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My Crotalus Ruber
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by Jahon on July 8, 2007
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Hi guys, my crotalus ruber is not eating for some reason. I have a hide box provided, aspen bedding, and water. His cage is around 80 degrees in the morning and 70 degrees at night. I tried feeding him small rats but he never took it. I caught him about a month ago and I wanted to know what the probelm might be. Thanks, and have a good day.
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RE: My Crotalus Ruber
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by Rob_Carmichael on July 9, 2007
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I'll first of all bite my tongue for you collecting a ruber when there are ampble captive bred/born specimens available that would make a much better choice (I'm assuming I can't convince you to take it back to the same spot where you caught it and let it go...of course, if this snake has been near other captive herps, I would recommend not doing this so that you don't introduce some nasty virus into the wild pops if one of your other herps are carriers). Although field collecting can be acceptable in some cases, I am just not a big fan of it even though many of my close friends do collect.
Wild caught crotalines take time to acclimate so don't be in a rush to get him to feed. A few suggestions:
- LEAVE THE SNAKE ALONE: keep interactions to a bare minimum for now - it takes time for a rattler to build some level of comfort/trust with its keeper.
- if you caught the ruber fairly close to where you live, go fill up a bag of the dirt/soil/sand substrate where you caught it and use that as a bedding. Use some of the dead leaves, sticks/branches/rotted logs/grasses,etc to furnish the cage to give it a more naturel and recognizable scent.
- Provide ample room where there are adequate hide areas on both sides of the cage.
- Provide a higher basking temperature. I would try to offer a small portion (via an overhead basking light) where temps can reach the low 90's for 6-8 hours a day while still allowing the snake to cool down to the low 70's if it prefers. Night temps can stay where you have them. Your snake may just be too cool to want to hunt.
- If you can trap a rodent near the area where you found it, you can use that as scenting material on standard lab rodents. Or, try offering a live mouse or small rat and see what happens but closely supervise this so that the tables aren't turned.
Personally, though, I'd rather see that ruber back where it belongs.
Rob Carmichael, Curator
The Wildlife Discovery Center
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RE: My Crotalus Ruber
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by Jahon on July 14, 2007
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All I had was a gopher snake which was kept way separate from the ruber. Anyways, you will be happy to know that I released the little guy. Before I released it however, I showed the neighbours how calm it was and how it just wanted to esape instead of bite. And hopefully changed their mind on these wonderful creatures. Thanks for your advice however, and have a good day.
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