Burm Chasing Me

[T.O-SK8TER]

Today I went to feed my burm a f/t rat. I put the bucket the rat was in on a table in the room my snakes home is in. I lifted the lid off the rubbermaid bin he lives in, reached to get the rat and in a matter of seconds he was slithering out of the bin after me. I reached for a wood and screen frame that I use to adjust the temp and put it infront of him so he could not bite me (he was not striking). I eventually got him back in his home and fed the ungrateful S.O.B LOL! He is only 4 feet but I dont want this to happen again, I feed him 1 small adult rat every 4 days. I want to feed him medium rats but they are to thick for him, should I give him 2 small rats every 4 days? He ate 2 the day of the blackout because thats all I had left and they defrosted so I didnt want to through them away.

[Zoe]

I'm not sure about not having him chase you, but at 4 feet you could switch to medium rats. When the snake swallows it, it will compress and smoosh out the rat. It will easily fit inside his stomach!
Zoe

[T.O-SK8TER]

Thanx Zoe, I forgot to mention that I want to slow down his growth a little he is growing 10 inches every month and I am building a huge exzibit for him. I dont care how big he gets in the long run I just want him to be able to stay in the rubbermaid untill I am done building his exzibit. Do you have any suggestions? or should I feed him the way you suggested?

[Zoe]

Well, you definitely aren't starving him by feeding him smalls, but maybe you could step up to large smalls? or small mediums? Feeding him 2 smalls is pretty useless because he's eating so much extra fur and stuff he doesn't need more of.

So what size enclosure are you planning? That would be really cool - when I get a house I'd like to get a burm. Or maybe a retic. Something I can set up a bedroom for.

Zoe

[Jeff_Favelle]

Tongs. Once they take it and start constricting, you have about 4-6 minutes to do pretty much anything you want to them. Its a great technique to move psychotic snakes that are bothersome to handle.

[Zoe]

haha jeff good point. Sometimes my carpets fall out of the cage after striking their rat. I mean they are still in the cage but hanging out of it with the rat in their mouth. It's pretty easy to push them back into the cage if snakes could swear, I'd be getting the worst cursing of my life!

Zoe

[T.O-SK8TER]

The cage I am making is 8 feet by 4 feet and 5 feet tall. It takes up a quarter of my bedroom, it is almost done I just need to put the vinyle on the floor of it and then I have to wait a month or two for all the fumes from the paint and glue to get out.

[Samba]

Just HOW do you want to slow down his growth? I hope not by feeding him less... that's just cruel... Good Luck with the new enclosure!

[Zoe]

Samba, I think feeding small meals as opposed to feeding big meals. There is a "range" in size when it comes to acceptable food size, and I think he's going with the smaller acceptable size as opposed to the bigger one.

[T.O-SK8TER]

I am not going to starve him just feed him smaller meals so he does not grow extremly fast, LOL but I dont think it will matter because he grew 10 inches this month literally. I can't imagin how much he would have grown if I was feeding medium rats, he is just over 3 months and already 4 feet!

[Lisa]

If you didn't want him to grow really fast you should have gotten a different snake.

[T.O-SK8TER]

No thats not the point I was just hoping he would not out grow the Rubbermaid he is in for now, untill his home is finished being built.

[reptilesalonica]

if snakes could swear, I'd be getting the worst cursing of my life! :D
'
T.O-SK8TER, be sure to handle him a bit before you give him he's food. This way he want relates the opening of his cage door with food, because you will handle him and at other times, not related with feeding.
Be sure always to wash your hands and brush your clothes before you contact him, so he don't flicks rabbits' or rats' smell on you.
~Greg~

[reptilesalonica]

...For Lisas' comment, Burms can eat all day :D
If you feed them a little less i believe it won't be any problem.
~Greg~

[T.O-SK8TER]

I am putting a little door on the top of his cage so I dont have to open the front door at all and he won t know where the hell the food came from. This way he never confuses the front door opening with feeding.

[Mike177]

I dont think T.O is doing anything wrong by feeding a burm a small rat at 4 feet! i mean power feeding itself can have its disadvantiges and he just want to let his snake grow moderatly. hey if you let a 8 year old kid eat whatever he wants he is going to end up with serous problems down the line right? so you have to moderate what your child eats. not this my not be a very good analagy but burms are garbage disposals. i bet if you rubbed a rat on a old boot a burm would eat it.

T.O.,
i see that you are building your cage 5 feet tall. realy you dont need that much hight on a cage but let me tell you how it can become handy later on down the line. burms i have found dont like to climb at all once they get bigger and even when they are babys they are dont climb much. i had a big pretty brantch in my burms cage scince day 1 and i have not see my burm cwal on it once! but what you can do is later on down the line you can turn that 1 cage into 2. burms and other large constrictors dont need much "head room" so i am going to split my cage in 1/2 in about a year or so. but ya man keep up the good work with the cage and i would go with medums too. it wont hurt you snake to be in a cage thats a little small for a short peroid of time.

here is my room
http://a5.cpimg.com/image/81/A1/22440065-b6a3-026601CD-.jpg

and as you can see space is a must!!!!

[T.O-SK8TER]

Oh no the cage itself is not 5 feet, its only 2 feet tall. the table I built for it to sit on is 3 feet it together makes it 5 feet. and I think one small rat every 4 days is fine at 4 feet any more I would consider powerfeeding I used to feed my boa only once a week for the appropriate prey size. I would feed my burm once every 6 - 8 days but after day 3 he starts looking for food again!

If you have children in your house you may want to put a pad lock or combo lock on that sweet cage. I am doing this because I have a young cousin, you don t want anything bad to happen.

[Mike177]

you may want to put a pad lock or combo lock on that sweet cage

ya that is a realy good idea. but there is only one problem... i am the little kid in the house :D. lol but get some pix up of your cage when its done. the reson i like that cage so much is probly it was one of my first cages to build and i can say i did it with my own 2 hands.

[reptilesalonica]

i bet if you rubbed a rat on a old boot a burm would eat it.
Oh yeah! This is very true. You can rubb a boot or...your mother in law :D...
'
and as you can see space is a must!!!!
It must be for you too...yours is smaller than that of burm. :D
~Greg~