Rat switching question

Last week I got my bp to eat a rat pup for the first time. I did the mouse scenting trick and it worked. On feeding day this week I offered her a rat pup and she turned her nose up to it. I then thawed another mouse and tried the trick again but no go. Should I wait another week before offering another one? I don't want her to go hungry. Also, she's 6 months old and weighs 165g. Is that a normal weight? I would include a picture but I lost the charger for my camera. I really want her to eat rats, especially the rats I ordered recently. They are the most beautiful feeders I've seen so far and I know she will plump right up if I can get her to eat them.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by enchantress62

Last week I got my bp to eat a rat pup for the first time. I did the mouse scenting trick and it worked. On feeding day this week I offered her a rat pup and she turned her nose up to it. I then thawed another mouse and tried the trick again but no go. Should I wait another week before offering another one? I don't want her to go hungry. Also, she's 6 months old and weighs 165g. Is that a normal weight? I would include a picture but I lost the charger for my camera. I really want her to eat rats, especially the rats I ordered recently. They are the most beautiful feeders I've seen so far and I know she will plump right up if I can get her to eat them.

---

Hey there! I recently switched my bp to small rats. After listening to advice here I didn't actually use the mouse scenting trick and she took it OK, although she hesitated first which was a little unusual. But one thing I noticed was that the rat seemed more dense? It seemed like it took longer to warm up. This week I let one warm up longer in the sink and ran warm water over it again (in a bag of course) right before I gave it to her and she didn't hesitate at all. Maybe try waiting a day and then offer again after giving it a little extra thaw time?

I am not sure about the weight but a picture would probably help if you were able to get one. My 6-month-old bp is around 300g and has gained a lot of weight since I got her. :confused: I think individual weights vary a lot.

Wait until your next scheduled feeding day to offer. If that's next week wait until next week. If you offer too often you'll stress your snake and it won't eat. It won't hurt your snake for it to wait. It might even help. If they're hungry, they'll eat as long as everything else is okay. Check your husbandry to be sure everything's in order and wait until the day you would feed if it had taken its last meal.

Thanks guys. I'll thaw the rat longer next time and keep checking the husbandry. As for her weight. She seems really small to me. Not skinny, just small. She has no reason to be dehydrated since the humidity never drops below 50% and she has 2 water bowls in her cage. There are things I don't understand though like why she has only shed once since I got her. I thought she was going to shed a month ago but I never found a shed in her cage. I give her monthly baths and feed her every week but she has not grown a lot.

She doesn't need baths. It just causes stress. The only time a bath might be necessary is if there's a stuck shed or she's been rolling around in her own poop. Also once she starts eating again, you could probably move her onto a five-day feeding schedule instead of a 7-day. She can handle it and it'll help her grow faster to get more food in her. But make sure she's eating well before you do that.

When you say you got rat pups, define "pups". People have a lot of different definitions of pups. A "pup", at least around here, is a rat that is about 3 weeks old. Their eyes are open and they are mobile but they aren't quite weaned yet. They are usually in the 20-25g range, which would be ideal for a 165g ball. Some people consider fuzzies and even pinks to be pups, which would be far too small for your snake. Since you inquired, 165g is pretty small for a 6 month old to be perfectly honest. Most of ours are at least in the 300-400g range by that age. With that, a missed meal isn't anything to be concerned about.

Here is a 25g rat which would be a decent sized meal that would equal roughly 15% of your snake's body weight.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...t/SANY0506.jpg

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Inarikins

Also once she starts eating again, you could probably move her onto a five-day feeding schedule instead of a 7-day. She can handle it and it'll help her grow faster to get more food in her.

---

Yup. For the first year or so I keep ours on a 5 day schedule.

I found the charger to my camera and took this picture today. It's possible, I suppose, that I'm using the scale wrong, but I don't think so. As for the rats, yes they are about the size of the picture above. I ordered them from Layne Lab. out of California. I bought 10 pups and 10 weans. At least that's what they called them. Now if I can just get her to eat them.

http://i1098.photobucket.com/albums/...ss62/013-1.jpg