New Baby BRB

phenyx · 02-24-18, 03:44 PM

I picked up a male baby BRB today at ReptiCon. He's 27 gms and I was told he's anywhere from 2-4 months old. At 27 gms though I'm thinking he's on the younger end of that range? He's pretty cranky at the moment - just got him into his enclosure.

When I set up his enclosure (20x10x7h), I laid down a bed of cypress mulch as substrate with paper towels over that because the cypress mulch looked so big. He promptly crawled between the towel and the mulch, over the UTH. (Yes, the UTH is on a thermostat.)

Gorgeous boy though. In keeping with our family's HP naming tradition we've decided to call him Salazar. I'm looking forward to watching my boy grow up.

SnakeyJay · 02-24-18, 05:19 PM

They will burrow under the substrate for security... make sure there’s lots of ground cover in the viv with hides, branches, fake plants etc... They’re a shy species in general and will usually feed better if they feel secure.

I hear my adult female with a ceramic personally, but Just be careful as mats only heat on contact and don’t radiate heat so if the rooms cold, he’ll be breathing in cold air etc..

phenyx · 02-24-18, 07:25 PM

How long do I have to keep the humidity super high?

SnakeyJay · 02-25-18, 04:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by phenyx

How long do I have to keep the humidity super high?

Well I usually keep it that high for about 6-9 months while they’re still young and then drop down slightly to 80% ish slowly.... I’m sure others do it differently tho, as I’ve only had the 2 brbs and have kept Sasha out of the 2.

bigsnakegirl785 · 02-26-18, 06:50 AM

I generally keep my BRB's humidity high for life. Minimum of 85% for babies, and 80% for adults. I'd say by about year 3 it would be ok to start lowering humidity, but if possible I'd just continue keeping humidity high.

You can tell humidity is getting too low when their scales start to separate and show the white between, and it's starting to get bad when their skin sticks together (it kinda look like scars because where the scales are together it turns white until you pull it apart or bump humidity).

Keep in mind cypress mulch actively repels moisture once it dries, so you may not have much luck with it. I tried it, and never got it to properly keep moisture. The only upside to the cypress is that it didn't splinter like ReptiBark (fir bark) does, so I didn't have to worry about injuries.

I like EcoEarth (coco coir) and sphagnum moss for my BRBs personally, but I hear ReptiChip/Grow!t (a coco chip product) also work pretty well. If you're only using a UTH, you may have to mix the EcoEarth up with a chip bedding, or it could mold, but the EcoEarth should keep the humidity up nice and high. I just pour water directly into the bedding and mix it up. I make a 2/3 mix of EE and chip bedding in my belly heat only set ups. With the moss, I take it out and soak it and then strain it, but if you have a way to get live moss you should only have to mist the moss every once in awhile.

He's definitely a tiny boy! All 4 of my BRBs were born heavier than that! It's hard to tell his exact age since BRBs are all born at different sizes, the breeder I got mine from seems to get large babies a lot, all of mine were born at over 30 grams, I think the heaviest was 36 or 37.

phenyx · 02-27-18, 09:43 PM

I'm keeping humidity in the 90%+ range. He's in a glass enclosure with a screen top but I've used a sheet of plastic to cover most of the screen so it's actually been pretty easy to maintain.

I put a tiny (4 gm) live fuzzy mouse in with him tonight but he hasn't seemed interested yet. (I know it's probably too soon.) How can I tell when he's "settled in" and ready to eat? My baby BP voraciously struck an F/T mouse right off the tongs 3 days after I brought her home and I did everything possible wrong during her "settling in" period.

SnakeyJay · 03-01-18, 01:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by phenyx

I'm keeping humidity in the 90%+ range. He's in a glass enclosure with a screen top but I've used a sheet of plastic to cover most of the screen so it's actually been pretty easy to maintain.

I put a tiny (4 gm) live fuzzy mouse in with him tonight but he hasn't seemed interested yet. (I know it's probably too soon.) How can I tell when he's "settled in" and ready to eat? My baby BP voraciously struck an F/T mouse right off the tongs 3 days after I brought her home and I did everything possible wrong during her "settling in" period.

It’s different with each snake tbh, I usually wait anywhere from 2-7 days before feeding after bringing a new one home.. If I see them cruising around normally then I’d attempt to feed.