Our new guy

[mestapho]

Just picked him up a week ago from previous owner, who purchased from a local breeder. The previous owner said that he was 1 year 3mos old. He's a bit over 3 ft long so I'm not too sure about that (for reference - in the 3rd pic down the book by his tail is 12 in. long).

I got the terrarium (40 gal. Zilla), dome lamp w/UVB bulb, UTH, both hides, the water dish, 2 fake plants and fresh substrate for $50.

He was feeding him one large mouse every four days. I've fed him one mouse which he ate w/no issues. Tried a f/t small rat yesterday and he had zero interest. I'll try again in a few days.

What do you guys think of him?

What about size/age?

Can I continue to feed a large mouse every 4 days or should I force the issue with f/t rats? Or multiple mice on the same day and switch to weekly?

I'm having trouble keeping the humidity up, I'm in Nor Cal (Sac. region). I'm misting twice a day, but in between mistings the humidity is dropping to around 40%.

I've temp pretty stable at 88 F warm side / 82 F cool side.

[Jessica Loesch]

Never forcefeed if he'll take another type of food readily. You'll have to slowly try to transition to rats ... can try scenting, try live, etc. If he is taking f/t mice now, try thawing the two together, i hear this works well. If the mouse is live, try live rat and then slowly convert to F/t. you weren't specific so I can't say much else about that.

[mestapho]

Never forcefeed if he'll take another type of food readily. You'll have to slowly try to transition to rats ... can try scenting, try live, etc. If he is taking f/t mice now, try thawing the two together, i hear this works well. If the mouse is live, try live rat and then slowly convert to F/t. you weren't specific so I can't say much else about that.

Thanks for the quick reply.
He's eating live mice. I've always been leery of putting a live rat in with my snakes. Even with my 7 ft Berm I pre-killed, and he hit really hard. I will try scenting with a mouse next time. Do most people just lay the f/t rat in the terrarium? I tried wiggling it around with some tongs and it just freaked the poor guy out.

[Jessica Loesch]

If he isn't used to F/T rats, its very doubtful he will take them any time soon. You may want to try F/T mice first, and then convert to F/T rats by scenting/defrosting together, etc.

Personally, I wiggle my F/T around and get good feeding response with it. Some will take it laying there and others want it to move. Depends on the snake.

Oh, and you don't need the UVB bulb, just use that UTH with a thermostat and youll be set.

[mestapho]

Ok, I read that BP don't need the UVB, but it came with the setup, so I'm just going to use it for general lighting and not worry about replacing every 6 mos.
The dome that is above the terrarium is a CHE (on a rheostat). I couldn't get the tank temp above 80 even with a 40 watt heat bulb in the light hood.

[Jessica Loesch]

Well the light will just stress the snake out so I would just throw it out. Those ceramic heat emitters will help get your tanks ambient heat up if you have issues with it but the easiest thing to do is turn down the AC

Your UTH is on that rheostat too?

[Jessica Loesch]

Oh, and to help your humidity, you can place foil or some other medium over 90% of the cage top.

[mues155]

I love the reduced and banded pattern. Nice pick up

You have some great advice here already

[mestapho]

I was wondering if that would be considered a reduced pattern.

What about his size for being 1 yr 3 mos old?

How about his girth for his length?

Thanks for the great replies.

[Redneck_Crow]

He's a pretty snake and he looks to be in decent shape.

If you want to switch him to rats, which I would because it's a pain in the butt when you get a grown snake that wants 3-4 mice at a sitting, you could start him out on live rat pups. They're immature enough that he shouldn't have any problem killing them. Once he accepts them then you could start to try to get him onto f/t.