rat woes

[ember]

I have a large male rat snake (has been with me 2 days now) that came together with a large female. I cannot walk past the tank without him striking like mad, and I spend two hours tonight changing newspaper and trying so hard to get the female out without getting nailed. I am in need of a loaner snake hook, really (mine is in storage in Eugene, and I need to get the female out right away as I suspect her to be gravid... and well, they need to be separated!). I have put out a request through my local herp club that my family belongs to. In the mean time, I am looking for ideas... How would you, without the "right" tools, go about removing this snake (that is fast and not giving me half a chance or opening at all) from his cage if you were in my situation?

I fear that the male has a RI, and in order to get him vetted, I need to first get him out of this cage, right? Furthermore, I need to get the male outta my way so I can clean and do some tank maint. He is seriously having none of this, and I did my absolute best to convince him otherwise, but it was all in vein.

Thank you in advance!

[silverdust]

Maybe put on a long sleeved shirt and gloves? That'd probably be what I would do in your situation. And even if he does get you, it shouldn't hurt much at all. Good luck!

[Pork Chops N' Corn Bread]

A large rat snake is the last of my worries Reach in and drag him out.

[JLC]

I'll PM Sheree (MedusasOwl) the link to this thread and I'll bet she can help you out next time she's on. She's got lots of experience with a fully mature and full of piss-n-vinegar rat snake. I know she used big, heavy gloves to handle him.


One piece of advice that I would offer is to have a bag right there ready to go anytime you need to remove him from the enclosure...get him out and into the bag and get the bag tied off....then you're free to deal with the enclosure and the other snake. When ready, untie the bag and place the opening into his enclosure and just nudge him out and shut the enclosure.

[MedusasOwl]

Gloves and long sleeves, although I'll even skip the long sleeves sometimes. My male blue beauty is 8ft of scared an angry! He's calmed down a little bit, but still not when I touch him.

Best thing to do is with the gloves, get his neck fast! And keep an eye on his head while you get the rest of him out and support him. If he tries to do the "back out of the glove" or "wriggle forward" trick, just make sure you have the rest of his body supported against you or on/around your arm while you get a hold of him closer to the head again with the other hand. I hope that makes sense, but it really works well for me. It ends up looking a bit like how a mime pretends to pull himself along an invisable rope, except the invisable rope is an angry snake and you're not pulling, the snake is.

Basically, one hand needs to grip near enough to the head that he can't getcha. Stretching your arms out gives both you and him a bit more room too. After a while of this he'll probably get bored and start to calm down a bit.

In putting him back, I always try to do so head first into the hide. Gives you a chance to get his butt back in and move your hand away from the head without giving him a chance to nail you. Neptune get's my glove every so often, but I've never been bit so this all seems to work. Nice thick and long work gloves. My female is super tame, but I put her back in head to hide first too because otherwise she's everywhere, lol.

Hope that helps!

[jjspirko]

Agree with the gloves and sleves as one way.

If you want to make a hook a coat hanger, a dowel and a drill will yeild a nice one, here are some of mine,

That one is a bit small for an adult rat but size is at your descrition you can make them as long and with as much gap as you like. I would probally just reach in and remove the female personaly and if I took a hit so be it. Though I would wear gloves they don't tend to get much grip on a forearm but they can do a number if they get a finger!

I personally never do the "neck thing" M.O. describes, it tends to make them nastier at least short term though I DO UNDERSTAND why others do it.

In all my years only one down (the psyco mangrove) of my snakes ever could not be tamed to be at least reasonable to handle with a hook and tail technique at worst. Sounds like he is pretty mean.

What kind of rats are they? Texas rats tend to be about the meanest of the North American group of Ealphe, at least in my expeience.

[MedusasOwl]

Yeah, I'd much prefer to hook Neptune but I need more space available first away from hard to block off mammals. The glove/neck thing works but I agree that a hook is preferred. I bet Neptune'll calm down considerably once I get my snake room to work with him more in.

Very handy DIY hook there! I'm going to have to make one of those too!

EDIT: Oh yeah, and hehe M.O.! I've never been called that before, and I watch too much Law & Order to be this amused by it.

[jjspirko]

Honestly the best thing for mean ones if you dislike bites is a set of tongs. With those you just reach in and pick up your guy or gal and they can bite the tongs all they want.

In fact at times it is a good way to get them used to being picked up. Most tend to shy away from bitting about the third or fourth time they bite into that hard steel shaft

I guess I am spoiled I buy most of my new animals as babies, if they bite then it is not big deal. I use a hook mainly for them because I can get them to not bite as in not try to do it in the first place. With a lot of biters the how you pick them up has more to do their response then anything else.

I however, do know a big Asian rat is something you prefer not to be bit into by, from um, personal experience. Still better a 8 foot beauty then a 5 foot boa, I will make that trade any day!

[MedusasOwl]

You know I'm a big ol softy when the first thing I think in regards to Neptune biting a metal shaft is "Aw, poor baby!!" Lol! It's smart though. I really do need to invest in a hook and tongs. I'm not really scared of getting bit, but I have a lovely tattoo on my wrist I'd prefer not to have embellished. They aren't called Beauties for their artistic ability.

[jjspirko]

I would not worry, I don't think it hurts them much if at all. In any event they control how much or how little discomfort they end up with. Bite harder more, bite less, less. Even a tiny snake brain seems to catch on to that one!

I have also found it sort of lets them get it out of their system and speeds up the ability to handle them with out getting tagged, with sane snakes anyway.

Midwest makes great tongs and they are not that expensive. You can make your own two, old break cable from a bike and such can be employed to do it. I did that when I was a broke kid in the coal region and wanted to field herp for copperheads and timbers.

I thought Neptune was learning to chill? Sound like he is still a hand full!