rat woes

[ember]

I have a large male rat snake (has been with me 2 days now) that came together with a large female. I cannot walk past the tank without him striking like mad, and I spend two hours tonight changing newspaper and trying so hard to get the female out without getting nailed. I am in need of a loaner snake hook, really (mine is in storage in Eugene, and I need to get the female out right away as I suspect her to be gravid... and well, they need to be separated!). I have put out a request through my local herp club that my family belongs to. In the mean time, I am looking for ideas... How would you, without the "right" tools, go about removing this snake (that is fast and not giving me half a chance or opening at all) from his cage if you were in my situation?

I fear that the male has a RI, and in order to get him vetted, I need to first get him out of this cage, right? Furthermore, I need to get the male outta my way so I can clean and do some tank maint. He is seriously having none of this, and I did my absolute best to convince him otherwise, but it was all in vein.

Thank you in advance!

[silverdust]

Maybe put on a long sleeved shirt and gloves? That'd probably be what I would do in your situation. And even if he does get you, it shouldn't hurt much at all. Good luck!

[Pork Chops N' Corn Bread]

A large rat snake is the last of my worries Reach in and drag him out.

[JLC]

I'll PM Sheree (MedusasOwl) the link to this thread and I'll bet she can help you out next time she's on. She's got lots of experience with a fully mature and full of piss-n-vinegar rat snake. I know she used big, heavy gloves to handle him.


One piece of advice that I would offer is to have a bag right there ready to go anytime you need to remove him from the enclosure...get him out and into the bag and get the bag tied off....then you're free to deal with the enclosure and the other snake. When ready, untie the bag and place the opening into his enclosure and just nudge him out and shut the enclosure.

[MedusasOwl]

Gloves and long sleeves, although I'll even skip the long sleeves sometimes. My male blue beauty is 8ft of scared an angry! He's calmed down a little bit, but still not when I touch him.

Best thing to do is with the gloves, get his neck fast! And keep an eye on his head while you get the rest of him out and support him. If he tries to do the "back out of the glove" or "wriggle forward" trick, just make sure you have the rest of his body supported against you or on/around your arm while you get a hold of him closer to the head again with the other hand. I hope that makes sense, but it really works well for me. It ends up looking a bit like how a mime pretends to pull himself along an invisable rope, except the invisable rope is an angry snake and you're not pulling, the snake is.

Basically, one hand needs to grip near enough to the head that he can't getcha. Stretching your arms out gives both you and him a bit more room too. After a while of this he'll probably get bored and start to calm down a bit.

In putting him back, I always try to do so head first into the hide. Gives you a chance to get his butt back in and move your hand away from the head without giving him a chance to nail you. Neptune get's my glove every so often, but I've never been bit so this all seems to work. Nice thick and long work gloves. My female is super tame, but I put her back in head to hide first too because otherwise she's everywhere, lol.

Hope that helps!

[jjspirko]

Agree with the gloves and sleves as one way.

If you want to make a hook a coat hanger, a dowel and a drill will yeild a nice one, here are some of mine,

That one is a bit small for an adult rat but size is at your descrition you can make them as long and with as much gap as you like. I would probally just reach in and remove the female personaly and if I took a hit so be it. Though I would wear gloves they don't tend to get much grip on a forearm but they can do a number if they get a finger!

I personally never do the "neck thing" M.O. describes, it tends to make them nastier at least short term though I DO UNDERSTAND why others do it.

In all my years only one down (the psyco mangrove) of my snakes ever could not be tamed to be at least reasonable to handle with a hook and tail technique at worst. Sounds like he is pretty mean.

What kind of rats are they? Texas rats tend to be about the meanest of the North American group of Ealphe, at least in my expeience.