Is this rat too big??

Just moved Monty up to a small rat. I thought the size looked right, but he struck, coiled & has now released it. He's been trying to maneuver around it seems, to get it in his mouth the right way.

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He might just be trying to find a good angle on it. I've had one of mine do that once or twice, too. You could post a picture of the rat and his head, and we could probably get a good idea. Rule of thumb is the rodent should be slightly bigger than the thickest part of the snakes body.

He has now latched back on & has drug it & him into the water dish. Lol!
http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/12/18/atasa3yq.jpg

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He seems to be having trouble though. :(

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Looks fine to me. Just let him do his snakey thing.

K. I thought so too, but wanted to make sure I wasn't off base. I can't wait until this isn't all so new to me. I worry too much. Lol

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Seems Ok to me.

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Idk where my first pic went. No wonder you asked for a pic.

http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/12/18/apy5anys.jpg

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I think it should be fine. A ball python's mouth/jaw can stretch a pretty good bit. I was a little worried when I first gave a couple of mine rat pups, but they took them down like champs. Just keep an eye on it, but I think you're good. Better safe than sorry. I've only been doing this a couple of months, and I learned it's always best to ask a dumb question and get an answer, then to ignore a potential problem and end up with a hurt animal.

The rat is actually smaller than the girth of your bp, it's fine, don't worry about it :)

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Thank you all!

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And the rat is down! Yay! I know they can do it, but it's pretty hard to visualize them being able to eat something so big. Especially with their skinny little necks. This was probably 3 times bigger than the biggest mouse he's had. The pet store was seriously underfeeding him & I didn't want to jump right to rats with him. This was his 4th feeding with me. I feel much better now. Thanks guys!

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Glad to hear it went well. When I got my first snake, I was underfeeding him with pinky -mice- because it was the size of his mouth. I felt HORRIBLE once I learned that they need to eat things similar in size to their girth. Needless to say, my little guy has come a LONG way since then, and he's powering down rat pups with no problems.

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Originally Posted by chadphillips8352

Glad to hear it went well. When I got my first snake, I was underfeeding him with pinky -mice- because it was the size of his mouth. I felt HORRIBLE once I learned that they need to eat things similar in size to their girth. Needless to say, my little guy has come a LONG way since then, and he's powering down rat pups with no problems.

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Yea, now I'm wondering how he'll fit in his hide with a full belly. LOL!

Yep those skinny little necks stretch wider than a teenaged boy with a burger and fries lol. Its amazing watching them get something that you think is huge down though. Glad he ate and good luck with him.

The snake should pound that easily

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It took him a long time to get it down.

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Yea when i was brand new to all this the smallest things would get me thinking like crazy. You will definately learn alot by coming here.