So my lovely boy Argus took his first rat today! But it was NOT easy. I weighed him at 348 grams. My smallest rat was smack at the 15% body weight mark, so I thought I'd try it. I had planned to wait until he was a bit bigger and skip a feeding so he would be extra hungry, but hey, no time like the present, yeah?

Argus knows when he gets weighed he's going to get fed, so he was waiting for his meal, sticking out of his hide, and eventaully roaming around impatiently while I thawed his dinner.

I knew it may be hard, so I thawed a mouse with the rat and rubbed them on each other. I tossed the mouse on top of the cage under the warming bulb to fill the tank with its scent, and when he was ready to go, offered the rat. BAM, struck immediately, coiled... And left it, instead poking at the mouse through the screen lid. I warmed and offered the rat again, and he took it AGAIN, and he left it. The third time he looked like he kind of tried to eat it, but it was backwards, and he gave up.

So, I cut the mouse open and rubbed it all over the head of the rat. He took it again. Immediately. But, no dice. I had to split the mouse open and rub the entire rat down with its innards, and THEN he took it and ate it. It took 5 or 6 tries. Every time he struck and coiled in seconds after being offered and LOOKED like he really wanted to eat it, but eventually would abandon it.

This whole time he was roaming the tank, striking anything that moved (retrieving the rat was a process that involved a snake hook and a quick hand), seriously hungry snake. He is not a shy eater, so me being there in his mind just meant food - He wanted the mouse he could smell. Will it always be this hard? Will he eventually warm up to the idea of just the rat, or will it be a long time of splitting mice and slathering the rat in mouse scent? I have a few more mice (three) and it'd be awesome if I didn't have to buy more.

What are your experiences with switching over to rats? Good, bad? How long did it take?