Problem feeder

[Daigga]

Hey guys, thank you for your replies. Last week I gave her a small live rat. She took it just fine. This weekend I tried small f/t rat and she was not interested. I guess I am stuck with live for now. Hopefully I will manage to get her on F/T. Sooner the better cause I am afraid live rats will hurt her.

Some snakes just don't want F/T. You can try to convert them, but I've found it easier to just give them what they want.

If she has a good feeding response, I wouldn't worry too much about the rat trying to hurt her. Feel free to be choosy when picking your feeder rat; try holding it around the body and not by the tail. If it tries to bite you or wiggle away, maybe try to pick a more docile one. The docile ones might sniff at a snake (I had one that tried to push bedding onto my big girl as soon as she was dropped in. Making herself cozy and whatnot), but they don't usually try to bite. As for nippy rats, I've noticed that my live feeder has an incredible food response as long as I manage feeding time correctly, and any feeder that gets dropped in doesn't last five seconds.

Besides being picky about the temperament of your rat, here is what I do to keep Chelsea safe (and fat); I have a critter tote that I put my rats into upon purchase right now that's lined with aspen chunks. It makes a nice rustling noise whenever the rat moves around. I put the tote close to where I keep Chelsea (right now this is next to her tank, but soon I'll end up just putting it on the table next to the rack. She usually hangs out in her hide in a ball, but after about five minutes of listening to the rat rustling around she's uncoiled and coming out of her hide; very obviously looking for her food. Once I can see she's in feed mode, it's drop and go; the rat hits bedding, Chelsea hits rat, end of story (no feed response? no rat). She gets fed once a week on the same day every week, and she starts to get antsy the day before feeding. You should be able to see pretty clearly if your girl isn't interested in eating, but if she fakes you out and decides she isn't all that hungry after all (This has only happened to me with my F/T eaters, but I suppose anything is possible) you can always put the rat back in the tote and try again later. I'm sure you already know, but if you don't have a tote don't leave the rat in the cardboard carrier most places give you. Rats, mice, and any other rodents get bored in these and can easily eat their way out.