Originally Posted by Bogertophis
Sounds like JubJub was a good influence. Good for you, trying to give these 2 snakes a better life.
Did they both come from the same home?
I'm a little confused by your description of what's going on with the cage tops...be sure they cannot get out, you got lucky this time. Snakes are way better at
"hide & seek" than we are. Also, be sure there is nothing flammable (or melt-able) near or touching the lights...they get hot.
As far as them refusing meals so far: don't offer more than once a week, it makes it more likely they'll stress & refuse. (sounds like a few missed meals won't
hurt Kitten one bit, lol) Were they taking live or (hopefully) frozen-thawed or fresh killed rodents previously? For best results, offer the same for the first few
meals until they've settled in...(& it makes a big difference to many snakes whether rats or mice too- they have a totally different smell & presumably, taste).
Many BP-keepers have success using a blow dryer (hair dryer) to heat up the nose of the f/t rodent so they think it's alive & they can target easier (they use
their heat-sensing pits when catching food, as you likely know already). Feeding tongs are very handy too. BTW, it's often better to not even offer food for the
first week or two with new snakes...it takes time for them to settle in & want to eat, so don't worry about them not eating yet. Re-homing is scary for them.
So their lids are the coarse screen type. What I did was I attached on the underside a double layer of bubble wrap with a 12in diameter hole cut out for their black light heat bulbs to shine through. There was space between the screen and the bubble wrap, that's where he found his escape at, so I covered the hole with a square piece of tulle (it's a soft mesh fabric). Right now I'm using duct tape to hold it in place, (I KNOW NOW per the care sheet this isn't great.) And it's held pretty good for the past couple weeks, but I have plans to actually sew it all to the screen lid and remove the tape. All of these things thus far have yet to show any signs of wear from the heat of the lamps but I continue to check daily as part of my inspection for potential breach points when replacing their water and spraying.
As far as feeding, to this point they have been live fed. I tried a couple times the second and third week, I've not attempted in a week though after reading the care sheet and hope they will be ready within the next couple days. I am going to try scenting first this time with the rat in a box near the snake enclosure for a little bit to prime them. I also had previously attempted at day time when they are less active. This time I'll wait til night when they are active and use small rats just to get them back into eating so they aren't intimidated. I do want to go to t/f eventually but fear the change of that too will make things more stressful.
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