2 dumbish questions

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Originally Posted by frankykeno

This is what my hubby (Mike aka McAdry) is talking about. All of $2.00 at any dollar store, WalMart or the like. Just melt in some vent holes and you've got a handy, sturdy live rodent carrier, a snake carrier for vet trips or cleaning enclosures, etc. (these come in a ton of sizes from $2.00 to $10.00).

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e2...nsportCage.jpg

Now as to the rat bite. If it bit you that deeply and that much it was totally stressed out. If you are restraining a living rat while it is also facing a hunting snake, it's going to bite you. If you are dangling it upside down by the tail (other than a quick transfer from the container to the enclosure), it's going to flip upright and bite you. This is normal, to be expected and something you really should not be doing to a living prey animal. You don't want to be inhumane to prey creatures and you don't want your snake facing a stressed, aggressive rat. Hopefully you are using appropriately sized rats that should not be capable of inflicting great damage anyways.

You do need to be careful of those bites. Rats, especially bigger ones, can inflict deep and dirty bites. If you did not immediately flush it with hot water you need to. Flush as in under strong running, hot as you can stand it water for a significant amount of time (not just seconds). Pat dry and apply a triple antibiotic...leave open to the air unless your hands are in food, raw meat or a dirty environment (like cage cleaning, etc.). Keep an eye on it and if you don't have a current shot, get one (you need it anyways LOL).

Mike and I handle and feed off a lot of live rats, some of our breeders are huge. We rarely ever get bitten. Rats do not bite if they don't have a reason to, so changing your handling of them is likely to deal with that very easily for you.

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ya know, I never truely thought about the rat being stressed out before. your explanation makes sense though. I suppose I was really stressing the poor little guys out and never knew it.

I think my problem began when I thought...hmmm....if the live rat can hurt the snake, if you hold onto the rat by the tail it cant hurt the snake. logical at the time. that in turn led me to holding on to the rat at feeding time, and probably the cause of the bites.

so you all just put the little buggers in the cage and let it wander around till the snake strikes (or lack of interest, which ever comes first) ?

about the bites...I did clean them out with antibiotic soap in hot water, and followed that up with some rubbing alcohol and neosporin and a band aid. so I should be safe there (had a tetnus (sp?) shot in may of 04, so I'm good there too.)

one more question...when I go to the pet store to get the rats, they put the rats in containers like large yogurt containers, or OJ cartons....could the confined space also be stressing out the rats,. and if so, will a simple fix like in the photo someone posted with a larger container make it easier on the rats to be transported?

thanks for your patience folks, I really apreciate it. also sorry for posting this in the general BP forum, I never knew this one was even here:rolleye2:

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Originally Posted by Gurgie

I think my problem began when I thought...hmmm....if the live rat can hurt the snake, if you hold onto the rat by the tail it cant hurt the snake. logical at the time. that in turn led me to holding on to the rat at feeding time, and probably the cause of the bites.

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It will up your chances of getting bitten or the snakes chances of getting bitten actually. Stressed rats bite. It's one of their first and most effective defenses.

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so you all just put the little buggers in the cage and let it wander around till the snake strikes (or lack of interest, which ever comes first) ?

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Yep we put the nice calm and appropriately sized rat (we feed nothing over a small and that's only to our big adult snakes, the rest get weanlings, pups, and down in size from there) in with our snakes at the furthest point from the snake. That allows the snake to hone in, decide it's strike strategy and go for it. Some of our BP's strike downward from on top of a hide, others lurk from the hide and nab the passing rat, others go into strike position and stay still till the rat wanders by and still others actively go nab that rodent before it takes 2 breaths.

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one more question...when I go to the pet store to get the rats, they put the rats in containers like large yogurt containers, or OJ cartons....could the confined space also be stressing out the rats,. and if so, will a simple fix like in the photo someone posted with a larger container make it easier on the rats to be transported?

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Yes it does most likely. Also confined and scared rats can turn on each other and will also urinate and defecate excessively. We just take that container or a larger on if getting a lot of live feeders (which we rarely have to buy anymore), put in a light layer of bedding and off we go. It also stops any rodent from chewing out on the way home (it's NOT fun to chase an escaped mouse through your car LOL). Depending on the quality of your live feeder supplier you also might want to consider housing the rodents for a day or two, feed them very well, lots of access to water bottles and let them de-stress and be in a nicer condition for feeding.

I keep the mice for at least a few days afetr buying from the petstore. This way I can make sure they're not sick, fatten them up a bit and this way they get nice and comfy and not hungry by the time they become snake food.
I keep rats as pets and can't wait for my other snake to grow a little so I can start breeding rats instead of having to buy mice this way.

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Originally Posted by versustheworld

I keep rats as pets and can't wait for my other snake to grow a little so I can start breeding rats instead of having to buy mice this way.

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You can feed any age snake rats - just depends on what size rat is appropriate for your snake's size as well (pinky, fuzzy, pup, etc).

I was thinking about my Cali king who's still too small for even a rat pinky.