Ever heard of serving up half a rat??

[Coluber42]

Last night I was telling a colleague about my new baby, and it turns out his daughter has a ball python. He said that recently her snake had stopped eating, and she didn't think it was big enough or old enough to get away with it for too long. So at one point she went out of town and left the snake with a snake sitter who was apparently experienced with BP's. The snake sitter offered *half* of a rat, and the snake ate it right up. So after bringing the snake home, she chopped another rat in half and the snake ate that too. Apparently this was as messy as it sounds and resulted in rat guts smeared everywhere... but it got the guy eating. I don't know whether the snake has since started accepting intact food or not; we got busy and didn't finish the conversation.
But has anyone ever heard of this?? Obviously it wouldn't be a long term solution - there's no way it would be nutritionally complete with all the juicy parts squished out. It would be like squishing the creme out of a Boston creme donut (err, if there was anything nutritionally redeeming in a Boston creme). But presumably better than nothing, and maybe a strategy to get a snake eating that hasn't been? I've never heard of this... I wouldn't have expected the smell of innards to be especially enticing to an animal that usually only ever sees its prey on the outside, but maybe it is? Maybe half a rat is just less intimidating because it's only half as big?

[JodanOrNoDan]

I have rubbed mouse guts on rats for balls that had no interest in rats. They seemed to like it. I have also had a couple "exploding" rats where the diaphragm had been punctured and the intestines were hanging out. These got eaten no problem. Big nasty smelling mess to clean up afterwards. I have never purposely started with half a rat though. Interesting concept.

[ItsAllNew2Me!]

There was thread on here a few months back i believe with someone that could only find prey items twice the size of the normal feeding size. He\she asked the very same question and eventually did halve the rat. They stated that the snake ate it just fine but it was a huge mess. Viable idk...seems like it would be easier to brain the rat to get a blood scent in the air. Just me though.

[Izzys Keeper]

I've fed half a rat because I didn't have the right size. The head half goes down easy but the bottom half the snake couldn't figure out how to eat it. It kept trying from the leg

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[Ax01]

i have heard of peeps feeding half a pinkie to tiny, baby colubrids. not much guts tho really, since it’s pretty much one small blob.


the more common method of offering bloody prey to a BP is braining. cracking or cutting open the head of the pre-killed or frozen/thawed mice or rat to entice the BP to eat.

[Slim]

a snake sitter who was apparently experienced with BP's.

Mmmm Hmm...

seems like it would be easier to brain the rat to get a blood scent in the air.

Dis


OR

the more common method of offering bloody prey to a BP is braining

Dat

[LittleTreeGuy]

I have some rat fuzzies from Big Cheese that have literally broken in half from being frozen so hard and shipped, I suppose... I'll never use them, but it's good to know the snake would still eat them.

[Stewart_Reptiles]

Some people believe in keep it simple, some not so much I guess

Ridiculous thing to do when all you have to do is get the proper size feeder.

The only way I would consider this is if I had an extra small colubrid that can't even take down a pinkie, actually I have assist fed hognose with mice tails if that counts, not as gory though.

[Kibbleswhites]

I had a 17 gram ball python hatch last year that I assist fed rat pink legs to. By the time she ate the fourth leg, she was big enough to eat the body. Does that count?

[Coluber42]

I had a 17 gram ball python hatch last year that I assist fed rat pink legs to. By the time she ate the fourth leg, she was big enough to eat the body. Does that count?

17 gram?? Holy bovine. Do you have any photos? That's tiny! Did she make it?