how often is you bitis arietans eat?

this is first time i keep bitis. she is a 45CM long female.i'm not sure the age.she only eat a small mouse every 2 weeks .some time 3weeks. i think she should eat more .and she never take the food directly form the tweezer.any one can tell me how to training them take the food form the tweezer when i feeding her?

THANKS Very Happy

Hi Stephen, in my opinion every 2 to 3 weeks is fine for arietans, they can get obese very quickly! I feed adults once every 4 weeks.
In terms of "training" the animal to take food from tweezers, that normally comes with time patience and hours of teasing.

I find that most bitis, when hungry, have a spot in the cage or angle themselves a certain way (ambush position) when hungry. You should look out for that because they normally take it the prey without hesitation.
I hope this can be of some use to you.

Very Happy

Hi Stephen
I would agree that you feeding regime is ok. Perhaps try bigger prey items like small rats. Generally Puff Adders are undemanding captives and settle down really well. Take a fecal sample and get it analyzed if you believe her apatite is not quite right. Perhaps she may be suffering from internal parasites. She should accept food from tongs quite easily. Try jiggling the mouse gently in front of her or moving it around slowly close to her. This will normally initiate a strike and the snake will learn to take its food well from tongs in time.

Well, seems that all feed'em quite the same, i myself use a three weeks period for juveniles, then in a while four just so they don't get used to a "timetable" (with adults i also have four week).
Too often food and you soon have a fat one. And excessive obesity is nether good for youre snake.
I myself have not had any problems with the feeding, lucky me, but like Michael wrote before, move the prey in front of the snake in a slow patterns and it will soon strike.
With time they get used to take the food from the tongs/tweezers, just patience with'em and watch youre fingers Wink

I dont want to start a disscusion here but do feel the need to give my opinion.
I would never feed Bitis sp. like arietans from a tweezer.
A large tong could do, but why?
Like sayed, theye are ambushers, not hunters and I dont think you can change nature (training? never for 100%).
They strike with lightning speed... will you react on time?
When they are verry hungry or when they feel threatened you may be in for a nasty surprise when you discover 2 fangs in your hand pale

B. arietans is a highly venous snake, treat it like a highly venomous snake, not like a dog

hi guys

is good to kown she don't have any feeding problem.and i already tryd slowly move the
mouse front of her.but she was only keep puffing and puffing.then i just leave the mouse
beside her.let her swallow the mouse by herself.is not about patient.just don't want her
get frighten by the prey and refuse the food next time when i feeding her

next week i will try again with patient

Thanks for all the advice.really appreciate

Chaim Haveman wrote:: I dont want to start a disscusion here but do feel the need to give my opinion.
I would never feed Bitis sp. like arietans from a tweezer.
A large tong could do, but why?
Like sayed, theye are ambushers, not hunters and I dont think you can change nature (training? never for 100%).
They strike with lightning speed... will you react on time?
When they are verry hungry or when they feel threatened you may be in for a nasty surprise when you discover 2 fangs in your hand

B. arietans is a highly venous snake, treat it like a highly venomous snake, not like a dog

hi there

the tweezer i use is a long tweezer which my hand can get good distance from strike range.i do know the strike speed of the b.arietans and i will not take the chance
english is not my language so in that time "training" is the only word i can rembmber.maybe the word "learn" is better? sorry about my english

thanks for you concerned

Hi Chiam
Long tongs are the name of the game. I guess how you feed your snakes is personal preference but for me using a tong works great. It is not dangerous if done correctly with the correct equipment. Yes they are ambush hunters and training them to take food off the tong is still allows them to operate as an ambush hunter. They do strike very fast and are pretty venomous but like I said before using the correct equipment is key. You would need to select a tong of the correct length depending on the species you were feeding.

Hi Stephen and Micheal,

I was just wrighting down some more info from my sight, and internet failed wile posting Sad

Ill try it later again, have to get some sleep right now.

with friendly greetings,
Chaim

@ Stephen - Just my 2cents worth. I would guess at 45cm (depending on circumstances) your snake should be about 18month's old. At that age I feed mine weekly for 3weeks and then skip the fourth week. Once past 2years you can decrease it to once every second week. Adults can be fed every 3-4weeks, but you must remember they eat fairly big meals. a Small mouse would definitely not be enough. My 18month old male eats a small rat without problems.

I don't know what your enclosure temps are, but when it goes below 25C their metabolism drops considerably and that could also be why yours doesn't want to eat. Try keeping your temps at the hotspot at least 30-32C.

I agree with what the other members said - be very careful when feeding as their strike range can very easily be misjudged.

Regards

Chaim Haveman wrote:: I dont want to start a disscusion here but do feel the need to give my opinion.
I would never feed Bitis sp. like arietans from a tweezer.
A large tong could do, but why?
Like sayed, theye are ambushers, not hunters and I dont think you can change nature (training? never for 100%).
They strike with lightning speed... will you react on time?
When they are verry hungry or when they feel threatened you may be in for a nasty surprise when you discover 2 fangs in your hand

B. arietans is a highly venous snake, treat it like a highly venomous snake, not like a dog

I only sold my Puffy a few weeks back. I am relatively new to hots but I just did not feel comfortable with my 06 Tanzanian female. She struck like the bullet from a gun !!

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