Rat bite help

[carlisleishere]

I fed my pastel bp a live ASF rat, and she struck it in the head, and the rat's teeth were biting her jaw. I keep the feeding tongs at the ready in case a bite happens, but it was clamped on tight, with the snake's jawbone between the teeth. I tried everything to get the rat off, but I couldn't. She finished killing it, and she ate it. There was some blood, but I'm not sure if that was rat blood or snake blood, and I cannot find an open wound, either on the outside of her jaw, or on the inside of her mouth. What can I do to help her?

PS She was supposed to eat a second ASF (they are not full grown) and I wasn't going to feed her the second one. Is this a good choice?

[llovelace]

If there are no open wounds, go ahead & feed.
One of the reasons I fed asf's, was because they didn't put up a fight or bite when struck & coiled.
I use a chop stick as a wedge in the rodents mouth, to prevent them from biting down.

[carlisleishere]

Thanks for your reply

I use my tongs to put in the rat's mouth, but the way it was biting, it was impossible. I can't wait to get her on f/t.

[Quickone4u]

If there are no open wounds, go ahead & feed.
One of the reasons I fed asf's, was because they didn't put up a fight or bite when struck & coiled.
I use a chop stick as a wedge in the rodents mouth, to prevent them from biting down.

+1 I agree. If there are no visible wounds and she is acting fine I would just leave here be and go on as usual. You can keep an eye on her for a few days just to make sure nothing pops up but, by your description, I wouldn't worry myself over it too much. Go ahead and offer the second and see how she does

[FrankieCarbone]

when i fed my pastel a small rat (first small rat, he was feeding on mouses) the small rat caught him REAL good on the side of the jaw, to the point where after he uncoiled and was letting go of the head of the rat, the teeth were caught on to the side of his jaw, it took him about 10-15 seconds to shake the teeth from off the side of his jaw, i thought for sure it would have pierced his skin, but after he ate the rat, i checked up on the side of both jaws and nothing.

Its like i always say, u have to remember these snakes, in the wild, dont have nobody to be on stand by with feeding tongs, or chop sticks incase they get bit while feeding, so im sure there body had adapted with time to be able to handle getting bit.

This is the second bit he has gotten since i got him 5 months ago, and neither drew blood, although this was was the most severed.

[Crazy4Herps]

^Agreed. Snakes are pretty durable when it comes to this sort of thing. I was recently in a similar situation with one of my live-eating bp's; a rat started gnawing on her lower jaw, really chomping down and there was no way I could get in there to occupy its teeth with something else. I was panicking, but I knew there was nothing I could do, so I watched her kill it and eat it, and there was no wound. There I was preparing to run her to the vet and deal with some gaping wound (that rat had her pretty good...), but there wasn't even a nick. Like I said, they're pretty durable.

If she will eat another asf, go ahead and give it to her. Then, once she's had a few days to digest, take her out of the cage and have a closer look. If there's any open cut dab some non-pain relief Neosporin on it to avoid infection. But I really don't think you have any cause to worry.

[rperry03]

One of the reasons I fed asf's, was because they didn't put up a fight or bite when struck & coiled.

I feel the complete opposite. I seen them be way more aggressive than fancy rats and get nervous even feeding adults to my best eaters. The sm/sub adult seem to get coiled and just give up. I always have hook in hand in case they decide to bite.

[AliCat37]

Why not stun the rat first? I only feed my snakes f/t or prekilled, but I think that a stunned mouse/rat won't give a good fight.

[Jaxx]

I feed live and what I do is put the rat in a pillowcase and spin it until it is dizzy, then drop it in the tub for the BP and I have never had any issues. Not that it makes much of a difference, the BP usually has it wrapped up efore it hits the bottom of the tub.

[carlisleishere]

I looked at her mouth again, and it looks like there may be a small wound. I dabbed some polysporin on there, and we'll see.

As for stunning a rat, by the time she feels like striking, the rat is already pretty much back to normal. Thanks for all your help, and any tips from switching to f/t would be greatly appreciated.