Ball python and small rats

Hi there, im new here and have a quick question, i own a ball python roughly 4 years old and he's 3.5-4 feet long, as of lately he's been eating 3 large mice every 2 weeks, i think he is big enough to take on small rats, so i went out and bought one today for him to eat (he hasnt yet he's in a very large box with the rat inside, i check on him about every 5min to make sure everything is ok in there) should i keep him on the rat (about 5-6inches) or should i take him out and go back to mice?

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Originally Posted by deathblooms

Hi there, im new here and have a quick question, i own a ball python roughly 4 years old and he's 3.5-4 feet long, as of lately he's been eating 3 large mice every 2 weeks, i think he is big enough to take on small rats, so i went out and bought one today for him to eat (he hasnt yet he's in a very large box with the rat inside, i check on him about every 5min to make sure everything is ok in there) should i keep him on the rat (about 5-6inches) or should i take him out and go back to mice?

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I would hope so I have 8 month old snakes eating small rats..

If he doesn't eat the rat in 20 minutes, you want to remove the rat and house it with food and water.

Ball pythons can be imprint feeders, and he may never switch to rats.

sounds good, he still hasnt touched it yet, so im not sure if he's not interested or just not presently hungry.

you may also want to try the "shake and bake" method.

place the rat in a bag with the substrate from rats ( containing poop and so on)
give a nice coating to the rat with a few small shakes
place rat in with the snake ( wait at least a week from last feeding)

the snake will smell its normal prey and go for it

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Originally Posted by NickMyers03

you may also want to try the "shake and bake" method.

place the rat in a bag with the substrate from rats ( containing poop and so on)
give a nice coating to the rat with a few small shakes
place rat in with the snake ( wait at least a week from last feeding)

the snake will smell its normal prey and go for it

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You mean substrate from mice. Another way is to put some bedding from mice in the cage 15 minutes before you introduce the rat. That way he smells mice and when the rat is put in he thinks it's a mouse and hits it. Some guys never switch over. Good luck

thanks for the replies guys, i took the rat back to the store and picked up afew mice, he's still not going for it, so i think he may just not be in the eating "mood", i'll give him a couple days and try again.

Some times older Ball Pythons that have been raised on mice for their entire lives, will refuse to eat rats. But I would definitely keep trying him on it.

If it eats mice feed it mice. If it eats rats feed it rats. Mice are no better or worse then rats as a food source, you'll just need more of them.

A 4 year old snake that always eaten mice may never transition over to rats and really he doesn't have to. If he's doing beautifully on multiple mice and takes them with a consistent, aggressive feeding response each week then heck, count your blessings and don't fix what ain't broke. :D

get a mouse size rat and he should take it then you can up the size from there.

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Originally Posted by moespeaking

get a mouse size rat and he should take it then you can up the size from there.

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LOL tell that to my 3 stubborn mouse eating ball pythons would you please. I've tried letting a mouse sized albino rat pup run with the live mice before offering, I've tried putting dirty mouse bedding in a small pile in the corner of the snake's cage, I've tried begging and freaking pleading LOL. Some bps like what they like. If they are doing well on multiple mice then unless it's just a convience for the keeper to switch to a single rat, I personally wouldn't worry about it. It's more about volume of prey and the quality of that prey as a feeder that I'm always more concerned about with our collection.

I agree with franky it is up to the snake but this is the method I used on my stubborn female and it worked .

Im still amazed that a barely noticeable change in odor will make some snakes not eat basically the same thing