Snake not eating

[Toddnkaya]

My Snake is about 8 months old & has been a great eater. I feed a live mouse 1x/week. He has eaten a couple small rats in the past with no problem.

Two weeks ago, he refused to eat a small rat. It was larger than any that he has been fed and the rat didn't move much. I assumed that it was either the size or lack of movement and exchanged it for a mouse the next day which he ate with no problem.

Four days ago, I got another rat that was also possibly a bit too big and also didn't move much. He again seemed uninterested, so I removed it after an hour or two.

Today, I got a much smaller rat that he could easily handle- this one is also much more active. It has been in the tank with the snake for an hour and the snake is not eating it.

It has sniffed it nose to nose, flinched, has slithered over it several times and the rat has climbed on him several times. The snake is now slithering around the tank and spending a lot of time at the top near the lid.

Otherwise, I did everything the same as I normally do- I removed the hides and all temps, humidity, etc have been steady.

How long should I leave the rat in? What might be the problem? What else can I do?

Thanks
Todd

[ballpythonluvr]

You should remove that rat ASAP. It sounds like your snake is getting stressed out with the rat being in the enclosure. It also sounds like your snake prefers mice over rats.

[Slim]

Don't leave it unsupervised for any amount of time. If your snake went nose to nose with it, and didn't strike, he's not going to. The reason he's hanging out at the top of the cage is becaused he's stressed. Take the rat out and let your snake chill. You can try again next week.

You might want to start him with rat crawlers instead of small rats.

[Toddnkaya]

Thanks for the comments so far. I will remove the rat.

[Toddnkaya]

So they can clearly smell the difference between a rat and a mouse?
Is it an ok practice to take out the hides?I don't want the mouse hiding.
Thanks,
Todd

[KatStoverReptiles]

So they can clearly smell the difference between a rat and a mouse?
Is it an ok practice to take out the hides?I don't want the mouse hiding.
Thanks,
Todd

They can totally smell the difference. Totally.

I would only take out the hides if you don't have a whole lot of open space in the tank/tub. Sometimes snakes like to stay in their hides and ambush the passing prey.

[Toddnkaya]

I am going to clean all the substate out to get the rat smell out.
Is it ok to try to feed him tomorrow? refused yesterday. 2 weeks since he ate.
Thanks,
Todd

[Slim]

Wait at least 5 days between feeding attempts. They can go quite some time between meal with no ill effect. The important thing right now is to let him relax before the next feeding attempt, which means no handling except for husbandry reasons until you get him eating again.

[RetiredJedi]

Is it an ok practice to take out the hides?I don't want the mouse hiding.
Thanks,
Todd

I make sure and take their water bowls out of their tubs before I feed so that they don't spill it when I feed them. Then I replace the water after they reset their jaw and return to their warm spot/hide. However, I agree to only take the hides out if there isn't enough room in the enclosure but then again i guess that is another thing that varies by BP.

[RestlessRobie]

I leave the hides in when feeding some of mine actually strike from there hides and drag the rodent back into the hide after they have constricted it I beleive it is because they like the security of the hide. As for switching to rats if that is what you want to do. Get slightly smaller rats about the size of the mice you are feeding. When you purchase the rat ask them to toss some of the mouse bedding into the box with the rat. Leave the rat and box on top of the enclosure for the snake to smell for 30-60min. Then add said rat to enclosure and see if he eats. This has worked for both my mousers and both are now taking rats without a problem. I have even got on to switch to F/T still working on the other but he has always been a picky eater. He likes all white males Hope this helps let us know how it goes