4 months old. I got him from scales and tails and the manager said he was already on fuzzies when I bought him. So I tried to feed him frozen thawed fuzzies but he wouldn't eat them. Me and my mom figured they were freezer burned, so we got more that didn't seem to be freezer burned, and still he wouldn't eat them. So we tried pinkies and he ate those like popcorn. So he was on pinkies for a very long time, and after another few months, he hasn't gotten any girth, just length. I struck up a conversation with a stranger in a pet store, told him about how my BRB was so thin and he gave me the simplest answer; that he needed calcium. Duh. But live calcium. Because apparently live has more protein? So I went back to scales and tails recently. About a month ago to get him his first live fuzzies. Those he ate. The boyfriend and I decided to feed him two fuzzies every other Saturday night. Updated the manager at scales and tails and HE told us he should be a lot thicker by now considering how long I've had him and he told us he wanted us to push him and start feeding him bigger prey once a week rather than once every other week. Especially since winter is coming. The last two bigger meals he's had though have been regurgitated. To give an idea of his size, the biggest part of his body is about nickel size. So I'm wondering what I should do? Should I continue trying to feed him bigger prey once a week and just hope it doesn't get regurgitated? Should I power feed him? At his size and age what size prey SHOULD he be on right now? Any and all answers are appreciated. Thanks. (:

[bcr229]

The store manager is a :cens0r: and I sincerely hope he didn't advise you to power feed this animal.

Due to the back-to-back regurgitations your snake needs three weeks of NO FEEDING and then minimal feeding to give it time to recover. Regurgitation is very traumatic for a snake, they don't bounce back quickly like mammals do, and when you do start feeding again you need to give it a half-size meal, wait two weeks, offer another half-size meal, wait, and then offer a normal size meal.

For your snake a normal-size meal is what you were feeding before the store manager stuck his nose in. So, if your BRB was getting two fuzzies, then offer one for a half-size meal.

There is a product called NutriBAC carried by http://www.thebeanfarm.com. It is a powdered reptile probiotic. When you start feeding your snake again, dust the feeder with a little bit of it so your snake eats it. It will help replenish his good stomach flora.

Once you are back up to two fuzzies every two weeks then you can slowly decrease the time between feedings. Instead of feeding on a 14-day schedule, drop to a 12-day schedule for 2-3 feedings, then to a 10-day schedule. Since BRB's are kept at lower temperatures they need longer to digest than BCI's and BP's so I wouldn't feed more frequently than every 10 days.

Once he's doing ok on a 10 day schedule you can slowly increase the feeder size. Instead of two fuzzies, offer one hopper. The meal should leave a minimal lump. Eventually you can work him up to larger prey but don't be in a hurry to get there.