Too Small

[2003redneck]

My problem is I have a burm. which I have had now for a year and she is a little over 3 ft. but the web sites I have seen say they can reach lengths of 10 ft in thier fist year. I have her in a 50 Gallon aquarium with adiquite light and feed her once a week am I doing somthing wrong. The reason Iask is I talked to someone that breads snakes and he says he wont even bread a burmese unless it is at least 9-12 feet. I would love any advice on thisthat anyone may have.

 

[Slither]

You say you are feeding it once a week. What are you feeding it? Is the prey at least as thick as the thickest girth of the snake? Burms can easily eat prey 1.5x their girth.

Also just so we know the environment the snake is in, what are your temps hot/cold sides and humidity maintained at?

 

[2003redneck]

They are pretty much the thickness but the pet shop rarely has rats the size i need. My temp normaly remains about 90 but recently has been about 100 my humidity I thought was higher than it is my humidity right now reads 25

 

[MR_Jungle_Mist]

I would love any advice on thisthat anyone may have.

the pet shop rarely has rats the size i need.

1) Go to a new pet shop.

2) Failing that, save up for a time, and order a quantity of frozen rats/bunnies from a place that sells & ships feeders that way you'll always have the size you need, and you can keep a regular feeding schedule without the hassles of having to go to the pet shop all the time.

3) Failing that, breed your own! It's a hassle but, again, you'll have the sizes you need when you need them. Freeze the extras and save them when you don't have any large size available in the live stuff.

4) When the pet store you use has the size you need, buy a few extra. The next time you go and get some feeders and they don't have the size you need, just go to your freezer and thaw some out to feed.

temp normaly remains about 90 but recently has been about 100

That seems high to me. Try lowering the temps from 100 to 85! Not bad if you are talking basking spot, but make sure that the entire enclosure is not at 100 degrees. If you have a large enough tub with water, you'll see your burm spending a lot of time in the water if temps are that high all the time.

You might want to try a big water bowl (high sided rubber maid tubs work well) to put in the tank and construct a shelf in there to add to the "floor space". This way you're humidity will be up, your burm will have a nice place to soak, you won't be taking up too much floorspace.

Alternately - get some wood together, and screw/nail them in a:

|-----------|

pattern. Leave a little over the height of your burm on the under side so s/he can have a nice tight hidebox. (if you make it too low to the point where she has to squeeze in she'll have problems getting in there comfortably after a meal). On the top of the hide put your water tub. Again, you'll have the same floor space, you'll have a hidebox for the burm and you'll have a nice soaking tub for her.

for a year and she is a little over 3 ft. but the web sites I have seen say they can reach lengths of 10 ft in thier fist year

Doesn't sound like you have much to worry about. It just might be that she's being under fed a little. If you want to powerfeed, then go ahead, but nothing wrong with what you've been doing if, in fact, you are feeding prey that is large enough. Just because burms CAN attain 10 ft in the first year it doesn't mean yours has to. Retics CAN attain 28 ft, doesn't mean all adults are.

Your burm should be growing like a weed at this point....imagine her to be a garbage disposal and you should be fine. Good luck with her.

 

[matrix1829]

my temp. is at 90 on the warm side, 82 on the cold, with a basking of 96 and my burm is like a eating machine. don't be afraid to give it bigger prey, they love a big meal. And for your humidity a nice big pool of water will do just fine. when she needs it she will go for a swim. go luck
matrix

 

[Dan's_herps]

ALOT of burm breders power feed there snakes, this is how they attain such lenghts, it is not normal however, there heads are not normal sized and they are very bad to breed, i hope this helps and good luck
Dan