Snake wont eat a rat.

Snake is 230g and I want to move from mice to rats. It will eat a f/t mouse in a heatbeat. I put a small live pinky rat (15g) in the cage and the snake just checked it out. It has been a week since last meal. She is going into shed but this has not stopped her before. Should I just offer the larger live rat next week or give her a mouse? I am thinking of sticking to my guns and only offering her rats from here on out.

Nothing is wrong with feeding mice.. They grow and thrive on them just as well, you just have to feed 2 mice instead of one rat.

If she's eating well on mice, keep feeding them to her. All 42 of mine eat mice, and they are quite happy :)

gotta say that my mitch is a mouser, every once in a while i can trick him by pre scenting with a mouse but he recently started catchin on and doesnt want nothin to do wit rats

Allright, so last night I put the baby rat in there and left him overnight. Either he escaped or got eaten cause now he his gone.
So my snake ate the unsented rat last night. I am gonna stick another one in there today and she if she goes for it right away.:)

Good luck with getting her switched over!! :)

I have a mouser, my older girl will not eat consistently with rats like she does mice, my other younger girl will take either, if it is food she will eat it!:P So in order to make things easier for myself, I just feed them both mice. This way everyone is happy!!;)

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Originally Posted by the bull

Allright, so last night I put the baby rat in there and left him overnight. Either he escaped or got eaten cause now he his gone.

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Fortunately the rat didn't eat the snake.

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Originally Posted by Cop

Fortunately the rat didn't eat the snake.

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Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't baby rats completely harmless???

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Originally Posted by td30

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't baby rats completely harmless???

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Until their eyes open and they grow some chomping teeth, yes they are basically harmless.

Once their eyes open and they can eat hard food, they are no longer harmless and can chew your snake.

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Originally Posted by td30

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't baby rats completely harmless???

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Yep, no fur, cant bite or anything. I put a second one in that day and she ate that one too. So far so good.

A snake weighing 230g should be eating bigger items than rat pinks. Throw a fat rat pup in there.

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Originally Posted by FIREball

A snake weighing 230g should be eating bigger items than rat pinks. Throw a fat rat pup in there.

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True dat, as soon as they get that big I will throw one in there. Right now, I am just starting out so they are small.

I was thinking 2 babies this week live then 1 live fuzzy next week, then a live pup the next then p/k and frozen rat pups from there on out.:gj:

If your snake is currently taking f/t mice, stick with f/t when switching to rats. Going from f/t to live may give yourself even more headache to deal with.

I have a BP who was taking f/t small adult mice. I tried offering a f/t rat fuzzy and had no luck... but when I offered a f/t rat pup, he snagged it right up! I guess he was used to having the furry body. I didn't even need to pre-scent or anything and the transition went much easier than I thought it would.

Try a f/t rat pup... they are the same size as an adult mouse and they look almost identical. Anything smaller than a rat pup is too small for your snake.