ETB off feeding schedual

[adam2373]

The past 2 feedings of my emerald have been off his normal schedual. I've had him for 8 months and his normal feedings were every 2 weeks. But recently it's been every 3 weeks. Ignores food for 3 weeks then attacks it like he's never eaten before. Nothing has changed in his environmant or outside his environment. Cage dimentions are 30Lx24HX12D. Temp 82-84 f. constant. Humidity 80-85% day, 60-70 at night. Misted twice daily, once at 7:00 a.m. and then again at 6:00 p.m. Is this normal as they get older or am I doing something wrong? Currently he is just about 3 feet long and dosen't seem dehydrated or appear thin.

[coolhl7]

as low as 60 at night?

[adam2373]

Been like that since I've owned him and have not had problems except in the past month. Possible he's saying "I need more humidity"? I can get it more humid but everywhere I've read says to let the cage dry out at night time to prevent mold and health problems.

[CraigC]

60 is a bit low at night. It very rarely gets that cold. Ours go down to about 76 at night, ambient temp of house, as we are in South Florida. Occasionally, it gets a bit colder than that a VERY few days in Jan/Feb, but I do mean a VERY few days. Think we turned on heat once last year for a few hours just to get chill out of air in early a.m. A/C is on most of year, leading to 76 ambient temp.

Males tend to go off feed occasionally as they mature. However, with that said, if they go longer than 3-4 weeks you need to make sure there isn't another problem, such as a respiratory infection. Look for yawning, throat puffing, listen for snap, crackle, and pop. Males also get really picky about what they will or will not eat. We have a couple that occasionally hold out for live, but they'll always take live. Don't like to feed live, but we give in before they do usually. He, if you are sure it is a he, may just be maturing and you are basically constantly cycling him for breeding by going down to 60 at night, it's stressful on him and you might want to rethink, take him into mid to high 70s at night.

Karen

[adam2373]

Guess I mistyped. The temp is controled by a reostat staying at a constant 82-84 f. day and night. The humidity during the day is 80-85%, and at night the humidity drops to about 60-70%.

And yes Craig he is a he. He was sexed by the owner of Wild Cargo, Ron. If you know him then you know his reputation as a herpitologist, really nice guy too. Messed up thing about it was the people who sold me my ETB, not Wild Cargo, sold it to me as a female. Needless to say I will not be dealing with those people again.

[CraigC]

It was Karen, not Craig. No, you didn't mistype, I just read post really fast and then looked at the next one. Going back and looking it over now I see. Also didn't realize you were the guy in WPB.

We are close enough to their natural environment light wise and temp wise (with A/C and heaters) that you should take advantage of it. Try dropping temp some at night all the time, maybe to 76-78 (but do it gradually over 2-3 weeks). Once our neos are past the first couple of months even they get a couple of degrees of night drop. Also, make sure you turn off heat several hours before you feed and let cage cool down so mouse/rat is hottest thing in there. Our night drops come on 6-6:30 so by the time it is dark and feeding time, the cage has cooled off.

As long as he continues to eat and grow, three weeks isn't a bad thing, he just won't grow quite as fast as an every two weeker.

I don't remember if he was WC or CB, but regardless you might want to take a stool sample into a vet for a check just in case.

Karen

[adam2373]

Yes he is a WC but you would never know it by handleing him. I think he might have been a pet for a while then shipped here to the U.S. He was to the vet a few months ago to get a stool sample check and the vet found nothing. 2 herp guys can't belive me when I tell them he's WC. At any given time I can pick him up or put my hand in the cage with no fear of being bit. But at night I don't even try or put a mouse in there and well normally it's snatched up within a min or two. All of his normal activities seem to have not changed. Coils up during the day and then at night just roams the cage knocking plants over. Then rests in the strike position on a perch for a while then back to roaming the cage.

Come to think of it this all started happening when I started using a reostat to keep a constant temp in there. Would it be wise to maby put the reostat on a timer? Only reason why I've been using a reostat is because my roommate when he's here drops the a/c down to like 70 f. When he's not here I normally keep the a/c about 75-78 f. So during the day it would be 82-84 in there then at night I noticed it dropped to about 78 with me here alone. But when he's here at night it would drop to 73-74 which really worried me and why i bought the reostat and another bulb. One for the constant heat and the other for the reostat. Which both are night bulbs so I'm not blasting him with 150 watts of light.

[CraigC]

Do you have any undertank heat? If so and it's on the rheostat, why don't you take it off when you are going to be there and see what happens with the temp. If you don't have undertank heat, why don't you get some and leave it on at night. That should be enough to bump the temp up a few degrees. You could even put it on a timer just to come on at night if you wanted.

BTW, who pays FP&L with the A/C set down that low? :-) !!!

Karen

[adam2373]

This is what I have for tank set up: 1 ESU combo light (one side 40 Watt Night light on constant, the other side 100 Watt Night light on reostat), UTH 30 Gallon Size run constant and a fogger run throughout the day time contained inside of a plastic habitat cage to keep etb away from hot water. The fogger helps maintain nice humidity at about 85% during the day with misting twice daily, problems of a glass enclosure. The areas not covered by the hood are blocked off by glass on the top.

And to answer the a/c question, all I pay is a flat rate per month and since I work for cable company we have the full package of 2 digital boxes and internet for only $17.00 a month. =)

[adam2373]

Well I'm happy, I finally got my ETB to eat again after a month and a half. Problem is I had to use a live feeder. Seems he's graduated to small colored rats over white mice. *sniff* My baby is growing up. As soon as I put the rat in the cage he stared it down, and got in the classic S-shape, wish I had my friends camera =( Took about 10 mins till he was just in reach, then he struck and coiled.