Rat food..? Help, please!

[Seneschal]

So, um...it goes like this; I feed my snakes live (no access to f/t and my big girl won't even look at one anyways) and I buy from a little shop down the road. It's feeding day today and my babies fed wonderfully--but the big girl looked at the rat and then ignored her.

I think it's a her. >.>;; No big rat testicles so I assume a her.

She's probably ~200g annd...very friendly! But she's black with a white belly and usually they have white rats so that might be why. Anyways...the store's closed for the night so I can't take her back. I have her in an unused tub with a bowl of water, and I know they're omnivores and that bones are good to help with chewing, so I have some cooked, thin cut steak (not much) with bones for her to gnaw, some cut up carrots, and a slice of cut tomato...what else should I put in with her? Maybe some cereal like cheerios or that bran stuff?

I don't plan on keeping her longer than a day or two but I want to make sure I'm taking care of her properly while I have her.


Oh, I also suspect she's a dumbo...her ears are like twice the size most rats ears are; they stick out really far and are about the size of pennies. But then this is coming from someone who knows nothing about rats so I can't be sure. Anyways...um...thanks.

[littleindiangirl]

Wow! 200 gram rat? This isnt a ball python by any chance that your feeding is it?

Anyways, water is the most vital thing for her at this moment. Read Becki's rodent mix, it consists of cereal, dried fruits (no citrus) and a few nuts and oats. If you have any dog food, that should suffice for a few days. She does sound like a dumbo with the side ears.

Again, I hope you just mis calculated her weight or I misunderstood what animal your feeding her.

[ctrlfreq]

I don't plan on keeping her longer than a day or two but I want to make sure I'm taking care of her properly while I have her.

I would say that, since you aren't keeping her, it's just a stay of execution anyhow, and so you should pamper her. Water is necessary, but they really dig Jello, cotton candy, fried chicken, watermelon and corn on the cob.

Now, if you give in and name her, use Becky's mix...rodent's thrive on that stuff.

[Seneschal]

The BP girl I'm feeding her is 2100 grams; she can handle this girl and bigger--she has a good sized girth, is 4'3'' long. I'm not pushing it, don't worry. ^-^ 200 grams is just an estimate since she feels like she weighs the same as my 200g baby balls, and because the snake in question normally eats rats at 200g or so.

...I just checked, she's 175g, so I wasn't far off. But yeah, she's the appropriate size for the snake.

Thanks!! She's happily eating carrots, tomatoes (she's eaten a quarter of a slice), Great Grains raisins, dates, and pecans cereal, some steak, and I'm thinking about putting some broccoli out...no watermellon or cotton candy or stuff, but I'm sure I'll find something. I'm not putting any salty pretzels or chips in or anything.

[littleindiangirl]

She may be able to handle that size rat, but that does not make it the appropriate size for feeding weekly. You do know that over fed snakes are overweight, and are more prone to problems down the line. I would recommend smaller rat sizes for all your Bp's, if 200 grams is the norm for you.

I know that many people feed their large females 50-70 gram rats weekly and they put on weight just fine, breed fine, and are healthy all around.

[Seneschal]

I didn't think it was overfeeding; I feed her every 10 days. Not every 7. But I'll reduce the size of the rats. Thanks for the advice!

[littleindiangirl]

Well thats great, I'm glad I could help (and maybe save you some money too )

[tigerlily]

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