Uneaten rat pup

I was trying to urge one of my snakes to eat using a live rat pup. Just to my luck every snake rejected it as a meal. What are the logistics of raising this guy? I got tips from the internet but has anyone done this before?

http://tapatalk.imageshack.com/v2/15...5590a23d89.jpg
No idea the age but has fur and goes to the bathroom on its own.

That is what they call a rat pup. Since it is not weaned yet It would still need it's mother's milk to survive. I imagine that you could bottle feed it until it is weaned. I wouldn't know what formula would work nor how often to feed it though.

He's probably already in shock from being taken from his mother, and odds are he will die IMO. You can try using Esbilac formula puppy milk (it's the kind usually recommended for wild animals). It keeps forever pretty much, so you'll have it in the future if something like this happens again.
I'm drawing on possum experience here, but I imagine a rat would be more suited to that formula than a marsupial.


EDIT: You can usually find that formula at Petco/Petsmart.

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Originally Posted by Mykuhl

That is what they call a rat pup. Since it is not weaned yet It would still need it's mother's milk to survive. I imagine that you could bottle feed it until it is weaned. I wouldn't know what formula would work nor how often to feed it though.

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Internet says human soy formula.
This little fellow has some teeth already! I can't imagine it wouldn't be long until he's weaned

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Originally Posted by DVirginiana

He's probably already in shock from being taken from his mother, and odds are he will die IMO. You can try using Esbilac formula puppy milk (it's the kind usually recommended for wild animals). It keeps forever pretty much, so you'll have it in the future if something like this happens again.
I'm drawing on possum experience here, but I imagine a rat would be more suited to that formula than a marsupial.


EDIT: You can usually find that formula at Petco/Petsmart.

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He seems to be doing OK. Eating fine, moving, grooming a bit. I won't count on him making it but he just might to spite me saying I'd never get a rat. [emoji14]

If the eyes are not opened probably he'll die. The rat's milk is a special high protein milk what I don't think you can get, but if you want to try, go with goats milk, that not contains agglutinin.

edit*: ow :) so eyes open and eating solid things.. Will be a great pet, just keep enough warm his place ;)

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Originally Posted by Felidae

If the eyes are not opened probably he'll die. The rat's milk is a special high protein milk what I don't think you can get, but if you want to try, go with goats milk, that not contains agglutinin.

edit*: ow :) so eyes open and eating solid things.. Will be a great pet, just keep enough warm his place ;)

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So goat's is better than soy formula?

For the soy I cannot say nothing, I never try. 15 years ago from 4 asf pups I raised up two with goats milk, 2 didn't make out. But it was hard and luckily summer time, so no school for me :)

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Originally Posted by Felidae

For the soy I cannot say nothing, I never try. 15 years ago from 4 asf pups I raised up two with goats milk, 2 didn't make out. But it was hard and luckily summer time, so no school for me :)

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Do you know how long they are in this stage? Since my guy has teeth I'm thinking not so long

The rats around 12-14 days after birth, they open their eyes and start to eating solid food. Which ones I want to growing up, I separate around 4 weeks from their mom.

But with the asf nursing.. honestly, I cannot remember, was too long time ago :)

I did this last year twice. It's how I ended up with two rats for pets.

Soy formula to feed. He may not want it at first. Mine both did not eat for 2 or 3 days and I was convinced they were going to die. They were losing weight and becoming very dehydrated.

You may have to try several tricks to get them to take the formula. One would drink from a puddle of it in my hand, the other would only start eating when I made it extremely lumpy (almost like wet paste or oatmeal) and he would lick it off my finger.

Make sure you get the temp right on the formula, it made a hug difference for mine. If it was too cold, they would not take it.

I could only feed them 3 times a day, more is better from what I understand.

Once I got them to start taking formula, their weight stabilized, and they started gaining again after a couple of days. I was actually quite happy at this point. I don't remember exactly how long I did this for, but it was over a week of feeding them once I got them started. Then I just kept trying to give them a piece of cereal or cat food to see when they were ready for their own food.

Then I got them a bag of rat food and still have both of them.

Your best bet for advice from people who really know what would give your rat pup the best chance to survive is the rat forums:

http://www.ratforum.com/

I don't think I'll stuck with a rat pup once in a life, but if I do, that's a good advice.
The soy make problems just if you want to breed your rat, but that's an other point if you can feed him easily with. I didn't have that opportunity 15 y ago ;)

I second the Rat Forum that 200xth suggested!


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I did this a few weeks ago. I got a rat pup and the only snake that eats live refused it. I went out and bought soy-based baby formula, and a baby medicine kit for the medicine dropper and the ear/nose cleaner. I warmed the formula in the microwave for 10 seconds, and then I held the rat pup and fed him. I fed him every 4 hours for a few days, and once he opened his eyes all the way, I fed him less and less. Now, my girlfriend and I have an awesome pet rat who is totally on his own. Something you need to do with rat pups is keep them warm. I used a heating pad under the plastic tank, and I had a space heater next to it to keep him warm. After feedings, you have to give rat pups a bath.

Something else that you need to do, is you need to make sure to stimulate the genitals and anus of the rat to provoke it to pee/poop. When they're pups, they're too young to do that on their own. Take a wet warm wash cloth and gently rub the area between their hind legs. You have to do this as often as you feed them so that they don't poison themselves.

I have personally done this. Buy soy milk, powdered. I got a syringe from the vets office. Feed baby every 2 hours and use a warm cotton ball to clean the genital area every time you feed it. Keep it as warm as you can. The baby I took in didn't even have its eyes open yet. It can be helped. Message me if you need any help!

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Originally Posted by ispitroseas

I was trying to urge one of my snakes to eat using a live rat pup. Just to my luck every snake rejected it as a meal. What are the logistics of raising this guy? I got tips from the internet but has anyone done this before?

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Originally Posted by SCWood

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He actually passed but I loved him enough to get two rats!

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Originally Posted by ispitroseas

He actually passed but I loved him enough to get two rats!

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That's wonderful!

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Sorry about losing the little guy. Ive used kitten milk formula in the past with great success for future reference.