How you feed your burm?

reptilesalonica · 08-23-03, 10:50 PM

My burm's bedding is wood chips. He is 2,20m right now.
I don't feed him in his cage since, wood chips would swalloed along with the prey item(s).
I remove him to another cage, those with plastic base that are sold for rabbits' homes.
The thing is that whenever i open the door of that rabbit cage to put him in, he probably understand that he's going to eat and goes like mad. Reacts to every move of my hands.
I finaly manage to put him inside and close the door but i think that feeding him in his cage is saffer.
I want to know how do you feed your Burms.
Inside their cage or not?
~Greg~

bebo · 08-23-03, 11:32 PM

Feeding out of the cage is easier when they are small. But is a hastle and dangerous when they are larger of course. You are right about the snake thinking that it is feeding time when going into the rabbit cage. I feed in the cage, and make sure they realize it is not feeding time when they have to be removed.

reptilesalonica · 08-24-03, 12:29 AM

Yes, i agree with you, but what i should do with the wood chips?
I don't want to swallow them while he eats his food.
~Greg~

Zoe · 08-24-03, 01:21 AM

If the food item is dry, the wood chips should not stick to it.

Zoe

Mike177 · 08-24-03, 01:42 AM

i feed my snake is her cage with 40" gental gian snake tongs. i bought them for catching water snake when the rase through the water but i have found 1,000,000 and 1 uses for them. i use newspaper on vertulay all my cages. i am lucky to have a snake that inspects her food for a good 10 seconds to make shure its a rabbit and not my hand! but when i do open the cage i just place my hand under her chin and raise her head up some. now that may sound stupid but if she is in a pissy mood as soon as i do that she calms down. i have herd of people rubbing there snakes with hook before they get them out that way they know whats comeing. i used to feed in seprate contanors so the snake wouldnt assosiate its cage with being fed but then i stoped because snakes are NOT in a cuddling mook right after they eat!

reptilesalonica · 08-24-03, 01:52 AM

Zoe, the wood chips stick to the mouth of the snake because of the saliva.
Mike177, good points, i do the same trick (below the chin).
But using newspaper as bedding isn't wrong since they need enough humidity?
How is his/her shedding with newspaper as a bedding?
~Greg~

bebo · 08-24-03, 07:41 AM

There is nothing wrong with using newspaper. It doesn't effect humidity at a detrimental level. But your concern is the reason I use only newspaper on mine. Nothing worse than pulling a piece of repti-bark or aspen out of ones mouth. Mulch works fine(and does look good), but can have the same results. It comes down to personal choice. As far as keeping humidity up, mist on a regular basis. Or buy a cheap humidifier from a store, and a small fan for air circulation. Easiest route for me at first was putting a tub,pan of water on top of cage, with a small fan blowing over or near it. My retics even shed better with this. You'll find something that works for you. Or some of these other guys/gals have other ideas.

Jayson · 08-24-03, 07:50 AM

All my snakes are fed in there own cages. Most are tong fed, A couple will eat right from the bottom of the cage. All my snakes are kept on newspaper (cheaper and easie clean up) and I never have shed problems.
When ever my snakes are removed for handling, I use a snake hook to get them out of the cage and once they are out i lose the hook. With this method I have never had a problem.
Jason

Gareth · 08-24-03, 09:22 AM

i feed my burm in his enclosure and i used kitchen lino for the flooring and the feases just wipe away easily

reptilesalonica · 08-24-03, 07:27 PM

My burm already sheds in patches, what should i do to raise the humidity. As you can see in the photo below, already there's a big rubbermade with water.

BurmBaroness · 08-24-03, 07:48 PM

I keep my burm on newspaper, Doesn't look great, but easy to spot a mess and easy to clean. She always sheds in one piece, so no problem with humidity. For feeding, I remove her to a large rubbermaid tote. She has a HUGE feeding response, and I do not want her to ever associate opening her cage with a food item. Yes, she's a good size, over 11 ft, but she knows when she's in the tote, it's time to eat. I leave her for 45 minutes or so after she's eaten to give her time to get out of feed mode, then I just remove her back to her cage. Never had the slightest problem.

reptilesalonica · 08-24-03, 08:55 PM

My male has a HUGE feeding response too!...Thinking of putting newspaper, i don't care about how it looks, realy. I have problem with woodchips, been all over the floor of my room anyway

And to raise up humidity i will add one more rubbermade like that on the photo.
~Greg~

zouleous · 08-25-03, 07:59 AM

Try getting a spray bottle and just spraying her the week of shedding especially. I generally spray mine down once a week at least as well.

Z

ReptiZone · 08-25-03, 08:18 AM

is that a ball python on the left side of the enclosure I sure hope not.

Linds · 08-25-03, 11:31 PM

Newspaper is suitable for all environments. I use it for desert animals, all the way up to the ones that have 85% humidity in them. Bath towels also work well. If you don't like those substrates, you can just place a *large* piece of cardboard or something over top of the substrate for your snake to eat on come that time