She ate! But not the rat :(

[erinisnice]

I brought home a nice small rat, with plenty of mouse bedding in the box, so it was really stinky.
I gave Flannery a long chance to eat it, but nothing. In fact she "ran" away from it as fast as she could.
I think she is actually afraid of rats! They are much bolder than the mice and get right in her face, and I think she is just scared.

So I took the rat back to the store a couple days later (we go to a little local place where they know everyone) and they gave me 2 mice instead, which of course she ate with no problem.

Should I just keep going with mice? Is there anything else I can do to make the switch to rats?

I feel like I'm dealing with a stubborn 2 year old who will only eat peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

[amercnwmn]

Its possible shes just used to the smell of mouse over rats..
Ive heard of people taking the rats and keeping them in mouse shavings to get the mouse scent on the rat..
Dont know if it works, I havent had that problem before *yet*

[tigerlily]

You can always try smaller rats.

Unfortunately some do show a preference. I have one that WILL NOT eat a rat, and I've tried the scenting with bedding tricks. She'll have none of it. So I just feed her mice. She eats them with gusto, so I will stick with what works. I'd stick with what works for awhile, and if you prefer rats then you can always try again later.

[JimiSnakes]

I used to be "pro-rat" feeding, but it's been changed over time. I've come to realize that if a snake will only eat mice, then don't switch it. It will probably only stress the snake out by trying repeatedly to switch him/her over. I mean, there is times when it's necessary (Burms, BCIs, BCCs, Retics, etc). But for a BP that can live it's whole life eating mice, why keep trying. If you really want to though, there is a lot of ways to go about it and one of them will eventually work. PM if interested.