Snake not eating live rat cage issue...

[seclark]

Okay I know from what I have read on hear that I'm probably about to get a lot of crap from some people but hopefully I will also receive some wisdom from wise and experienced BP owners.

Last night I put a live rat in my BP's cage to feed her. Normally I don't feed her in her cage but I hadn't fed her for a while and the last time I fed her (right before I left for 3 weeks on Christmas Break) she tried to tag me so I fed her in her cage instead of moving her to a box like I usually do for feeding. So I planned on feeding her in her cage again this time and then after a couple days start working up the handling again so that I wouldn't have that problem with her again.

Well except I now have another problem after i put the rat in and watched her for awhile she still hadn't eaten it, which I wasn't worried about because sometimes she takes a few minutes. Well I left the room for a little while and when I came back I didn't see the rat so I figures she ate it.

When I woke up this morning the rat was still alive and had started making a nest in her cool hide. I know I need to take the rat out but how do I go about doing that without getting tagged by my BP or bitten by the rat since it is scared it will be running away from me in the cage?

PS if there is a better section for this post I would love if an Admin would move it there.

[Swingline0.0.1]

If the rat is in the cool hide, scoop it up carefully in the hide, and put the rat in it's cage, or whatever you are using. The rat bite will hurt worse than the snake bite ever will. Your snake is not interested in the rat, or he would have eaten it before, so taking it out should not be that bad.

[Vypyrz]

First, I would suggest getting the rat out ASAP. Remember it has been awhile since the rat ate and an uninterested BP is a source of protien.
If you are afraid of getting bit put some gloves on or something, grab it with some tongs, or trap it with a glass, or something. Put the rat in a box or tupperware container with some holes poked in it and a little substrate in it until you figure out what you want to do with it. Hopefully someone with experience in keeping rats will come in and advise you from there...

[dr del]

Hi,

Best advice I can think of is to put on a nice thick pair of gloves and just reach in and remove the rat. A bite from a BP really isn't all that bad - even a feeding strike and coil will probably hurt far less than a rat bite. Try and hold the rat by the base of the tail - if you grab the end of the tail there is a chance you could strip the skin off the tail.

I'll try and avoid giving you a load of crap.

I do always check after half an hour or so that the snake actually ate - and I feed F/T. It's just a good habit to get into and leaving it half an hour generally means I don't blunder into the middle of a feeding and put them off.

How long are you pre-scenting the room before the feeding?


dr del

[iCandiBallPythons]

If you are feeding live, I would suggest ALWAYS monitor the rat and snake, I would never leave them alone unsupervised. A rat can do some major damage to a snake.

[Jenn]

Great topic. I've had this problem before too. Likely the snake will not strike you if he won't even strike the rat.

I have a huge tub available for just such a situation. I pull the tub while covering the top and place the whole thing in the larger tub. Then the rat can't jump out (sides too high) while I grab the snake. Once the snake is safe I deal with the excited rat.

[West Coast Jungle]

Like Jen mentioned if the snake is not striking at the rat it shouldn't strike at you. I do one of two things, I either

1- remove snake put her another tub then work on rat, if you are worried about getting bite this is where a snake hook or leather glover come in handy. Once again in my experience if the snake isnt going for the rat she aint going for me either so I just grabbed her. IMO they do sense fear so if your scared she will be two, if you are calm and in control she should be fine. Snake hooks can keep her calmer as she wont sense a living thing grabbing her.


2- I cover snake in her hide with opening against the side of enclosure so she doent see whats going on and remove rat. I usually grab them by the tail(rat) and have the tub or whatever you will put rat it right next to you to drop her in. Rarely do rats bite but they can be fast so have both hands ready. If you are worried she will get away or bite get a small tub with lid and dropped it over her and scoop her up from the bottom with the lid to keep her secured and dropped her into the tub you have right there waiting.

I remove live rats that are refused all the time. Its not as bad as you think, unless your a rat, LOL

[BPelizabeth]

How old is your snake? It could be that the rat scared the snake....BP's sometimes can be very nervous eaters and if the rat was going up to the snake in the snakes face...it might have intimidated the snake. Continue trying to feed in the enclosure as this is less stressful for the snakes. When I first started off ...I too fed in another enclosure. It was a pain in the butt...and it was hit or miss as the snake was stressed.

Don't ever leave the rat unattended with the snake. It can lead to a dead snake or a severly disfigured snake. Though I have heard rats bite less than mice. Also your snake is probably biting at you because she is hungry and you smelled like a rodent. Get her on a feed schedule...like once every 7 days. You also might want to try pre-killing the rat...so that it is not in her face too much. Get some tongs grab it by the scruff of the neck and make it twitch. After the snake coils the rat....tug the rats tail one time for effect.

Also how long have you fed rats???? Have you tried mice?

One other thing...it is natural for BP's to hunt at night so make sure that it is quite in the room and the lights are out...or at least it is dark. That may help as well.

I wouldn't give you a hard time....everyone is learning something. I hope that I have helped you a little!

[Wh00h0069]

You could put something in front of the ball, like a piece of cardboard, and then pick the rat up. Another option is long hemostats, which is what I use. Good luck.

[seclark]

Thanks for all your replies everyone I actually didn't wait for the replies I just took the rat out and took this particular one back. I waited a week and tried again. Once again she didn't go for the rat (she is almost 4 years old by the way I have had her for almost a year) so after a while I took it out waited a day and fed it. I thought that maybe she was more comfortable being fed out of the cage because she always had been (when I adopted her she was eating rats has always eaten live, I was told when I adopted her F/T had been tried several times and never worked, I have tried mice and she was never interested) when I went to take her out of the cage she seemed like she might strike me (I have had her long enough to notice when she is acting a little differently) so I decided to try putting the rat in her cage again and she ate it right away!

PS Sorry for such a long response