Mangrove feeding tips

[Admin - Angi]

Lately Ive been inundated with requests on how to get mangroves feeding, so I thought I would start a topic where those who are experienced with mangroves can add their suggestions and tips. I suspect these requests are largely due to their removal from the British DWA list.

Ive only kept B.d. gemmicinctas for a short time, they were wild caught and I managed to get them feeding on chicks very easily. Basically that is the limit of my feeding experience with dendrophila. Their new owner then managed to get them strike feeding on mice very easily. I have had limited experience with B.dendrophila in our shop, but only very little and only with wild caught adults.

Most people who have contacted me have done so after only having their mangroves for days - 2 weeks, this is not enough time for them to settle never mind start a new feeding regime, the one piece of advice I can give is to give you snakes time to settle in without hassling them, if they are stressed then they are unlikely to feed.

I would highly recommend that prospective keepers read all they can about feeding problems with boigas BEFORE acquiring them. Try talking to others who have experience with Mangroves so that you have someone to turn to if you do experience difficulty.

So all you experienced keepers please post here.

[chris]

I don't know if you consider me an experienced keeper, Angie, but I'll asy something about feeding Boiga dendrophila.

I have experience with B.d.dendrophila, B.d.melanota and B.d.gemmicincta. The subspecies that are kept the most.

I only once had an animal that didn't eat very well when I got it. That was an adult B.d.dendrophila. She ate a few dead mice when I got here, after a few weeks she only took dead chicks and then stopped eating and died after a few weeks. But that only happened once. I never had an animal that didn't want to eat dead mice. Almost all my B.dendrophila ssp. eat perfectly dead mice, even at daytime.

My melanota female is very very shy and only wants to eat at night. This is what I do and is a good tip to start dendrophilas to feed. Half an hour before the lights go out I spray the cage of the snake with water. So the humidity gets very high. I place one of two dead mice in the cage near the place the snake is resting. When the lights are out the snake will start to wander around and drink here and there. It will come across the dead mouse and, when lucky, start to eat it. This works perfectly for me.

One could always try with live mice, rats of chicks. Nighttime is best when trying to get your Boiga to eat. Give the animal enough time to settle in and do try too much. Be patient, although that's very hard.

Young dendrophilas are a completely different story. The often have to be forcefed and is something for experienced snakekeepers.

I hope my story is clear, when not, please ask me for more.

Chris

[Admin - Angi]

Thanks Chris, you probably have more experience than me with dendrophila.

I can general hatchling boiga feeding tips as most young boigas Ive had seem to act the same when feeding.
If your snake is a new acquisition then give it time to settle in without handling it all of the time, make sure its enviroment is set up correctly and that it feels secure with places to hide and climb around on. Most boigas Ive had experience with have been fine with a warm end at 84-88F and the cool end at around 76- 80F. Maintain high humidity, Ive found that spraying in the early evening helps with those snakes that are reluctant drinkers, also it will awaken them before you attempt to feed - use tepid water not hot or cold.
Try feeding at night in a dimly lit room. When feeding, keep as still as possible, if you move the boiga is likely to chuck its food away even when its half eaten it! So get comfortable and be prepared to take your time.
First try all the usual methods to tempt feeding such as heating the rodent ( pinky, fuzzy, mouse, rat pupetc) and place it near the area the snake chooses to rest ( on a branch or where ever) if it does not strike when wiggled. You tongs to feed! You can try different food items each time( always try heating), then try braining and splitting the stomach on seperate occassions to see if the different scent will attract a feeding response. Then try scenting with a chick or offering a piece of a chick.
Do not attempt feeding every night, this will only stress your snake, try to leave 3 or 4 nights between attempts, without disturbing.
If none of the above have worked for a hatchling then I would move on to "assist" feeding, by gently holding the snakes head in one hand and a pinky in the other and again very gently opening its mouth and popping the pinky in. This almost always works for me, but you will need to remain very still once its in and it can take the boiga up to half an hour or sometimes longer to actually decide to eat or let go of the pinky, so be patient. I sit somewhere comfy and often watch tv or read whilst waiting. They often crawl off a little way ( I hold them over a tub and let them crawl out of my hand if they wish), but I keep still whilst it moves.
It can take months to get a young boiga to change from eating using this method to eating via strike feeding or eating food left in its tub/vivarium and they can revert back again. I have raised 7 hatchling b.nigriceps in this way as well as helped a couple of young cyanea get started this way too. The overall key to me is patience. do not expect your boiga to act like other species, they have many traits of their own which I have not seen in many other snakes.
Be prepared for your snakes temperament to change between day and night, many can become more alert at night as this when they naturally hunt for prey, hence they can be a little aggressive

For adults, many are wild caught. I tend to treat for parasites/worms as soon as they arrive, then let them settle in. I aim to hydrate them first, spraying twice daily and providing a large water bowl - not all will readily drink from still water straight away, it seems that some are prompted into drinking by the spray. Dont expect all of the same species to eat the same food - I have 3 adult b.blandingi and one eats mice, one eats rats and the other will only eat rat pups, so its always worth trying several different types of food or even simply different sizes. I have tried using the commercial lizard scenter previously with no success. I have also managed to get most difficult feeders ( dendrophila & cynodon) to take chicks and quails. Once feeding on either of these you could always attach a mice to a chick or quail a few times and then move over to mice only.
Hopefully some of this will help.

[chris]

Angi,

your story matches mine perfectly.
But I'm not sure it's a very clever thing to do; sitting in front of the tv with a loose Boiga in your hand!
I always place the Boiga back some box and leave it there to swallow it's food.

Chris

[Admin - Angi]

Lol, Yeah I know what you mean Chris. Im very careful in the way I do it, the boiga generally hold the pinky in their mouth and remain motionless for a few minutes, then they move on to a place where they find it easy to feed - sometimes this is hanging over the side of their tub, other times they go into the tub and push the food item against the sides. But my two yearlings often snatch the fuzzy up and make a quick get away with it, if I disturb them they drop it and wont feed, so I always allow a good safe area for them to roam next to me. I dont take any risks with losing them. I can now get three feeding at a time with very slow movements ( and no tv, lol), each of them usually hanging over the side of their tubs with heads inside as they eat - its just a system that works well for me, but I wouldnt advocate doing this with Mangroves or that someone who is not experienced with boigas does this. I do it because feeding lots of young boigas this way can be extremely time consuming and it works for me.

[boipevassu]

With most adult non-feeders it is about reducing stress. With adult mangrove snakes in the past I have left the snake alone for a minimum of 2 weeks - sometimes a month - in optimum conditions and with very limited disturbance. Rapid unobtrusive water changes at day, when required, and either an automated spray, or high humidity from a wet moss container can be incorporated into routines to minimise disturbances.

Attempts to feed, with rodents, always placed inside the cage just before darkness, and then covering the front of the viv to avoid distracting the snake, have paid dividends. Adults tend to settle. I think it is key to feed them at night. My cyanea feed through the day from tongs - my mangroves would only ever show interest at night. Timing the feed to be in place just before they are 'switched on' at night might give good results.

With cyanea, and I guess the same might apply with Bd, the young can be feisty. I have found that a hatchling that will strike and eventually latch on can then be treated as you have said, no movement and a bit a patience and they will go through with eating the pink mouse.

Failing this I have force fed hatchlings which had gone a long time without intake but as stated it is a frustrating business. 2 cyanea hatchlings I had fed this way intermittently for 14 months before settling and taking food from tongs after a stage of transition involving putting food in and then setting them down. After these snakes had taken down a pink which had been shoved half in and held in place for a while they began to take the second pink mouse voluntarily each time they fed and gradually grew out of the need to be assisted with the first food item.

Nothing new here really, just the need to 'read' the snakes, reduce stress and show patience!

[sue]

Hi Angi

Well you know I have no experience with Boiga but was talking to someone today who took on a number of recent adult imports which were refusing to feed - he got them feeding on trout scented mice - just thought I'd pass it on - noticed the thread over on RFUK and clicked on over here.

[Admin - Angi]

Thanks everyone for adding experiences, hopefully our combined efforts can help someone.
Sue that is very interesting, good to have another new tip. Boigas do have very varied diets in the wild and it makes sense that they are tempted by fish considering they are found on branches hanging over water.
The various items eaten in the wild by boigas include small mammals, lizards, birds, eggs, frogs, snails/slugs, large insects and I have come across someone who has even fed w/c boigas on tadpoles to get them started with feeding.
Mangroves specifically have been recorded eating birds and their eggs and chicks, amphibians, lizards, other snakes, and small mammals including mouse deer and chevrotain. ( from the book Snakes and other Reptiles of Borneo)

[Admin - Angi]

This was emailed to me by Richard Gibson from London zoo-

We have a young trio of cb mangroves.
They fed on live pinkies/fuzzies before coming here.
Since receiving them we fed them on live once, then on fresh killed.
Now they take defrost which are pre-warmed and dry.
Snake have a small hide box into which they can barely squeeze.
Relatively dry enclosure but with extra hide filled with damp sphagnum.

[ian14]

Hi!

I am in no way a boiga expert, although I do have plenty of experience in other species. I have a pair of young CB mangroves, one of which, the male, has been very difficult to get going.
I have found that the most important thing is to leave them alone, in a quiet area, and to only offer food once every 7 days. I tried to introduce a similar feeding regime which I use for other colubrid hatchlings of 1 pink every 4 days. However, this was refused, and the disturbance put him off the next feed. I then left him for a further week, put a thawed, warmed pink under the warm end hide, sprayed very heavily with tepid water, turned out all the lights, and lo and behold, he fed overnight!!