Terrible Feeding experience

[jtman]

Ok, so I went to the Taylor, MI reptile show today and bought some live feeders. They were a very nice Medium, small, and two weanling rats for my 3 ball pythons. Ive always known there were risks feeding live, and I've seen some poor grabs but today there was disaster!

The medium rat to my biggest girl went ok other than the rat seemed to take forever to die. The small rat to my Charlie, however, went terribly wrong. The bottom jaw of the rat caught in his coil as he constricted her. There wasnt anything i could think of doing because as soon as i touch him he constricts harder. So I guessed the only thing I could do was let him do his thing and try my best to tend to him afterward. While he was ingesting the rat I got glimpses of a small puncture wound on his belly about 2-3 inches from his head. Its not very big and looks sore and red but there is no blood. I put a tiny bit of neosporin on it as i vaguely remember reading about that somewhere. Was this ok for me to do?

From this point on I am no longer feeding live to my snakes. Aside from this terrible experience Ive been feeling bad after feedings. In the last few months Ive been feeding rats because the only mice I can find are just too small. I love the rats compared to mice, they are cool little animals, but their scream when the snake gets them nearly brings tears to my eyes. My girlfriend and I always plug our ears before the strike. I had bought 2 weanlings to feed to my smallest female, but I couldnt bring myself to feed the 2nd baby.

Sorry for the huge post, but there is a point, I have a couple questions. Is there anything more I can do for Charlie with his wound? The rat wasnt chewing and there isnt any blood so I feel hopeful. Second, I now have a weanling rat who is smaller than some mice I have seen. I cant imagine this rat is more than a few weeks old. Will I be able to keep him alive? I dont know much about rearing rats and I plan to do some researching. Thanks in advance for your help and suggestions.

Jared

[wolfy-hound]

If he is a weanling then you should be able to raise him. I'm sure that one of the more expert rat people can give you some pointers.
Wolfy

[sweety314]

Go into the feeder forum and you'll see Becky's sticky for food rations. Harlan or Mazuri lab blocks, the seed/cereal ration, fresh water and clean bedding are all good starts. Could get a deep plastic tub, cut out the center and put in screening for a home. As a weanling, he'd crawl out btwn the bars of a rabbit/ferret type cage. Or a 10g aquarium w/a wire screen cover (smaller holes) would work, until he gets bigger.

[jtman]

Thanks for the replies. I have a large critter keeper to keep him in for now. It looks to be about 3-4 gallons in size. I have the rest of the aspen bedding leftover from before i switched the snakes back to newspaper bedding. Right now I dont have any lab block, I'll have to run to the pet store to get some. In the meantime should i try giving him guinea pig pellets or some veggies?

Also has anyone had any similar snake wounds? Is Charlie gonna be alright?

[Adam_Wysocki]

My guess would be that the "small" rat was too big ... "small smalls" are all you ever need for any ball python and their teeth aren't long or hard enough to do damage.

-adam

[jtman]

Adam, I think you may be totally right. Sometimes it can be very tough to find the right size prey. He hasnt had trouble taking some of the "bigger" small rats before, but I guess it was just a matter of time before something went wrong. I just read the sticky post about using dry ice to euthanize and it sounds very easy/inexpensive to do.


It seems prices for frozen rats tends to be expensive unless a large quantity is ordered. Grandma just wouldnt be happy if half her freezer was taken up with frozen rodents. The dry ice method would be great as I can buy enough rodents for the month at the reptile show and euthanize/freeze them myself.

[frankykeno]

You might want to check your local newspaper or craigslist for a nice small used chest freezer. They take up very little floorspace and you can stock loads of frozen feeders in them so your family isn't worried about reaching for a steak and getting a package of rats instead. I picked up an almost new one last year for only $50.00 (and that was delivered to my door!).

[snakedude56]

One of my snakes obtained a similar injury to yours when she was little too. Only she got it from a piece of tape that I ignorantly had in the cage. I just applied neosporin to the area twice a day for about a week and the cut went away. I didn't handle her at all for the following week so she could have some time to settle down. Yours will be fine, just watch the area and make sure it does not become infected.

[tmlowe5704]

look around and you will find em cheap. i got mine for free from my boss and it holds 10 3 gallon tubs of ice cream

[West Coast Jungle]

I have a CO2 tank which will last me for years and put the rat in a plastic tub with a hole for the tube and do it that way. You will also need a regulator for the tank but once you have it you are set. The onlly thing is some snakes won't even look at prekilled which makes you feel bad when you kill a rat and no one eats him. I think Adam is right! what somone may call small and what is small my be two different things. When my rats aren't breeding enough I get some from a reptile depot and I always check the size. Last week they gave me a small that was way to big so i said give me 2 rat pups instead. I have had some scary incidents with my albinos (they show everything) and now feed smaller live items and never had a problem. Don't go by what someone else calls small, they are just trying to move inventory.