Weekly Feeding

Rogue628 · 02-27-12, 05:09 PM

Yesterday was feeding day and I noticed a couple of strange happenings with mine.

My rainbow is in shed...again. And she just shed a little over a week ago. It wasn't the best shed in the world (I'm still having some humidity issues with her due to our weather...cold/hot/cold/hot) but it was decent. I know snakes will shed alot more if they have scale issues like burns, rot, etc. I checked her over really well and didn't notice anything abnormal. She looks really healthy despite fighting humidity with her. Maybe she's just having a growth spurt?

My older royal, who didn't want to eat for me last week, didn't act interested in his food either. Sometimes if I tease my snakes with their food, they'll become interested and strike it. He didn't act interested, nor did he strike, but he wrapped it a couple of times and looked at me like, üh....you want me to eat?" He wouldn't let it go so I left him alone with it and 10 minutes later the rat was gone. I've never seen one do that before.

My problem eater burm...well, she ate a chick and as usual, I piggy backed her a rat behind it. I had another animal that didn't want her second offering so I thought I'd give it to my little burm since it was a small adult mouse (I usually give extra to my other burm but this one could use the extra food). She nosed it for a minute and instead of striking and coiling, she started eating it right off the tongs! lol I haven't seen her do that one before either.

One of my dumerils snatched her rat off the tongs so hard she left the tail IN the tongs!

BTW, these are large adult rats. Never had that happen before either. It was weird standing there holding a rat tail (it was the whole thing...even the inside part) with no rat.

I'm curious as to why my rainbow went into shed so quickly and if it may be something in her husbandry or feeding I need to correct? I feed her weekly (except in shed, she won't eat) one small adult live mouse. It's what the breeder (Jeff Clark) told me to feed her. We've had her for about 2 1/2 months now and she's grown in length, but is still slender so her food still leaves a nice size food bump on her.

Also, my dumerils are adopted. They were rescued by another keeper but he couldn't keep them permanently so I adopted them. I have no clue of their exact age but both are close to 5 ft long and have a nice size girth to them now as they came to me a little on the skinny side. Should I continue to feed them weekly or every 10-14 days now that they've gotten some size to them. I've heard they have a very slow metabolism and I don't want to overfeed them. I wouldn't mind having one like Black Betty but I'd rather it be natural instead of over feeding. Both are on large adult rats and one barely leaves a food bump.

I'd love to hear from any rainbow or dumerils keepers about my concerns with my animals.

Thanks!

P.S. I just threw in the stories about the royal, the rat tail, and the burm because I thought they were funny

krystle · 02-27-12, 05:27 PM

How old is your rainbow? I notice mine will shed once I up her food two weeks later!

Rogue628 · 02-27-12, 05:37 PM

She's about 5 months old now. I can usually feed her 2-3 times before she goes into shed but she only ate once and is back in shed again.

Hurrok · 02-27-12, 05:49 PM

My male bp would seem to shed every 3 weeks at one point (around 6 months-8 months), but then he would shed every 4-5 weeks. He was also out of his cage a lot and just chomping down on his food. He never had any rot/burns so I'm guessing it's all growing. I'm thinking that's the same for your BRB..but I could be wrong. Just telling my story, hopefully it helps

Skumbo · 02-27-12, 05:49 PM

Try giving her a nice humid hide (sphagnum moss is good for that, as are damp paper towels for now) so if she feels she needs a REALLY humid area she can go there instead of soaking in her tank, which they also love to do. make sure she can fit in her water bowl!

Rogue628 · 02-27-12, 06:08 PM

She can fit in her water bowl quite well (Jeff told me these guys love to lay in their water so I make sure hers is plenty big enough and I change it almost daily). Last time I put a warm wet cloth in her tub right before she shed and it seemed to help alot. I tried keeping it warm for her but she still felt so cold so Ï'm kind of leery of doing that one again. I may try paper towels this time. At least those can be changed out on a regular basis.

When we have warm weather, I have no real issues with her humidity. The ambient humidity here can be as high as 70% or more. But when it gets cold, it wreaks havoc with my humidity even though all my tubs have very little holes in them (or those that need higher humidity requirements). I go from misting maybe once a day to several times a day. I keep a check on the weather so if it's going to get cold at night, I spray tubs like crazy before temps drop in order to keep humidity.

I guess her going into shed so quickly is just a growth spurt.

krystle · 02-27-12, 06:10 PM

I would think its because of a bad shed! I would do what skumbo is saying mine has a humidity box and loves it

Rogue628 · 03-01-12, 01:05 AM

She shed today. She had a few flecks but it was all one piece! This is the best shed she's had since got her in December. Her sides are so white! She's hungry (she won't eat while in shed) so I'll pick her up some food tomorrow

krystle · 03-01-12, 04:51 PM

Yay so happy to hear that she is doing good! Love how pretty they are after a good shed

Rogue628 · 03-01-12, 04:54 PM

I love how they look in shed too. lol

She was definitely ready to eat. She usually ambushes or sneaks up really slow on her food (she only eats live) but she went after it earlier. Now she has a full belly and looks quite content

krystle · 03-01-12, 05:17 PM

Funny you say that mine eats live too

Skumbo · 03-01-12, 06:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by krystle

Funny you say that mine eats live too

I hope mine will take F/T other than preferring it for many reasons, I can only get live from a place 30 min away from me and only on Tuesdays...

Rogue628 · 03-01-12, 08:12 PM

Wow. That's quite a distance to drive for feeders and only one day? And I think I sometimes have an issue just getting to the store to get one between jobs. I was lucky that today was my off day for my evening job.

All of mine started off eating live and I've managed to switch most to f/t. My rainbow is the only one still taking live. I hope to switch her before we move because I have no clue if the little town we're moving to is going to have a place to get live. I forgot to try offering a f/t this feeding. I should have as hungry as she was she may have accepted it lol.

Skumbo · 03-01-12, 09:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rogue628

Wow. That's quite a distance to drive for feeders and only one day? And I think I sometimes have an issue just getting to the store to get one between jobs. I was lucky that today was my off day for my evening job.

All of mine started off eating live and I've managed to switch most to f/t. My rainbow is the only one still taking live. I hope to switch her before we move because I have no clue if the little town we're moving to is going to have a place to get live. I forgot to try offering a f/t this feeding. I should have as hungry as she was she may have accepted it lol.

luckily mine only feeds F/T so i go buy 5-6 at a time and they last me a while, its in the opposite direction of anything too lol

krystle · 03-01-12, 09:47 PM

Holy crap man that's far I feel lucky I can drive down the street to get mine!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Skumbo

I hope mine will take F/T other than preferring it for many reasons, I can only get live from a place 30 min away from me and only on Tuesdays...