Is this rat too big for my BP? [pics]

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Originally Posted by kippers

Another silly question. Can the rats tail be too stiff to eat? He seems interested in it, a f/t but its taking him a while to attempt to eat it. He's under a night light with lights off, both my snakes seem shy and wanting to eat in peace in the dark but he keeps getting distracted and leaving it too until I wiggle it around again.

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As long as it's defrosted for the appropriate amount of time you should be good. I usually defrost my rats in a refrigerator 24 hours day prior to feeding day, day of, I just warm up with a blow dryer for about 10 minutes.

Have you tried feeding live? Personally it is more convenient for me to feed f/t, but just to get something in his belly, I would try live before f/t if you run into any difficulties feeding f/t.

He is used to eating f/t. His previous owners fed him f/t and I'm assuming most pet shops do as well? I've been dangling it and it feels warm to the touch and dipped its head in hot water for 20-30 seconds. He still may not be thawed correctly.
I'm actually kind of worried about the quality too. Its hair is falling out.. Paid 2 bucks a piece for the rats.

Maybe I need to throw this one out and adjust my methods? I was advised to just keep it in a plastic bag and immediately from freezer to warm water to thaw and then hot to get its temp up before feeding. I watched a video on YouTube and took him out of the bag and dunked it, but then had to dry it off again. I turned out the lights and my bp keeps coming back to it but not eating.

Edit: this technique of immediate freezer to thaw works for my corn snake, but he is on pinkies and its a quicker process. I keep it in a bag and set it in a container and he likes to be left in the dark and alone before he will eat.

Up to you with the F/T, but as skinny as he is and is not hitting the one you are offering, you may want to consider a live rat until he gets up to the appropriate size. He is way too skinny and underfed. Good luck!

I agree with trying live for a few weeks. Small rats, make sure you are close enough to stop the rat from hurting him if he doesn't go for it immediately. It seems offering live triggers their hunting/feeding instinct. Any snake that has been traumatized by something is going to be difficult to feed. This may wake him back up.

Once you get him feeding regularly and get some weight on him, you can look into switching him back to f/t. I've seen many on here completely against feeding live, but in the case of an underfed animal... It should always be about what is best for the snake. <I'm a firm believer in the food chain... Snakes eat live mice/rats... End of story.>

best of luck, let us know how it goes.

Go live for a few until he gets healthy. Most likely once he starts eating good, he will hit those f/t rats with no problem.

As skinny as that guy looks I question if has has eaten at all lately. DO NOT feed him heavily right off the bat. Start with every 7 days the first couple feedings to make sure he digests OK. Feeding a snake that hasn't been eating is similar to feeding a snake that has regurged. You have to get their system going again slowly. I would try small live rats for a while. When he's eating regularly you can switch him to f/t.

The thing is he ate TWO medium sized mice on Monday without a problem f/t and I'm honestly thinking that this rat is too big for him right now. I tried the blow dryer method and he struck at it 3 times he just couldn't see a way to get it down. I'm gonna go back to CJ's (our local exotic animal place) tomorrow as its closed today and try again with one smaller rodent before I switch to live. He's already got a few puncture wounds (what they look like anyway) and I'm afraid he would actually be afraid of a live rodent ? I'm really quite stuck at the moment. I feel like I should have looked closer at him before I bought him but then again glad I did.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by kippers

The thing is he ate TWO medium sized mice on Monday without a problem f/t and I'm honestly thinking that this rat is too big for him right now. I tried the blow dryer method and he struck at it 3 times he just couldn't see a way to get it down. I'm gonna go back to CJ's (our local exotic animal place) tomorrow as its closed today and try again with one smaller rodent before I switch to live. He's already got a few puncture wounds (what they look like anyway) and I'm afraid he would actually be afraid of a live rodent ? I'm really quite stuck at the moment. I feel like I should have looked closer at him before I bought him but then again glad I did.

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It wouldn't hurt to stick with the f/t mice for now. At this point it's more important for him to eat than to worry about him being imprinted on mice.