Attention Live feeders

[enchantress62]

I'm curious, When you feed live and the mouse/rat attacks your snake what do you do? I mean how do you get the thing out? Seems to me that both rodent and snake would be upset and ready to bite out of defense. Is there some kind of tool that's used or do you just suck it up and reach your hand in?

[Elite Morphs]

when my snake strikes it i take my feeding tongs and grab the rodents jaw and let it bite the feeding tongs instead of my snakes hope this helps

[MJT_23]

Smack it on the head

[Don]

If the snake does not eat the rat, I reach in with my hand to get it. If it is close to the head of the snake and I think the snake may strike, I use a pair of tongs to move the rat (by pulling it by the base of the tail) to another spot in the tub.

Not sure what you meant by rat attacking a snake. If I see a snake coil a rat and the rat starts to bite the snake, I give it a good thump on the head. That usually stuns the rat until the snake can finish the job.

[Cameron Lamb Exotics]

Most rats dont stand a chance to my snakes but if I do notice they are biting I will usually put a pencil or pen of some sort for them to bite instead.

[Slim]

If the rat is well fed and watered, the chances of it attacking your snake are reduced.

The rat doesn't really go into the tub looking for a fight. Especially if it's not unduly stressed out prior to you dropping it in there.

[wolfy-hound]

If the rat bites when it's being coiled, I put the tip of the snake hook in it's jaws to give it something to bite other than the snake.

I've never had an issue with a rodent attacking the snake, other than when it's been coiled. If a rat was super aggro and trying to attack the snake, I'd probably do a tail grab to remove it, or pin it down using the snake hook, then grab it.

If you're worried about grabbing a aggro/paniced rat(legitimate worry too, the teeth are SHARP), then I'd get a heavy glove to keep nearby. A ski glove would work great. It'll make you a little bit clumsy grabbing small rodents, but it should protect your hands from bites too.

[enchantress62]

Okay, I currently feed f/t medium sized mice but I know Baloo needs bigger and more nutritious food. So far she has refused f/t rats but she did the same thing with mice when I first got her and I had to prompt her to eat with live fuzzy mice. I have a couple more tricks to try with the f/t rats but if I need to feed live for a bit then I want to know how to handle the worst case scenario. So tell me what do you use to bonk them on the head?

[mechnut450]

with the few bites I seen the rats do in defense I just thump the rat in the skull (with my knuckle in small rats but larger ones I just jab something in their mouth to chew at /prevent chewing and rremove it aftre I see it dead, and the sneaks still constricting.

[Annarose15]

Okay, I currently feed f/t medium sized mice but I know Baloo needs bigger and more nutritious food. So far she has refused f/t rats but she did the same thing with mice when I first got her and I had to prompt her to eat with live fuzzy mice. I have a couple more tricks to try with the f/t rats but if I need to feed live for a bit then I want to know how to handle the worst case scenario. So tell me what do you use to bonk them on the head?

"Bonking" a rat on the head that is already biting your snake seems counter-productive - all you are doing is forcing the teeth deeper into the snake. If you're talking about bonking before throwing it in there, please don't, because it could wake up mid-attack and be much more dangerous from fear and pain. If you want a "just-in-case" plan, why not use the advice others have given to block the bite with tongs/pencil/hook?

As per switching her, you could wait her out and only offer F/T rats, even if it takes a while for her to take one (could even "season" it in dirty mouse bedding to help the switch.

Another option is to start with live rat weanlings (about the same size as adult mice). These are still young, and not nearly as dangerous as an adult mouse or larger rat. You don't want to try to bump her too quickly on size, anyway, when you are switching.