Question on Size of Snake to Food..

I have a 447g spider and a medium rat.. this rat is MEAN and i would love to feed him to the snake.. What are the odds of the snake being able to down the rat? i dont want him to kill it and then not be able to eat..

I can provide pics of both if needed =]

My snake has been refusing rats but he kinda got a twinkle in his eye when i walked back the rat tank earlier lol..

pics would help... but look at the wides part of the snake if the rat is bigger then that its not a good idea... if you do try you may want pre kill the rat just in case my 1200+ gram feeds on medium rats and without a good strike they can cause some damage... even with a watchful eye... although no recomended snakes can handle prey allot bigger then them, remember when the rats die the deflate allot.

i would not feed anything larger that a 70g rat at that weight wether it be live, f/t or p/k. how big is the medium rat you have?

good guide to go by is 10-15% of the snakes body weight and 15% of your snake is like 67g and a medium rat is around 100g+ ............ i wouldnt.

thanks all for your input - Im sorry for not having pics right them =] had posted that right before heading back to work from my lunch hour.

here are the pics - using a pack of smokes for size

The monster rat - mean as heck lil thing!
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...a/DSC06955.jpg

and my big man.. and bit grumpy cuz he should shed tonight lol..
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...a/DSC06956.jpg

Looking at the photos, I would say it is a little large. Your snake could likely take it, but it's not worth the risk. Looks like the rats girth is about 3/4 of the width of the pack of smokes, and your snake is about 2/3.

Could the snake safely eat this rat? Yes.

I personally would not feed this size right now, however...if you are going to, I would suggest stunning to rat first.

haha thanks.
Guess he is gonna take a trip to jacks. Would rather not risk my snake for a meal.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ameh78

haha thanks.
Guess he is gonna take a trip to jacks. Would rather not risk my snake for a meal.

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Not worth any harm to your snake. When in doubt, stay on the safe side.
I am fairly new to this, I actually just posted a poll slightly down the list...check it out. Called: What "rule of thumb" do you use for prey size.

In there you will see most people are going with the same girth as the snake for their prey size. I would suggest you get a digital kitchen/lab scale from walmart or eBay (they are cheap), and use a combination of these two factors:

Feed prey items that have equal the girth to the largest part of your snakes body, and equal 10-15% of your snakes body weight.

If 10-15% is too large, then feed two of a smaller size.

Hope this helps!

P.S. Keep that rat around for a bit, it will make a good meal someday! ;)