Won't eat rats no matter what!!!! Any ideas???

I've got an albino that I've been trying to switch from mice to rats for nearly a year now. She shows zero interest in rats but takes a mouse every time its offered. I've pretty well decided that she's just not going to switch. Some just won't so I started breeding mice. Now if she'd only eat more than one at a time, that'd be great.

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[QUOTE=djstarfall;2439874]

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Originally Posted by LittleTreeGuy

Hey littletreeguy, you mentioned that mice are required more per feeding. I'm currently feeding mice for my 500gram bp. As she grows older and heavier, is there a limit to the number of mice per feeding?

My mice are adults between 25 to 30g each

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Guess I should have clarified that more... sorry. Only after a certain point, does it require more... So, I'm a believer in the 10-15% rule for prey. A snake can eat 10-15% of their body weight per meal. So, if you have a 500g bp, by that guide, you could be feeding 50-75g per meal. So you could feed two of your adult mice. You would offer one, let the snake coil and eat the mouse. once it's into the snakes belly (5"-6" pas the head), and the snake starts to look around for more, you could present the second mouse.

Now, if you are only feeding adult mice, you'll come to a point where 2 would be less than the 10-15%, but 3 might be over. In this case, I think you could offer two for a while longer, and them maybe try offering three, but if the snake takes three, you could stretch out your feedings, from maybe every 7 days to every 10 days. Once snakes reach a mature age and become adults, the weight rule kind of goes away. A lot of breeders and keepers never go past a medium rat on a regular schedule for their adult bp's.

[QUOTE=LittleTreeGuy;2439914][QUOTE=djstarfall;2439874 Once snakes reach a mature age and become adults, the weight rule kind of goes away. A lot of breeders and keepers never go past a medium rat on a regular schedule for their adult bp's.[/QUOTE]


Ah this is what I was looking for! I was thinking in the long term, if she's at 3000g, do I fed 10 mice each time haha. Seems like there's a cap or else the feedings will grow exponentially! Thanks bro


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[QUOTE=LittleTreeGuy;2439914]

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Originally Posted by djstarfall

Guess I should have clarified that more... sorry. Only after a certain point, does it require more... So, I'm a believer in the 10-15% rule for prey. A snake can eat 10-15% of their body weight per meal.

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This is only for babies and juveniles up to about 500 grams. After that one small rat per feeding is fine. If you have a larger female you can bump her up to a medium rat per feeding.

OP have you tried train feeding? If your snake is 500 grams, thaw a 25 gram mouse and a 25 gram rat together and offer the mouse first as usual. As the mouse's back end is being swallowed carefully sneak the rat's head into the snake's mouth and guide it down the hatch. You may have to support/hold the rat with the tongs until your snake's teeth get a good hold on it.
Eventually your snake should come to associate rat with food.

Note - this is NOT power feeding, though the technique is the same, as the combined weight of the feeders makes an appropriate sized meal.