Stinky rat

I have only fed my BP 4 times. This is my 5th. This rat stinks and he wouldn't have anything to do with it. I don't want to try to feed it to him if it's bad, however, I am new to this and maybe some rats smell bad. Smelled like a little bit of decay and a little bit of a formaldehyde /chemicals smell.

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When in doubt, throw it out. Sounds like it's gone bad, I've never noticed that kind of smell with any rats I've fed. They do have a bit of a rodent smell to them but they shouldn't reek and certainly should not have any kind of rotting/chemical smell. BPs know when the prey has gone bad and won't eat it -- given that a good feeder can be pretty liberal about the condition of the rats they take, the rat has to be really bad for a snake to refuse it.

Toss it. Rats should only have that rodent odor which isn't lovely, but certainly isn't about decay or chemicals.

Where'd you get it from? Some feeders have a rep for selling gross rats or mice, and there are better options.

Time to find a better supplier! Take it from your snake...;)

Hey guys. I tossed it. I bought 20 from the reptile shop where I purchased him.. The first 4 and the one after didn't stink. I am still planning on getting my next order online from Perfect Prey or Rodent Pro. He didn't eat the 2nd one I offered today either but his belly is getting a little pink and I'm thinking maybe he's just about to go into shed. Eyes aren't cloudy yet though.

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Don't stress if he didn't take the second, if an attempted feeding doesn't work out the best thing to do is to just wait until the next feeding day and offer again. It's also possible he was stressed a bit from the first attempted feeding today so he doesn't want to eat now. It's common for BPs to refuse one meal and then get stressed if they are offered food again too often. A healthy snake will have no problem missing one week of food especially if they have otherwise been eating regularly.

If he's prepping to shed that might cause a BP to miss a meal. If you're going to order online I'd recommend Big Cheese or Perfect Prey.

I can't vouch for any of the rodent suppliers, but I've heard nothing but good things about Big Cheese and Perfect Prey.

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Originally Posted by vivi

I can't vouch for any of the rodent suppliers, but I've heard nothing but good things about Big Cheese and Perfect Prey.

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Same here...grow my own but if I needed to order, it would be from either of those.