From Rats to Bunnies?

dlamphere · #1 (**permalink**) 11-30-2002, 10:56 PM

Well, My burm is ready for small bunnies but the problem is, He is not interested. Any hints?
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SteveP · #2 (**permalink**) 12-01-2002, 12:28 AM

Are you feeding with pre-killed or frozen/thawed rats & bunnies? If so scent a bunny with a rat (i.e., rub or set the rat on the bunny for a few minutes). I feed my snakes frozen prey and when I'm doing a transition from one prey item to another I'll thaw the two different critters out together in warm water. The new meal has some of the scent of the food item the snake is used to.
The other option is, since it is a burm, wait a few more days and warm it's cage up a couple of degrees. A warm burm is a hungry burm and I think would readily eat before too long. [img]modules/Forum/images/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif[/img]
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Ed_r · #3 (**permalink**) 12-01-2002, 01:04 AM

You mean I'm not the only one with this problem? My burm even went as far as striking the rabbit and a quick squeeze then realized it wasn't a rat. The bad thing with him is if he doesn't eat it right away he will let it rot and not eat it. And yes he is fully aware that it is in the cage. He's 8' now and will eat 3-4 jumbo rats a sitting. Would be allot easier (and cheaper) just to give him 1 good sized bunny. I tried scenting the bunny as was suggested and thawing them in the same water, and still nothing. I could use a spot of help too. [img]modules/Forum/images/smiles/icon_smile.gif[/img]
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dlamphere · #4 (**permalink**) 12-01-2002, 03:25 AM

Ok, Here is what worked for me BUT I don't think you want to try it with a 8 footer unless you have a lot of help...lol I am feeding F/T so I defrosted my last rat and let him "Kill" it. Then when he was about to work around to the front, We took it away from him. (That was fun). Then by then the rat was bleeding so I covered the bunnies head with the blood and dangled it in front of him. He just reached up and grabbed it but didn't coil because he thought he already "killed" it...lol BUT now we are talking about a VERY calm Burm. I still thought ok, time to get bit because I had rat blood all over me, but he was very good and never stuck at me. He did hiss and let me know he was not happy. I will let you know in 2 weeks if I have trouble getting him to take another one.null
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Shadrach · #5 (**permalink**) 12-01-2002, 04:56 AM

OK here ya go if scenting isn't working and he doesn't seem interested in the bunny then you can try this. Give him a rat and let him start eating it as usual then make sure you have a small bunny ready. When he get's to the back end and he has room in his mouth place the bunny inside his mouth and guide it along until he seem's to have a good grip on it and he'll do the rest. Usally once or twice and he'll be ready to take it like he does his rat's. This also work's with picky Carpet Python's when trying to switch them over to rat's.

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nomadbean · #6 (**permalink**) 12-01-2002, 05:18 PM

what my brother does is he sews the two animals together nose to butt... he uses pure cotton thread and it works great for him.. he's been doing tht for years.. [img]modules/Forum/images/smiles/icon_smile.gif[/img]
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talon · #7 (**permalink**) 12-12-2002, 06:45 PM

interesting.................. Alll sounds risky and messy! [img]modules/Forum/images/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif[/img]
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JuliusSqueezer · #8 (**permalink**) 12-12-2002, 07:27 PM

LOL...I'm having visions of Buffalo Bill from "Silence of the Lambs" I dunno what someone might think if they walked in and I was sewing a rat to a rabbit. LOL
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dlamphere · #9 (**permalink**) 12-12-2002, 07:37 PM

LOL,, Heck, the one that I was feeding had such long ears you could have tied ears to tail and not had to mess with the sewing.
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#10 (**permalink**) 12-13-2002, 05:52 AM

<TABLE BORDER=0 ALIGN=CENTER WIDTH=85%><TR><TD><font class="pn-sub">Quote:</font><HR></TD></TR><TR><TD><FONT class="pn-sub"><BLOCKQUOTE>LOL...I'm having visions of Buffalo Bill from "Silence of the Lambs" I dunno what someone might think if they walked in and I was sewing a rat to a rabbit. LOL
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LMAO Jul's.. I do NOT think that this would be the least of your worries as to what people are thinking you are doing hahahaha New dress ?? LOL

As for the bunny switching for the burms. I have run into this with a few of the burms we have also. If all the normal stuff fails like scenting, tapping on side /behind the head of the snake, o/n with bunny "pillow" etc. Then I have just waited it out with them is all. I continue to offer them the bunnies at regular feeding intervals and eventually they will take the bunny np. Only thing is.... with the size of the snake your dealing with.... you really need to be very careful when handling the burm if it has refused feed/bunny and is now hungry. Nothing like a hungry huge burm to deal with !! hehe They will and do eventually take the bunny ..usually though. It just make take some time is all. Months possibly even....BUT with a burms size.. I doubt you'd have anything to worry about in the area of weight etc though doing this [ taking into account that the snake is healthy btw].
Amazon was fed on chicken prior to us getting her and that was even more of a pita than trying to switch from rat to bunny even ..UGH. [img]modules/Forum/images/smiles/icon_confused.gif[/img]
Suggestion for those of you have have burms currently that are not large enough that you are feeding bunnies yet. Start switching the snake over to bunnies prior to the snake getting HUGE and therfore warranting a switch from rats to bunnies due to size. You can do this by offering young bunnies aka kits and just going upward in size of the bunny as the snake goes. Then you won't wind up with a HUGE snake that refuses to feed on a HUGE prey item and is hungry while your attemtping to do such later on [img]modules/Forum/images/smiles/icon_wink.gif[/img]
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