Am I stupid or what?

Hi everyone, tonight was feeding night and I called my local shop that I get my rats from and they were out frozen and live. I called another store and they said they had a large medium sized rat. I drove to the shop (30 min) and decided to go with it. I knew it looked a little bigger than what I was normally feeding but I thought ok. I wasn't until I got it home that I got a really good look @ the rat and realized it was pretty big. Being the dummy I am I fed it to him. Well he killed it and for the last half hour or so has been trying to eat it. He's having a pretty hard time he's only gotten 1/3 of the way. I'm concerned that he's going to hurt himself. What do I do now?!

Let him finish :)

I don't think I've explained it well enough. As I understand it the size of prey should equal snake @ widest point. I've heard even you can go as much as 1.5x This rat is probably close to 2x. I'm just scared my boy is going to rip his face off or something. BTW thanks for your quick reply. If this helps I'm noticing he keeps coiling around the rat, I don't know if its to try to compact it. I have seen him do that before. I did a search for past forums and I was reading how snakes will "size up" their potential meals and if they feel like they can't eat it they won't try. Monty had no problem taking down the rat and immediately began to try and eat it. I just need to know he's going to be ok even if I have to stay up half the night while he eats it.

Don't worry about it. He'll probably finish w/o a problem.

He should be ok. Snake's in general are not highly intelligent, say on the levels of primates, but they do know what they can or can't eat. Just keep an eye on him, and if he gives up on swallowing the rat and spits it out, remove it from his cage and throw it away. If he does end up swallowing the rat, just let him do his thing and don't pick him up for a day or two, let him digest. He'd be especally prone to a regurge at this time if it's as big as you say. He'll be ok ;)

Also, I've seen big burms and retics swallow HUGE meals and rip their skin while doing so, so they can handle big prey items. I'm not saying this is good, but it probably won't harm your snake.

I thought a picture would help. I hope I'm over reacting I'm not usually a spazz like this I just feel wicked guilty and hope I'm not doing him any harm. Thanks again guys.

http://i437.photobucket.com/albums/q...er/Picture.jpg

Another question. As you'll see from the pic he's not in his enclosure I've fed him outside of his cage since day one so how should I proceed in moving him (if at all). Should I make that box his enclosure for at least 24 hours?

I seen a post a couple of days ago it looked like ol boy gave his BP a rabbit and he took it down. Not that its great to give em large pray items like that but they know what they can and can't eat.

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Originally Posted by adamsmasher

I thought a picture would help. I hope I'm over reacting I'm not usually a spazz like this I just feel wicked guilty and hope I'm not doing him any harm. Thanks again guys.

http://i437.photobucket.com/albums/q...er/Picture.jpg

Another question. As you'll see from the pic he's not in his enclosure I've fed him outside of his cage since day one so how should I proceed in moving him (if at all). Should I make that box his enclosure for at least 24 hours?

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yes your overreacting a bit,but that shows you care.if he swallows the rat gently put him back in his cage,he will need the heat to digest the meal.have fun !

:O

He will probably get it, but I wouldn't make that a weekly meal - or even a monthly meal. Don't be surprised if he refuses his next few meals