Switching to rats.

[TokenLs]

Hi I have a 3-4 ft ball python, he wont let me get a good measurement 8(.

right now i have him eating 2 adult mice once a week. i skipped this weeks feed cause hes shedding (its not going good either).

anyways i am thinking he needs to move up to small rats, problem is he eats live. does anyone have any experience feeding live rats? they look pretty nasty with those teeth and claws.

but maybe hes fine with 2 mice a week? heres a picture of him any help is appreciated.

[Super_Smash]

have you ever thought about switching to frozen thawed or pre-killed??? he could definately take a rat, but obviously with those teeth and claws, feeding a live rat is dangerous. :?

[kfsnake56]

Have you tried feeding him f/t ? one of my ball python is 3-4ft and i just switched him over from live to f/t without any problems. he eats every week since the switch.

[Schlyne]

Hey, that's a nice picture. If you download the snake measurer (link in the downloads section of this site) you can use that picture and the software to get a measurement of your snake

Also, what's your humidity like? You can always build him a humid hide to help out with shedding, or give him a nice 10 min soak in some warm water to help with the shedding.

[EyeLashViper]

Well, everybody is probably going to ream me a new one for answering your question, but yes, I DO have experience feeding live rats to Ball Pythons.The truth of it is that it IS dangerous because rats are much larger than mice and they CAN inflict injuries to the snake. That much being said, I can tell you how I have gone about it. I have a seperate feeding box that I place the snake in and I simply have dropped the selected rat into the box. Usually it is all over with in a matter of seconds. I would say that it is probably not for the squeamish as rats scream their heads off when they are hit. I am making efforts to switch over to the F/T method of feeding as I do not want to chance a bad injury to one of my snakes - I have had a lot of people on this forum enlighten me on this subject. The truth though is that there probably ARE some Ball Pythons out there that will stick up their noses at anything but live. If that is the case with your snake I recommend that you just excercise caution in placing the rodent with your snake ( do it fast - Ball Pythons can get quite excited at feeding time and may strike out at you ) and NEVER leave the rodent unattended with your snake. If your snake shows no interest in the rodent within about 10 -15 minutes, remove the rodent.

good luck
EyeLashViper

[Super_Smash]

rats scream their heads off?? eesh... i didnt even like the little *squeak* i got from the baby mouse i fed Apollo.

[Luvit73]

Yep , the rats do scream - and struggle , and squeek , until almost fully dead . A Suggestion ? I breed rats , and have only fed my 3 month old boy , rat kittens since I've gotten him . A 3-4 week old rat is not nearly as aggressive as an adult - in fact , mine usually cruise around with the snake checking everything out , before sitting almost in front of him to groom itself - some have even groomed the snake . Being so young , and never having seen a snake before , they are not afraid of him (or aggressive towards him ) in the least .
A rat kitten , even at only 3-4 weeks old , is still significantly larger than a grown mouse , and would make a much better meal - even if you still had to give two . And the bonus is that you don't need to worry as much about your snake being injured by it's dinner .

[padiente]

I fed Kitty one live rat, and I tried twice. The first time Kitty didn't take it and I was terrified that it would hurt him. I probaly didn't leave the rat in the long enough I was so worried about Kitty's safety. The second time I had waited until I knew Kitty was really hungry. I sat like a hawk, I was so scared for my snake. Kitty got him, he screamed, scratched, and fought as much as he could. It was pretty nerve wracking. I mean, the rats head is bigger than Kitty's head. I vowed, never again, whatever it took. The following feeding I switched to prekilled, then two after that I went to f/t. Now I am not scared and can leav kitty with his prey all night if he doesn't eat inicially. It is way better on my nerves. The fate of the rat really isn't what bothered me, not to sound cruel. I don't care about the rat screaming or any of that, I was in fear of my Kitty's well being, so I had to switch. I really isn't that hard to do. I just didn't feed Kitty as often so he was prett hungry and more ready to eat what was put infront of him

[TokenLs]

hey everyone,

thanks for the replies.
for those of you who suggested FT an PK, ive thought of doing this before but theres no way i could bring myself to "whack", a defensless little rat against a wall. even if it dies instantly.
and FT just seems sick ive heard way too many stories about exploding guts to try it. and i as well as my family dont like the idea of frozen rats in the freezer.
besides im a strong beliver in the fact that the "hunting" aspect of killing the live animal is healthy for the snakes mind.
i would try the rat pups but i have no idea where to find them the local pet store only has med rats and petco has small-large rats no pups.
so ive decided to try feeding a live small rat, with tongs in hand ill be ready to break up any fight that my snake will lose.

wish me luck and thanks agian for your input,
-TokenLs

[sk8er4life]

try this:

put the bp in one of its hides and quickly get the live rat and hold it by its tail and let it get like that(but be sure ur hand isnt going to be able get bit) there some thing like this in a forum ill find it and give u the link.....



here it is

http://ball-pythons.net/PNphpBB2+viewtopic-t-6309.html