what to do with live rat pup?

so I offered my bp Eli a live rat pup today, but he apparently wasn't interested, which I'm not too concerned about. however, I now have a live rat pup in a critter cage I bought a while ago to keep Eli in while cleaning, and I'm wondering how long I can keep it in there. should I try offering later tonight when it's darker or tomorrow? will the rat pup still be okay by them without food or water?


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Depending on how old the rat pup is it isn't going to live long without food and water and may or may not be able to feed itself. Are the eyes open? A little bit of water from an eye dropper will help it live longer.

Sounds like you need another snake!:)

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Originally Posted by piedlover79

Depending on how old the rat pup is it isn't going to live long without food and water and may or may not be able to feed itself. Are the eyes open? A little bit of water from an eye dropper will help it live longer.

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His eyes are closed, I might be able to find an eye dropper. is there anything I can feed him with out going out and buying rat food?

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Originally Posted by rlditmars

Sounds like you need another snake!:)

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lol in a few months time I plan to!

I really don't want to have to get rid of the guy so hopefully he'll eat later

I had to look it up a few weeks ago.

I don't have details on rats, but I was able to save two baby mice (they had fur, but mostly closed eyes - slits?). These guys are thriving now. Try some puppy or kitten formula, or try "milk" out of soaked oats. I used raw goat's milk - but you may not have that.

A tiny artist's paint brush may be better accepted for delivery than a dropper or spoon. Be Careful! You do not want any fluids to touch the nose - approach from under the chin. This may sound obvious, but my eyesight sucks, and I needed some trial and error, plus a magnifying glass to get that right.

Keep temps up. I actually kept mine for a few days in the heated snake enclosure in a ventilated tupperware type container. (Weird, yeah, but the snake wasn't interested.)

http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...al+dislocation

I had this happen. I eventually felt bad and used a dropper to feed it baby formula. I now have a pet rat named Frankie. Cow milk will kill it. Goat or human milk, or kitten formula. I gave him mushy dog food till I could get rat food.

I always have a canister of kitten milk replacement on hand since I have a couple pet rodents. It started with a couple feeders impressing the heck out of me by facing down my BP until she freaked out and wouldn't take them, and I found out I really enjoy having pet rodents around lol. If you want it to live more than overnight you're going to need to look up a feeding schedule and the appropriate temp to keep it at though, babies that don't have their eyes opened yet can be pretty sensitive.

I got 2 boas who double as garbage disposals for my BP.....

I never have that problem with my boa around. She never refuses. Hope you figure out something.

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Originally Posted by DellaF

I never have that problem with my boa around. She never refuses. Hope you figure out something.

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Think he's referring to his BP not eating. He just needs to get a boa as the "backup plan" :P In 3 years, I have had my big girl refuse a meal once and my little girl has never refused anything. Of course my BP girl hasn't eaten in about 3-4 months so far but she is starting to actually look at her rats so maybe soon she will grab one.

Oh I read that wrong lol. Ignore me and i'll crawl back under my rock haha.

I originally wanted to try and take care of the rat, but my parents aren't willing to pay for anything and I currently do not have any money of my own since I'm only 16 and am still in school. It may seem odd to some, and it certainly seemed so to my dad, but I was very broken up and sad about what to do with the poor little baby, and I had no tools to kill it humanely. My parents suggested leaving it outside to die but I just couldn't do that. I didn't have the heart to snap it's neck, hit it against a counter or let it starve to death, and I honestly was very upset at this point, so my dad took it and disposed of it and didn't tell me how. I honestly don't want to know because while feeding it to my ball python who I love and want to eat so he can grow, just killing a living animal for nothing greatly upsets me. In the future I'm going to try and switch Eli over to pre-killed or f/t as quickly as possible so that I never have to go through this again. Thanks for all the support guys, I just didn't have the tools necessary to take care of the guy, and my parents weren't willing to help me out. Hopefully this never happens again.


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Sorry about the little guys fate. Not sure if you posted about it before, but is the issue it's a new snake for you and it's not eating ft either? I have excellent luck when I'm as sneaky as possible about feeding babies at night. I wait until lights have been out for a while and the room has been quiet then try to stay out of sight while offering ft rat pups with tongs. Make sure it's being heald by the scruff of its neck and kept at a more natural position while putting into the enclosure and not just dangled in front by its tail. I hope you have better luck next feeding attempt and sorry again about that pups fate!

It's always a tough situation in my opinion. I always try to buy one that already has its eyes open and may be weaned from the mother, that way if it isn't eaten, you can atleast keep it alive with some food and water. You could probably then keep it nourished with food from around the house instead of buying food for it.

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Originally Posted by HannahLou

Sorry about the little guys fate. Not sure if you posted about it before, but is the issue it's a new snake for you and it's not eating ft either? I have excellent luck when I'm as sneaky as possible about feeding babies at night. I wait until lights have been out for a while and the room has been quiet then try to stay out of sight while offering ft rat pups with tongs. Make sure it's being heald by the scruff of its neck and kept at a more natural position while putting into the enclosure and not just dangled in front by its tail. I hope you have better luck next feeding attempt and sorry again about that pups fate!

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no it's not that, I have never tried f/t before as I have a small reptile shop about 15 minutes from me which breeds both mice and rats so I get everything from them. however Eli hasn't been eating the pre-killed, so I've switched him over to live for now and he was eating like a champ until today unfortunately. I'm not very worried as I know bp's tend to be picky sometimes, it was just an unfortunate situation all together.

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Originally Posted by Galaxygirl

It's always a tough situation in my opinion. I always try to buy one that already has its eyes open and may be weaned from the mother, that way if it isn't eaten, you can atleast keep it alive with some food and water. You could probably then keep it nourished with food from around the house instead of buying food for it.

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I'll be happy when I can start feeding him weaned rats, right now they're still too big for him, but I'll definitely try and switch over to pre-killed much faster since I don't want a repeat of this.


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Just for the future, the place might be willing to take them back. Even if you don't get your money back, it's an option. Or try to find a reptile keeper near you?

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Originally Posted by Kokorobosoi

Just for the future, the place might be willing to take them back. Even if you don't get your money back, it's an option. Or try to find a reptile keeper near you?

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Yep I'd try this if the shop is only 15 minutes away. In my experience it's a lot easier to switch babies to ft than adults that are used to live so I'd switch to ft sooner than later to help avoid this happening again.

It only takes a flick on the back of the head to kill a rat pup. No tools, very fast, and more humane than throwing it outside. After the flick freeze it and offer next feeding. Maybe he would have eaten it then it would not have died for nothing. Just saying for next time.