Meet Lazarus (rescue)

bigsnakegirl785 · 07-25-13, 03:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aaron_S

Wrong.

It doesn't NEED to be eating that size. I know people who breed boas who feed their males a small rat weekly and the adult females get a medium rat.

That's roughly 100 grams for males and 175 - 200 grams for females. BREEDING animals.

I must've misunderstood what I was told then, or they told me the info I heard and left out the part about breeding animals.

**Aaron_S** · 07-25-13, 03:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bigsnakegirl785

I must've misunderstood what I was told then, or they told me the info I heard and left out the part about breeding animals.

As I said, doesn't NEED to be bigger.

Quite often we over feed our captives and overestimate what they need to thrive.

People love to feed huge meals to their captives on a regular basis. Try feeding your pets 10 - 15% of their body weight on a regular weekly basis, bet you'll see a faster growth.

dbassa · 07-25-13, 03:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aaron_S

feeding your pets 10 - 15% of their body weight on a regular weekly basis, bet you'll see a faster growth.

I really like feeding by this percentage formula. I first read about it on Alessia55's web page which sadly I can no longer find, and have been using it for the entire time I have had my ball and corn snakes.

**Aaron_S** · 07-25-13, 05:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dbassa

I really like feeding by this percentage formula. I first read about it on Alessia55's web page which sadly I can no longer find, and have been using it for the entire time I have had my ball and corn snakes.

Yeah, there's a really good reason she put that there. Learned it from a couple other people.

Mikoh4792 · 07-25-13, 04:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aaron_S

As I said, doesn't NEED to be bigger.

Quite often we over feed our captives and overestimate what they need to thrive.

People love to feed huge meals to their captives on a regular basis. Try feeding your pets 10 - 15% of their body weight on a regular weekly basis, bet you'll see a faster growth.

do you feed adult snakes weekly too when using this formula?

Spirit_Scale · 07-25-13, 04:13 PM

Aaron, if I need to, if there are eggs lying around and there is a second outbreak, then I will step up my methods. But I would first like to try something as snake friendly as possible.

Diluted or not, the fact that there have been fatalities and damage makes me hesitant to use it in a scenario where

A) The mites are not heavily established nor had they had time to breed. The snake was put right away into a clean tank that had been treated, and the snake was treated as well. Immediately nine times out of ten any mite I saw or came off the snake was dead. To me, this suggests that in combination with the low numbers of mites and the fact that they hadn't had time to colonize the tank that they would not have ample time to breed.
B) I treat, disinfect and wipe down the cage daily.

Which suggests to me that drastic methods are not called for.

**Aaron_S** · 07-25-13, 05:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Spirit_Scale

Aaron, if I need to, if there are eggs lying around and there is a second outbreak, then I will step up my methods. But I would first like to try something as snake friendly as possible.

Diluted or not, the fact that there have been fatalities and damage makes me hesitant to use it in a scenario where

Whoa whoa whoa. Don't change your tune here. You said even diluted it's killed animals. Multiple animals. I politely asked if you recall where this happened. I think it's a fair request being that I use the product and to my knowledge unless not properly used is safe for my animals.

Quote:

A) The mites are not heavily established nor had they had time to breed. The snake was put right away into a clean tank that had been treated, and the snake was treated as well. Immediately nine times out of ten any mite I saw or came off the snake was dead. To me, this suggests that in combination with the low numbers of mites and the fact that they hadn't had time to colonize the tank that they would not have ample time to breed.

You're silly to think they haven't 'colonized'. They don't colonize the tank, they colonize the snake. The fact that they were escaping off the snake when you first got it tells me it was grossly covered. There are FAR more of them, and breeding, then you think. They already had ample time to breed before you ever saw them.

"Low numbers" means squat when there's multiple ADULTS already established on your snake. You're underestimating these things.

Hope you don't have to re-treat. Sincerely, good luck.

bcr229 · 07-25-13, 11:23 PM

Kudos on the rescue and I really hope you can bring this poor guy back to good health.

I'm going to back up Aaron's recommendation to use the Nix. Here in the US we can also get PAM which is a 0.5% permethrin product in an aerosol can, but I don't think it's available in Canada. If you mix the Nix concentrate with 1 gallon (4 liters) of distilled water, you get the same basic product - you just need a squirt bottle to apply it.

You don't treat the snake directly with it, only the enclosure (remove the water bowls first) and substrate. We use paper towels for QT'ed animals, spray everything outside with the diluted Nix, and let it dry before bringing everything back inside and returning the snake to the treated enclosure and substrate.

Mites have five phases in their life cycle, and the third and fourth phases (protonymph and deutonymph) typically do not live on the snake. Also, the females don't tend to lay eggs on the snake either, they prefer a hidden corner. This is why the Nix or PAM treatment works even though only the enclosure and substrate are treated - the mites that hatch out don't live to adulthood because they travel across the treated surfaces, and the females die when they leave the snake to lay eggs.

**Aaron_S** · 07-25-13, 05:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mikoh4792

do you feed adult snakes weekly too when using this formula?

I do yes. I am breeding my animals so the females absolutely need a regular meal offered.

I'd do it anyway, even if I wasn't breeding. Purely because I think it's a solid size as it isn't too big or too small and keeps the snake at a good, proper weight.

bigsnakegirl785 · 07-25-13, 04:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aaron_S

As I said, doesn't NEED to be bigger.

Quite often we over feed our captives and overestimate what they need to thrive.

People love to feed huge meals to their captives on a regular basis. Try feeding your pets 10 - 15% of their body weight on a regular weekly basis, bet you'll see a faster growth.

Ah, yes. That's the kind of schedule I've had Cloud on. Now that I've started actually having him weighed monthly, so I have a better idea of his weight. Last month he was almost 4.5lbs, and I'm guessing he's now 5lbs (if not a little over), as he gained 9oz between the last two times I weighed him. I'll be taking him to be weighed tomorrow, and he's due to eat tomorrow as well, but I might hold off another day. He's eating 275-280 gram large rats once a week (this feeding is late due to his shedding cycle), and I was thinking about going biweekly, but I'm not sure now.