My yearling BP eating a HUGE RAT

[KFG_Reptiles]

Hi guys,

Just want to share my year-old ball python eating a huge wild-caught rat in my house.




Huge lump

Thats what i call a happy meal!




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[BallPythonWannaBe]

Wild caught? What do you mean by this?

[Hannahshissyfix]

I wouldnt do that. Way more likely to feed your snake something full of parasites and if it was alive way more likely to put up more of a fight and hurt your snake.

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[Tonald Drump]

Yeah, agree with the posts above, that rat could be carrying a kaleidoscope of diseases, and since it was wild-caught, that means it's at least competent at defending itself from predatirs so it could have very well killed your snake (if it was alive when you presented it). Great pics tho

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[KFG_Reptiles]

Wild caught? What do you mean by this?

‘Wild’ as in scurrying around my house for months. Looks clean. Finally caught it today, stunned/killed it by hammer and fed it.


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[Hannahshissyfix]

"Looks clean" has gotten plenty of people into bad situations.

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[JRLongton]

‘Wild’ as in scurrying around my house for months. Looks clean. Finally caught it today, stunned/killed it by hammer and fed it

Got bad news for you. You don't normally have just one rat. They're social animals and live in communities. For every one you see, you can bet there a ten more you haven't.

We had mice in an apartment we lived in. No matter how many we caught there were always more. The only effective remedy was getting a cat. They disappeared real fast after she arrived. I hear dogs can be equally if not more effective also.

Good luck with that.

[bcr229]

"Looks clean" has gotten plenty of people into bad situations.

This. Wild rodents are often riddled with worms. Also as was pointed out rats live in colonies and if a neighbor put out poison for them then your snake would have eaten that too.

Never ever feed a wild rodent to your snake.

[Hannahshissyfix]

Yep that female didn't get herself pregnant and probably not her first pregnancy at that size. I hope you're able to get them taken care of fast. I had a lone male get into my basement a few years ago and cause literally thousands in damage. Ate holes through my basement steps, into the bottom of my kitchen cabinets, out the toe kick part under cabinets, then chew the wiring in my stove and destroy the whole thing.

This. Wild rodents are often riddled with worms. Also as was pointed out rats live in colonies and if a neighbor put out poison for them then your snake would have eaten that too.

Never ever feed a wild rodent to your snake.

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[MissterDog]

Generally it’s a bad idea to feed your snake wild animals. If you have no way of verifying that animal is free of disease, parasites or poison, don’t risk it. Ever. Unless you have your own lab to do blood tests or X-ray vision, you can’t judge that by just looking at an animal.


Good luck. Hope your snake will be okay.