Alright I'm having problems with 2 of my snakes. they're both trouble eaters, and i'm really getting sick of my "methods" with the rats. I'm trying to figure out a way to save myself some time, effort, and money.

Here's my weekly schedule:

Monday evenings, I hit up the local pet shop for 2 mice. I go home, and feed them off to my pair of 06's...those little boogers are beasts! no problems feeding..they always come out hungry and attack without hesitation

After that, I visit a guy that is local to me that breeds and sells rats. I usually pick up 3 small rats. I have 2 snakes that i am still having problems with, the male is about 800g, and the female is about 1250g. I've tried every method that has been suggested and i've just come to the conclusion that they'll eat when they are ready to eat. they show interest but sometimes it's just a no go, and it's beginning to be a waste of time and resources.

I've been thinking about it for a little while and I think i've come up with an alternative to killing and freezing the rats...I really hate doing f/t because half the time i forget to pull the rats out of the freezer on feeding day and it's 7pm before i get home, which means i have to wait hours on end before the thing is warm enough to feed...and when it bursts...bleh...won't go there!

My male has successfully fed when I've left a p/k rat in with him over night, but the next morning, if he hasn't eaten it, the smell is just unbelievably horrid.

So I think i'm going to make my first attempt at keeping a few rats alive instead of giving them the old pillow bag & home run treatment.

Just a few questions for now...

What is a good bedding for rats?

Are they allergic to Aspen bedding? it seems when I put them in the enclosure with the snake they start sneezing and push the aspen around.

How do you control the smell? I probably won't have more than 5 at a time (right now), and the g/f is completely against keeping rats because of the smell.

How often do you do maintainence on the rats enclosure? is it a daily job or once every few days?

Are small rats old enough to breed? I normally get a mix of males and females and I don't need to breed them yet. Would I be better off with 2 enclosures separating males and females?

I think I have a few more questions but I can't think of them all right now. Sorry for the lengthy post..i appreciate the help