What do you do with uneaten rats?

My new ball python arrived on Thursday. She spends almost all of her time balled up in a hide. Her last meal was 10 days ago, and I just gave her a f/t rat pup. I was told that's what she was eating. The rat was at 105 degrees, which is how I give them to my male. She balled up even tighter when I put it in her cage, and I left it lying partially on her so she could smell it. What do you do when they don't grab and eat it? Leave it in the cage overnight? Refreeze it? Toss it, and if so, after how long? My male had a strong feeding response from the start, so I hope she's OK. :(

It takes time for them to adjust to the new environment . I wouldn't recommend refreezing it . If mine don't eat within 10-15 mins I'll offer it to another .. Picky eaters I'll sometimes leave overnite but if it's still in the morning it gets tossed .


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I'll wait until the morning and see what happens. Maybe once it's dark she'll feel safer, but with her spending all her time balled up I'm concerned.

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Originally Posted by dustin860

It takes time for them to adjust to the new environment . I wouldn't recommend refreezing it . If mine don't eat within 10-15 mins I'll offer it to another .. Picky eaters I'll sometimes leave overnite but if it's still in the morning it gets tossed .


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Same here. Usually if mine don't eat within 15-20 minutes they won't eat anyways.

If it's only thawed for like under a hour, refreeze it. But any longer than that toss it out.

I give them to the cats. Yummy!

If you have to dispose of an uneaten rodent, try to put it outside where an animal can find it. Someone might as well get a meal.

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Originally Posted by Willowy

I give them to the cats. Yummy!

If you have to dispose of an uneaten rodent, try to put it outside where an animal can find it. Someone might as well get a meal.

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We have a skunk problem. A former next door neighbor used to feed them because the babies were "so cute." I had a discussion with him about this. They still hang around the area because it hasn't been that long since he left, and the adults remember where the food was. I don't know if skunks would eat a dead rat.

The rat has been thawed for nearly 3 hours, so if she doesn't eat it tonight, it'll need to be disposed of. I don't want to feed it to my other bp because they are both in quarantine. I'll probably need to throw it out. Hopefully it won't smell too bad by tomorrow morning.

I never refreeze a rat. Your mileage may vary, but I've had bad luck with that.

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Originally Posted by butterballpython

My new ball python arrived on Thursday. She spends almost all of her time balled up in a hide. Her last meal was 10 days ago, and I just gave her a f/t rat pup. I was told that's what she was eating. The rat was at 105 degrees, which is how I give them to my male. She balled up even tighter when I put it in her cage, and I left it lying partially on her so she could smell it.

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I would not do this, it's only going to stress the snake out more. If the snake is in the mood to eat, it will move towards the prey.
Since you received the snake on Thursday, wait a few more days to let it get accustomed to the new environment before trying to feed.

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What do you do when they don't grab and eat it? Leave it in the cage overnight? Refreeze it? Toss it, and if so, after how long? My male had a strong feeding response from the start, so I hope she's OK. :(

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Once the temperature of the prey drops to ambient temp, it is not food anymore so there's no point in leaving it in overnight.

One thing I've had success with: I hold and dangle the rat with tongs. If the snake doesn't bite after a few minutes, I remove from the enclosure and re-heat, then give him one more opportunity, and usually he's then in eating mode and strikes quickly.

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Originally Posted by The Golem

One thing I've had success with: I hold and dangle the rat with tongs. If the snake doesn't bite after a few minutes, I remove from the enclosure and re-heat, then give him one more opportunity, and usually he's then in eating mode and strikes quickly.

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+1. I've never had an issue getting my ball to bite if I wiggle it a little bit!

She didn't eat, so this morning I removed the dead rat. I did wiggle it on the tongs, but she just balled up tighter. :( She un-balled herself and moved around the cage last night. After 10 days, I thought she'd be hungry. My male has yet to refuse food (fingers crossed), and I expected her to do the same.

Skunks will eat dead rats.

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Originally Posted by butterballpython

She didn't eat, so this morning I removed the dead rat. I did wiggle it on the tongs, but she just balled up tighter. :( She un-balled herself and moved around the cage last night. After 10 days, I thought she'd be hungry. My male has yet to refuse food (fingers crossed), and I expected her to do the same.

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They are all different. Expect nothing but the unexpected. Now that you have two however, if they are on the same size food, thaw half of what you think you need and feed your problem feeders first. If the problem feeders refuse the gluttons get it. If by chance you still have stuff left over you can usually re-freeze at least once if it has not been out too long. When the re-feezing goes wrong you end up with exploding rat when it is thawed again.

What is your set up like? Usually they will only stay balled up tightly when there is no where to hide that feels secure. If she is just out in the middle of the tank balled up, then she needs an appropriate hide. If she is balled up in a hide, then she is just adjusting to the new home. Continue trying to feed on whatever your normal schedule is and don't handle her until she has eaten several good meals.

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Originally Posted by Willowy

Skunks will eat dead rats.

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I was afraid of that.

The two are on different sized food. When I weighed the male last week he was at 168 grams, and the female was 260 grams the week before she shipped. There are two hides, one at the warm end and one at the cooler end, and she's balling up and hiding in them. She did come out and spent some time checking out her new home last night for the first time, and she checked to see if the cover was on securely. It was.

Exploding rat does not sound like something I really want to see. Yuck. I'm still getting used to waving thawed dead rats under the bp's noses. Maybe later on, but not right now. :O

As far as doing the unexpected, Brickle, my butter male, seems to think the rats taste better if he hisses at them first. :snake: Silly guy.

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Originally Posted by The Golem

Once the temperature of the prey drops to ambient temp, it is not food anymore so there's no point in leaving it in overnight.

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Can't say I totally agree with this, I recently had to leave my boa's meal in with her overnight since she was in shed, was still there in the morning and at my own risk I decided to leave it until I came home at lunchtime. It was gone when I got home, so she ate it over twelve hours later.

OK, next time if Bubbles doesn't eat it I'll leave it in there longer.

What I jokingly referred to earlier--Brickle hisses at the prey and then strikes. In the wild, that would probably be a disadvantage, because it would give the prey an extra second's notice that it was about to be grabbed. Do they all do this?

I was told to leave the snakes alone for two days after feeding, but I miss handling Brickle. He's such a friendly guy, it's fun to have him out. I don't want to handle Bubbles until she's less stressed and has eaten. I'm hoping she'll eat soon, she hasn't eaten since about a week before she was shipped to me, and that's 11 days ago.

What do I do with uneaten prey? Well I got boas and a Savannah monitor. I am confident that I will never have uneaten food again.

But it on a serious note, for picky eaters I leave it overnight, and usually it will be gone the next morning.

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Originally Posted by Kokorobosoi

What do I do with uneaten prey? Well I got boas and a Savannah monitor. I am confident that I will never have uneaten food again.

But it on a serious note, for picky eaters I leave it overnight, and usually it will be gone the next morning.

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Wish my Kingsnake was large enough to be a garbage disposal for BP rejected meals - but I don't think he could quite handle it! Not for lack of being willing to try - he gets excited about rats that are bigger than he is! - but here is yet another reason to justify me getting a boa... Not a huge one, perhaps, but I do really want a BRB.

If they won't eat the rat, and none of the other BPs want it, I may put it in the fridge, then heat it up that night or the next day and offer it again. If they still won't eat, it goes in the trash. My cat keeps offering to help me with those, and being told to go eat her kibble.

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Originally Posted by Kokorobosoi

What do I do with uneaten prey? Well I got boas and a Savannah monitor. I am confident that I will never have uneaten food again.

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This, except it's boas and retics. Though a full-sized retic looks rather ridiculous eating a small rat.

My rejects have been going back into the freezer. Not for feeders, but I plan to try them for fishing bait. I feel like they should work well for bass and catfish.
My three all feed differently. The enchi is a glutton and eats anything put indront of her. the coral flow is picky if he was he eats right then, if not he won't touch it if left over night. My pastel won't touch it if on tongs, but will eat if left over night. Though she hasn't eaten since she hit the 1kg wall about a month ago.


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I have enough snakes that any rejected prey will be happily accepted by another critter. When I had one or two snakes I'd refreeze a rejected feeder once but after that I'd throw it in the woods. I have an indoor cat but haven't brought myself to giving her a rat yet. Who wants to clean up that mess?

My cats don't leave a mess when they eat a rat (and mice go down pretty much whole) but the ones that eat the rodents were strays so they know what to do. I'm not sure what a house-raised cat would do. Sometimes they toss the rodents around like they're killing it, but that's not messy. . .unless someone gets squeamy about having the mouse touch the floor? I suppose a cat could be fed in a crate or small room if it bothered someone.

Idk, it just bothers me for the rodent to have died for no reason. If I didn't have cats who were willing to take care of it, I'd probably refreeze them until I had enough to make it worth it, then take them somewhere wild and dump them for the critters. Of course, I have an acreage so I'd only have to toss them out back for the raccoons/possums/skunks/whatever the heck lives back there, but if I lived in town that's what I'd do.

The cat I had when a kid would not kill anything other then the milk jug rings. Lol! I lost a hamster once with three cats in the house... They cornered it picked it up like a kitten and brought it back to me without a scratch. Not sure indoor cats would know what to do with a rat.

My dogs also ignored a rat I tried to pass off on it once. Picky buggers.

My dogs only want a rat if it has been dead for a few days, but they're kind of idiots. One of the cats I used to have was actually afraid of mice, I offered him one once, and he pawed at it, but when it squeaked he almost ran from it, and wouldn't go near one again. Of the 2 I have now, one has no teeth due to age, and the other seems content to knock over the holding tub and watch me chase the rats.
Now on the actual subject, a couple Boas and a few monitors take care of any leftovers for me, though I will stick a rodent in the fridge for a few days if no one is hungry right then.

I refreeze one time, after that they get tossed.


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