Switched to rats....in a big way!

So I've been mentioning to my brother every once in awhile that I (like pretty much everyone) wants to switch my mouser to rats eventually, perfectly normal. Well he knows I have a rat eating Enchi coming in a few weeks and I guess he figured now was a good time, as I sent him to get my Lessers weekly 2 sm mice/smallish medium mouse (as of 2 weeks ago he weighed in at 262 grams), well he comes home with a small rat, being told by the pet store guys that was the equivalent to his 2 sm mouse regular meal....:confused:. After getting a look at this rat all I could think was, oh ****, and the store is now closed, so no exchanges. Well I figured let's dangle him in there and we'll just see what happens (my snakes been pretty good at not eating anything too big or small....will either kill it and leave it or just ignore it), and sure enough (after I finally got a good grip on him....not used to something that strong & lively), whack, a perfect head shot, and a second later our little rat friend is deeply in a choke hold with his head firmly controlled so no worries about biting, though i did have to hold his back legs up...he was a fighter, and with such a small snake I was pretty worried. Well anyway, after a lot less problem than I thought he'd have he pounded down the rat and is now chillin in his hide (i friggin love this snake....eats like a monster). Assuming he keeps it down where should I go from here?...another sm rat, if so, how soon?? If not, what should I feed him?

Thx for any help.


Pretty damn pumped he coulda cared less about the rat thing and 0 probs switchin him over. :banana:

stay on the same schedual with a rat from now on then id say if they are equivalent in sizes

If I think Ive overfed, I usually wait for a poop..

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Originally Posted by spud6

stay on the same schedual with a rat from now on then id say if they are equivalent in sizes

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So another small rat in a week?....thought that'd be more for a 6-700 gram snake (thou he did seem to not have too much of a prob with it).

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Originally Posted by slapdirty

If I think Ive overfed, I usually wait for a poop..

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What am I looking for?

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Originally Posted by Brion99

What am I looking for?

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lol youll look for a turd. I try to find the thickest point of the snake. thats how big around you want the rat to be. If hes not hungry try feeding again in a day or 2

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Originally Posted by Raverthug

lol youll look for a turd. I try to find the thickest point of the snake. thats how big around you want the rat to be. If hes not hungry try feeding again in a day or 2

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Oh, just make sure he's not blocked up from it?? He's fairly regular so I should know if thats the case. Just trying to make sure it's not too much.

Thats part of it. Some people like to wait untill they are empty to feed others just do it every x days. Just depends.

I think you would be surprised at how small they actually are. For instance, my '11 Pastel male is now @ 186g. When he was at about 150 ish, a couple of weeks ago, I went to get him his weekly food. They didn't have exactly what I needed, so I got the smallest rat I could. It had just been weaned and was eating on it's own. I was worried about it being too big, so I weighed it. Only 21g. Which was on the higher scale of the 'food item should be 10-15% of your snakes weight' idea.

He took it down with no worries in just a few minutes. I of course did step back to the 'regular' size ( pup's ) the next week as not to overfeed him.

I have done the same thing to my female normal that is currently @ about 1100g. I've had to feed her a large rat from time to time. She seems to take it down with ease in a matter of minutes.

They can handle larger meals with ease generally, I just don't think it's recommended on a regular basis.

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Originally Posted by RichL

I think you would be surprised at how small they actually are. For instance, my '11 Pastel male is now @ 186g. When he was at about 150 ish, a couple of weeks ago, I went to get him his weekly food. They didn't have exactly what I needed, so I got the smallest rat I could. It had just been weaned and was eating on it's own. I was worried about it being too big, so I weighed it. Only 21g. Which was on the higher scale of the 'food item should be 10-15% of your snakes weight' idea.

He took it down with no worries in just a few minutes. I of course did step back to the 'regular' size ( pup's ) the next week as not to overfeed him.

I have done the same thing to my female normal that is currently @ about 1100g. I've had to feed her a large rat from time to time. She seems to take it down with ease in a matter of minutes.

They can handle larger meals with ease generally, I just don't think it's recommended on a regular basis.

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That's what I was trying to get at...thank you. The thing is now I want to keep him on rats but I'm not sure if I should stick with the smalls....maybe I'll just get the smallest small they have and go from there, cuz it really didn't seem to be a prob for him to woof that thing down (maybe a little longer than usual, but not by that much), and it's not like he had some huge bulge anywhere or anything.

I just checked what they're supposed to weigh abd theres no way that rat was twice the size of the med mice I've fed him so I'm thinkin that pet store just doesn't know the right sizes for rats and/or mice. I'll have to gie them a call this week.

Well had to send my brother again and he did get a slightly smaller one this one (not by much though, and we couldn't find the scale). Anyway, like I'm sure most of you, I thought it was way too big again, except this time as soon as I started lowering his squealin lil ass in the tank the snakes head raised and the he slowly started moving towards it (used to have to literally beat him over the head sometimes with mice to get him to strike), then I lost my grip with the tongs he charged and struck and had him rolled up before I had a chance to grab it back (did have to hold the rats head with the tongs because of where he got him, but no biggie...better to be safe)....something that he never came close to acting like with those small mice, and this was on 6 days.

What you guys think?

[IMG]<a href="http://s1177.photobucket.com/albums/x349/bmad810/?action=view&amp;current=1203193605.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1177.photobucket.com/albums/x349/bmad810/th_1203193605.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket" ></a>[/IMG]

DAMMIT, I hate tryin to add pics. Can someone plz enlighten my ignorant self?

Nevermind. Here ya go...

http://a2.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphot...50447758_n.jpg

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Originally Posted by Brion99

Well had to send my brother again and he did get a slightly smaller one this one (not by much though, and we couldn't find the scale). Anyway, like I'm sure most of you, I thought it was way too big again, except this time as soon as I started lowering his squealin lil ass in the tank the snakes head raised and the he slowly started moving towards it (used to have to literally beat him over the head sometimes with mice to get him to strike), then I lost my grip with the tongs he charged and struck and had him rolled up before I had a chance to grab it back (did have to hold the rats head with the tongs because of where he got him, but no biggie...better to be safe)....something that he never came close to acting like with those small mice, and this was on 6 days.

What you guys think?

[IMG]<a href="http://s1177.photobucket.com/albums/x349/bmad810/?action=view&amp;current=1203193605.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1177.photobucket.com/albums/x349/bmad810/th_1203193605.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket" ></a>[/IMG]

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you used html code not image code, should be something like...

http://i1178.photobucket.com/albums/...l/P1030699.jpg

with img code before and after to get this...


http://i1178.photobucket.com/albums/...l/P1030699.jpg

oops too late...

So just open the image in photobucket and right click and copy image location, then add with img thing on here??

just sign in, place your mouse over the picture and a box will pop up around it clink on the img code and it will automatically copy

http://i1178.photobucket.com/albums/...l/Untitled.png

I don't know how comfortable you feel with it, but you can also give the mouse/rat a good thump on the head if the snake didn't take the head and they will usually just stop moving. :P

Otherwise, the tongs work too. ;)

As to that size food item, he's probably fine. It doesn't look much too big for him to take. A little big, but not beyond reason. If you could find something a little smaller, that would be ideal though. At least until he gets a little thicker around the middle. :)

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Originally Posted by WarriorPrincess90

I don't know how comfortable you feel with it, but you can also give the mouse/rat a good thump on the head if the snake didn't take the head and they will usually just stop moving. :P

Otherwise, the tongs work too. ;)

As to that size food item, he's probably fine. It doesn't look much too big for him to take. A little big, but not beyond reason. If you could find something a little smaller, that would be ideal though. At least until he gets a little thicker around the middle. :)

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Thx alot. I'll make sure to keep it no bigger than that.....does look smaller in the pic, but my boys happy so it must be ok.