Problems digesting rats?

Someone told me yesterday that ball pythons, specifically, cannot digest rats very well. She said that her ball python had died from this and her vet told her about their digestion problems with rats. Is there any truth to this? I've always thought of them as just larger mice.

LOL if this were true, I dont think 90% of the people here would have living snakes.


Most people feed rats. I must say that whoever told you that, probably had underlying issues that caused the snake to die.

I don't think so Herbie, all of my balls love rats and never have any problems digesting them in a day. I think perhaps this person didn't actually listen to the vet, and is probably more or less butchering what the vet really said. (or maybe the Vet wasn't a herp vet, who knows?)

BP's eat rats in the wild, they are perfectly capable of digesting them in captivity.

Thats what I was thinking, but I didn't want to accuse her of anything. Maybe her vet just told her that to let her down gently! *shrug* Glad that my babies aren't going anywhere!

I can't see there being any truth to that either. Her ball python dying was surely caused by some other factor. Maybe, just maybe she didn't thaw the rat fully? I've heard of that causing gut rot which can kill a snake. Or the temperatures in the enclosure were not correct for digestion which could have caused a meal or meals to rot in the snakes belly.

I feed all my balls rats and none of them have any problems with digestion!

Perhaps her vet told her that they can't digest rats (if they're kept at a temperature of 65 degrees), and she left out the part in the parentheses?

Mine digest rats just fine, thank you - they're doing it right now, in fact.

~Bruce

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Originally Posted by BrucenBruce

Perhaps her vet told her that they can't digest rats (if they're kept at a temperature of 65 degrees), and she left out the part in the parentheses?

Mine digest rats just fine, thank you - they're doing it right now, in fact.

~Bruce

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Sounds logical to me. :]

Problems digesting come from poor husbandry not the food.

As far as I know the only problem with rats is that they are a lot higher in fat so startig snakes on rats too soon can cause fatigue and obesity but only in extreme cases of power feeding.

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Originally Posted by Jo81

As far as I know the only problem with rats is that they are a lot higher in fat so startig snakes on rats too soon can cause fatigue and obesity but only in extreme cases of power feeding.

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Any snake power fed on ANY prey item may suffer ill effects of some sort or other. In the case of powerfeeding, rats are not the issue, the poor feeding decisions of the owner of the snake are. Many bp's hatchlings are started on rat pinks and do just fine if fed appropriately.

To the OP, if rats were not easily digested by ball pythons (and boas and milksnakes for that matter), I'd have almost 50 snakes here in trouble. I don't. All of them eat rats, either regular rats or african soft furred rats of a size appropriate for each snake. I've no idea what killed your friend's snake or what that vet really said but I doubt it's traceable to feeding a healthy rat to a healthy snake in a recognized feeding manner and that snake being kept in such a way as to allow for proper digestion and overall health.

I didn't read the posts after the poll, so I apologize if this has already been said. But, I think the only way a bp will have problems digesting a rat is if you're feeding WAY too large of a prey item. The same general rule of thumb applies, feed one rat approximately the same width as the widest part of your bp and your snake will THRIVE...

When I had my scare with IBD that some of you may recall, when the vet called me to tell me the results of the necropsy, she told me that the snake had some impacted waste. She was convinced this was due to the snake eating rats, (specificalled haired rats, and keep in mind that the snake had barely eaten, only force fed a few pinkies). She said the hair causes extreme digestive issues and its much better to feed only pinkies, or hairless rats. I did't want to argue with her on the phone, so I just laughed it off and said I breed hairless rats (which I do, but not for that reason).

Some vets are just clueless, thankfully, this vet was just a middle man, and was not the vet who did the actual necropsy.

That's hilarious Peter! I mean really what does this vet think? That out in nature snakes won't eat until some mangy, hair mostly fallen off rodent manages to wander by. These animals were designed by nature specifically to eat rodents - rodents with fur. They are able to digest so much better than say an owl which passes a pellet. I've cleaned up a LOT of snake crap in my time. I hardly ever see undigested anything in there and by the sheer amount of snake crap I deal with in a month, I'm not thinking any snake here is backed up LOL.

Maybe the vet could patent some tofu rats

I've never had any snake that I have owned have a problem digesting anything. Including rabbit eaters.