leaving f/t rats overnight?

[blueberrypancakes]

I tried to feed Bradley, my new pinstripe, this evening. Not even a lick of interest. As I have stated in another post, I have barely seen him since I got him, so I kind of suspected he might not get over his shyness for his first rat in his new place. I got him on Monday, and perhaps it's a little early to have tried, but his last meal was last Monday. He was eating live- the breeder preferred to not even knock them out- but I would rather try to get him on f/t.
Anywho, that's not the point... Is it advisable to leave a dead rat in the tank overnight? I know the little bugger comes out at night. I just know that I would not want to eat a piece of meat that has sat out all night... are snakes better equipped for this than I might be? Thanks!

[wwmjkd]

some people will leave a feeder overnight. I don't personally, but so long as you're not risking it being spoiled or rotten, I don't see too much harm. I have a few difficult eaters myself, and I've found that upping the temperatures does help. other than that it's either a battle between your patience and the needs of the snake.

[DShaw]

Yea for a few of my problem eaters Ill just leave the rat in their tub overnight and most of the time they do end up taking the rat

[Foschi Exotic Serpents]

You can but if you do, you'll have to throw it away in the morning. If you only leave it in there an hour or 2 you can refreeze it one time but some people don't even like to do this. I wouldn't do this unless you thawed the rodent and warmed it in a short period of time. If you left it out half a day to thaw, I wouldn't trust it a second time.

[notmyfault]

Is it advisable to leave a dead rat in the tank overnight? I know the little bugger comes out at night. I just know that I would not want to eat a piece of meat that has sat out all night... are snakes better equipped for this than I might be?

You can leave the rat in the tank overnight, I would do this after trying to tease the snake with the rat to see if it'll strike, if not I like to just leave it in the cage. Usually after an hour or so the rat gets too cold for the snake to even get it's interest so after an hour or so I usually take it out although it doesn't hurt to leave the rat in the cage (like cold pizza!). Normally if they WILL take it, its gone within an hour. If you do decide to leave it in the tank overnight I would definitely throw the rat away as it has already started to decompose.

[WifeOfSlasher]

Our stubborn BP took a f/t after about 5 hrs of It being left in his tank. He has only willing ate live since hatch almost 2 yrs ago. He didn't even strike as far as we know. It was like, "oh... What's this?!?" it would hurt to try overnight.

[Vypyrz]

I occasionally have to leave them in overnight with my BP. If he isn't interested, I'll just leave it laying about 2-3 inches in front of his hide, turn out the lights and leave him alone. Usually he will eat it sometime during the night. If not, I just toss it the next morning, and try again on the next feeding day...

[blueberrypancakes]

Didn't eat... I may need to try live, that's what he was eating before I got him.