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Food for my timber
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by agkistrodonkeeper on October 7, 2008
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Y'all probably remember me talking about how I couldn't get my timber to take any food. Well, I bought some live mouse traps and put them in a room in my barn where I store my calf feed. Within a few hours, I caught a brown field mouse.
I put the snake and the mouse in the feeding container and it nailed it right off the bat and ate it. I am so relieved!
My question is, is there anything else that I can buy that will be close to a field mouse? I really don't wanna have to depend on catching live mice because they might not always be avaliable. The timber refuses the white mice.
Thanks
Anthony
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RE: Food for my timber
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by Cro on October 7, 2008
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Anthony, you might want to read the thread that is a few down from this one about breeding rodents and African Soft Furred Rats.
You could easily set up a pair of them in a 10 gallon tank, and raise all of the Timber Rattlesnake food that you would ever need.
Another option would be for to buy a Victor "Tin Cat" trap, and set it in your barn. It catches mice alive, and can catch a bunch of them at the same time. You could freeze them and thaw them out when needed.
Best Regards John Z
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RE: Food for my timber
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by agkistrodonkeeper on October 7, 2008
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Actually I have a trap that is very similar. It is a ketch-all mouse trap that catches multiple mice at a time live. I have one in my feed room and another at a buddies house that has mice lol.
I had thought about the ASF rats but I only have one timber right now and im only gonna feed him about once every five weeks because I have heard that is better for rattlesnakes. I dont have very many mice in my barn and I was just worried about eventually running out of a food source.
I'm gonna catch as many as I can and kill them and freeze them.
Actually now that I think about it, I was offered 3 ball pythins that eat rats so breeding some rats might actually be worth while.
Thanks for the reply, it is greatly appreciated.
Yall be good,
Anthony
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RE: Food for my timber
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by Cro on October 7, 2008
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Anthony, what a lot of folks don't know, is that the African Soft Furred Rat is one of the main food items that Ball Pythons eat in their native country.
Just how old is the Timber Rattlesnake that you have?
I agree that you do not want to feed adult Timber Rattlesnakes too much, or too often. I keep many of them, and only feed the adults about once every 4, 5, or 6 weeks. The exception to that would be a female that has had young, and has lost body weight. I will feed her more often. Also, I will feed a female that is gravid, and developing young, more often.
However, it the Timber is a juvenile, I would suggest that you feed it a bit more often, say once every two weeks, the first couple of years.
Best Regards John Z
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RE: Food for my timber
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by agkistrodonkeeper on October 7, 2008
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I'm not exactly sure the age of the snake. I'm guessing between 2-3 years. He's about 2 ft long and he has 4 rattles not counting the little button on top.
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RE: Food for my timber
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by Buzztail1 on October 7, 2008
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Not to beat a dead horse, but a lot of wild caught animals refuse white mice.
You might try gerbils. They have worked for me in the past.
R/
Karl
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RE: Food for my timber
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by Cro on October 7, 2008
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Anthony, I think you are right about the age of the Timber Rattlesnake. It would have shed for the first time a few days after being born in the late summer / early fall, probably in the fall of 2006.
Then it would have probably shed again the following year in the spring and in the fall of 2007, then it would have shed again spring and fall of this year. This would account for the 4 rattles and the button, and make the snake 2 years old this fall. And the size of about 2 feet long is about right for a snake that age. I do not think that the snake is a 3 year old.
That is about right for Kentucky, however, if a snake is finding a lot of food, and growing quickly, it will shed more often, and might shed 3 or 4 times in a year.
When you catch wild field mice, freezing them is always a good idea, as that will help kill any parasites they might have.
With the winter months on the way, Nature will be telling that Timber that it is supposed to slow down for the winter. It might go off of food again, or it might not. Because it has only eaten one time for you, and because winter is on the way, you might want to try to feed it a bit more than usual to get it's nutrition levels up some, just in case it decides to stop feeding until spring. That way, it will build up some fat reserves to help it get through the winter.
Best Regards John Z
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