Trying to Eat Me?

T.O-SK8TER · 07-28-03, 10:45 PM

When ever I bring a f/t rat into the room the tank is in my burm smells it right away and starts striking the glass because I am moving towards him! This is not an aggressive snake except when it comes to feeding. He is two months old, 3 and a half feet long and I feed him 1 small rat every four days. I feed him this often because he digests so fast. The lump in his stomach is gone in half a day (literally 12 hours) and lets me handle him then. The temp is 90 on the right and 80 on the left Can some snakes have a higher matabolisim? I am afraid of him hurting his head on the tank can anyone give me suggestions? Should I feed him more so he is not so aggressive?

reptile boi · 07-28-03, 10:57 PM

Hmmm, have you tried covering the front of the tank with newspaper or anything so that it cant see you when your have rats in the room?

Thanks,
Ben

Linds · 07-28-03, 11:13 PM

Downfall to covering the tank, is that you no longer know where your snake is gonna be... this can be dangerous as the snake increases in size.

Even though the lump is gone, I would still refrain from handling him so soon after he's eaten. Baby burms do have a relatively speedy metabolism (hell... anything that grows that fast has to!).

T.O-SK8TER · 07-28-03, 11:28 PM

My snake urates once a week to every 2 weeks but has defecated only once in the past 2 months is this normal?

burmer · 07-28-03, 11:32 PM

My newest burm is 2 1/2 feet now. He acts kind of like yours. Not as much striking the glass but he flies out of the tank when he smells a possible meal. That sounds a little wierd mine deficates almost every week.

Mike177 · 07-28-03, 11:38 PM

what i would do is cover the glass then get the food then uncover the glass and feed him. small burms will sometimes be very aggresive with food but from the sound of it your doing everything right. burms grow like weeds, some can go from 1 to 10 feet in one year! and burms grow to be more than 100 times there hatching size! now on the pissing thing. that dose sound odd and i cant give you any advice on that. but he might just be saveing up for sometime specal (handelings) but you got me!

BurmBaroness · 07-29-03, 12:36 PM

Your best bet if the snake is that aggressive, is to start feeding in a separate place, ie plastic tote, NOW. Don't bring any food item into the room untill the burm is in the tote, preferrably a dark one, that he can't see out of. Then just open lid, toss in food, and done. I have an 11ft female with a really strong feeding response, and I would not even THINK of feeding her in her cage. One mistake on her part(thinking I have food), or a bad move on mine, could be very dangerous. She knows when she goes into the tote it's time to eat, and I haven't ever been strick at by her. I do give her an hour or so in the tote after feeding, just so she gets out of feed mode, but when I go to replace her in her enclosure, she's back to her normal, lap dog self. I would definitely consider feeding in a separate enclosure, and would start it now, while he's still small enough to be manageable. Good Luck.

P.S. On the poop thing, mine doesn't waste her time on the small stuff. I get a huge pile every few weeks, I just break out the shovel(literally)! Different snakes have their own poop routines, some goe often, some not as often as others. Do you ever soak your burm? Mine loves to get in the tub, and will every now and then poop in the water. If you suspect he's constipated, soaking will encourage a poop.

NewLineReptile · 07-29-03, 12:43 PM

Sh#t i was going to say that....lol but that is what i would do is just what Burm Baroness said

Brandon

Hamster of Borg · 07-29-03, 01:03 PM

If you start feeding elsewhere now, what the hell are you going to do when your burm is 18' and/or weighing in the 150 pound range? You can't just haul that animal around to feed it elsewhere. Not only is that not very feasible, it is downright dangerous for you and the snake. It works fine for smaller animals, but when they get to full size, it just isn't very logical. Personally I think you should learn to deal with it now while you can. That is how most burmese act when food comes around. Just make sure she doesn't injure herself by banging into the glass. A temporary cover over the tank while you're feeding other animals probably won't make much difference, the smell drives them too, but it certainly can't hurt - at least then she doesn't know when you are right by the glass. Maybe moving her out of the flow of traffic would help as well.

Ham

T.O-SK8TER · 07-29-03, 11:09 PM

I do soak the burm about once a week in warm water and he just pisses. LOL!!!!!! I think I will continue to feed him in the cage I will just cover the tank. I am currently building a huge exzibit for my burm and I made a trap door on the top of it to feed him. I am doing this so he does not confuse the front door opening with feeding, does this sound logical? Please let me no what yall think!
and also thanks for all the advise greatly appreciated!

SCReptiles · 07-31-03, 09:32 PM

Need to take your snake out of his enclosure to feed. Get him out of the food response while in the cage. This will help.

T.O-SK8TER · 08-01-03, 10:27 PM

I tried it and it is realy hard to get him back in the cage even after a few hours, he hisses if I try this. I dont want him to regurgetate!

zouleous · 08-03-03, 11:42 AM

If you hold him right he shouldn't be able to stop you from getting him in the cage safely...not at that age anyways. Just be gentle and use tactics to get him in. Grabbing him a few inches back from the head will make it difficult for him to stretch his head to the side of the cage and grab on to something.

I don't own a burm but it sounds like you're feeding him too often. Maybe some other burm owners can comment on this. I would move to at least 5 days before feeding again. And increase the interval as he gets older/bigger.

And certainly leave him alone for a couple days after feeding him...he may digest quickly by the looks, but it's always a good idea to give him enough time where he's not going to be uncomfortable when being handled. Always want your snake comfortable =)

Z

Siretsap · 08-03-03, 11:55 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by zouleous
I don't own a burm but it sounds like you're feeding him too often. Z

I do not think he is feeding him too often. He has a snake that grows very fast, the more he feeds him, the bigger he will get faster. I feed my snakes at least 2 times a week if not 3 when I have the time. They are all healthy as a horse. The onl downfall, is they poop more often so stinks faster than usual. My female ball python will eat 2 adult size rats per week and she is only a few months old. Never seen her as active since I started feeding her 2 times a week, she moves all over the place.
I do not usually feed my snakes in their enclosures because I do not want them to associate being disturbed with being fed. I have large rubbermaid containers I transfer them into to feed. Even my baby cornsnakes aren't fed in their enclosure, I put them in delicups to feed them. Why wait till something bad happens to start preventing it.

Quote:

Originally posted by Hamster of Borg
If you start feeding elsewhere now, what the hell are you going to do when your burm is 18' and/or weighing in the 150 pound range? You can't just haul that animal around to feed it elsewhere.

If your burms ever gets that big, you shouln't even try to move him by yourself so I don't see how it would be hard to do it with 2 people. By the time he is taht size, he will know the concept of being moved into a container to be fed and shouln't put up such a big fight.

spyderman · 08-03-03, 12:26 PM

WOW! I got a 2yr old Bull who is only 5ft. I want a Burm (Mrs won't let me until the kids leave home. Only 10yrs to wait, at least. I take my Bull out of her viv to feed her, but then, she's not gonna grow too big. Even if you do cover the tank, aren't their sence of smell hundreds of times better than ours? You'll have to remove her from the main feeding area I think.

Or..You could give your BURM to me......Lol...jk. Unless you feel really generous, them I will have her. I'll tell the Mrs she's a pigmy Burm...I'll get away with it for a while.