What to do with jumbo rats?

So I have started a small collection of ball pythons for breeding and currently am pairing one set but i have bought more for future breeding and one is a large yellow belly female. She is currently 1350 having just laid this year for the previous owner and she needs to put on some mass. she currently is off feed having just shed so i plan to offer another large to get he eating again but i have a jumbo sized male that was my starting male for breeding my rats and now i have replaced him so he is just taking up a tub at this time since i dont house more then one male in a tub and i would like to feed him off now before he gets any bigger then extra large/ jumbo but im not sure what to do with him? I was thinking of offering him to my yellowbelly but she is on the slim side having laid this year my question is what do i do with him? If i offer him and she kills him and he is too large will she just not eat him? My only other option at this point would be to freeze him an hope she gains size in time to eat him later or see of my local store that i was buying rats from would be interested in store credit.

I wouldn't feed a large retired breeder male rat to a 1350 gram female (especially not live). I would euthanize the retired breeder and leave it outside for the crows/vultures/possums.

If you can get your hands on true dwarf Norway rats: you will never have to worry about prey being too large for a ball python. A few places online sell dwarf Norway rats as pets and if you get lucky you can find local pet breeders with them. :)

Live jumbo would be a huge risk

Frozen your BP could spit it back out or keep it down and injure itself if we are talking real jumbo, and even if it went well your BP would be sluggish for days.

You don't pack on wait any faster with massive prey, smaller weekly will do fine, around here 4000 grams females still don't get anything bigger than 175 grams rat

Euthanize humanely using CO2 or cervical dislocation, freeze, sell to someone with a larger snake.

Alternatively, buy a larger snake to eat your retired breeders.

Also I would never offer a live jumbo rat to any of my snakes.

Is it tamed? Is it possible just to post an add for someone who wants a pet rat for xmas?

Yea I'm weird like that... If death can be prevented for an animal that is still relatively healthy...

I dont really want a larger snake so i am thinking that i will just go the route of co2 and seeing if the local store will give credit or take it over for the barn cats as they are kept at the farm for rodent control, as for seeing if it could be a pet i dont hate rats they are rather neat but not for a pet as they have such a short life close to a year an tend to die off from cancers and tumors i wouldnt feel right giving it to someone as a pet for it die months later.

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Originally Posted by miller17015

...... or see of my local store that i was buying rats from would be interested in store credit.

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I would give the store a call and see if they would give you store credit and if so then what condition they would want you to bring it in.
Live or Pre-killed or Frozen do you know how to make a CO2 chamber, (I myself personally would want to try and do a cervical break on a large rat)
But I definitely wouldn't give it in either condition (live,pre-killed, or F/T) to your snakes. It's just too big.

Or you could do like Lord Sorril said and give it pre-killed to the crows/vultures/possums if you got some around cause hey they got to eat too.

Another option is a Facebook local reptile group if you only want to sell off a few feeders at a time. They are cracking down on live animal sales but if you post it up as a frozen feeder it will move. You may also find a buyer for excess feeder rats if your own snakes don't eat them all.

Selling as a pet is an option but we don't know what lineage the OP's rat came from, and as was pointed out unfortunately cancer/tumors do run in some lines. People who breed for pets try to avoid them as they look for longevity, people who breed rats as feeders aren't as concerned with it.

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Originally Posted by ballpythonsrock2

.... do you know how to make a CO2 chamber, (I myself personally would ​not want to try and do a cervical break on a large rat)

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Sell it. Find somebody with a Boa or Hawk . The falconry guys pay $10-15 for live jumbos.