Meet Salt and Pepper -- White Oak Gray Rats

[Humble308]

Hey yall, just got these little guys this morning. Male and female white oak phase gray rats. I wanted to try my hand at breeding, these are both 100% het for albino which I imagine look pretty gnarly. Just the sweetest things so far, just got enough time to snap a couple pics before heading into work.

Female - Pepper
http://i111.photobucket.com/albums/n127/Humble308/IMG_20151201_101201264_zps86hwgh3e.jpg (http://s111.photobucket.com/user/Humble308/media/IMG_20151201_101201264_zps86hwgh3e.jpg.html)


Male –Salt - He's got some great looking orange eyes. Are they known to keep their eye colors?
http://i111.photobucket.com/albums/n127/Humble308/IMG_20151201_101443873_zpstqbivds0.jpg (http://s111.photobucket.com/user/Humble308/media/IMG_20151201_101443873_zpstqbivds0.jpg.html)
http://i111.photobucket.com/albums/n127/Humble308/IMG_20151201_101503381_zpsjipgtuih.jpg (http://s111.photobucket.com/user/Humble308/media/IMG_20151201_101503381_zpsjipgtuih.jpg.html)

The breeder said they were July hatchlings I think...seems like awhile for the snakes to be so small? I'm not set on the names yet...what do you think?

Anyways. All the best!

[Sylphie]

Nice! And I think that they aren't too small for they age, remember that every snake grows different :)

Keep the pics coming and all the best for you and little ones!

[Slithersaurus]

Nice rats! Both of them looks really great! I always like the P. obsoleta complex group, they are extremely cute as babies and are majestic looking creature when become adults.

[Humble308]

Nice! And I think that they aren't too small for they age, remember that every snake grows different :)

Keep the pics coming and all the best for you and little ones!

Great to know, Thank you!

Thanks Slither, I want to built their enclousures with a bit more vertical since it seems they like to use branches to get height.

[Handyhens]

Wow! They're really pretty. How is their temperament?

[Humble308]

Wow! They're really pretty. How is their temperament?

Thanks! So far they're very calm. Didn't mind being handled and tolerated the pictures with no fuss. Though I've heard gray rats can be nippy and aggressive so I guess we'll see :D

[toddnbecka]

If you handle them regularly as they grow they shouldn't become nippy or flighty. Good looking young ones, I would think the eye color would remain the same.

[Bandit]

Great looking snakes! I always love working with rat snakes.

[Humble308]

Thanks guys! The breeder told me last night that the yellow eyes were the only ones in the clutch like that he'd thought about keeping it himself but thought I'd like him. Very good experience with Gary Kettring.

Can't wait till they get some girth on them. Headed to the Restore home supply place Saturday to see if I can't get a piece furniture to refab into a nice enclousure. Bean Farm just shipped out my flexwatt and clips. Hoping for no escapes...Lilith still hasn't turned up :/ All the best yall.

[Bandit]

Hopefully you wind up finding the bull, best of luck.

And that would be awesome to make them a nice-sized tank. At work we have 3 rat snake set ups right now. All of them are 6' tall, and I believe 4' long by 2' deep, but I could be wrong on that. They all seem to enjoy the space and definitely make good use of it.

[Humble308]

Update : Hey guys/gals they're doing pretty well and took their first meal last night. Currently they're in this 20L until I finish their main enclosure in about 2 days. I come upstairs to find Salt just stretched out enjoying the belly heat, he's not afraid of anything and just stares you down hahaha.

Pepper is a bit more shy and generally runs to her hide when I come in the room. Initially I was concerned with housing them together but found them snuggled up this morning, I think they should be fine for the next couple days together. I didn't want to bother her with photos so Salt is the star of the show.

http://i111.photobucket.com/albums/n127/Humble308/IMG_20151207_202921007_zps4srevot1.jpg (http://s111.photobucket.com/user/Humble308/media/IMG_20151207_202921007_zps4srevot1.jpg.html)


He lazily tossed down this live pink.
http://i111.photobucket.com/albums/n127/Humble308/88cc5905-54ee-47b8-94f3-05a265481533_zpsbckaaaql.jpg (http://s111.photobucket.com/user/Humble308/media/88cc5905-54ee-47b8-94f3-05a265481533_zpsbckaaaql.jpg.html)

Caught em snuggling!
http://i111.photobucket.com/albums/n127/Humble308/IMG_20151208_084808138_zpswrjyhler.jpg (http://s111.photobucket.com/user/Humble308/media/IMG_20151208_084808138_zpswrjyhler.jpg.html)

LIES....
http://i111.photobucket.com/albums/n127/Humble308/IMG_20151207_202942556_zps5erfpzap.jpg (http://s111.photobucket.com/user/Humble308/media/IMG_20151207_202942556_zps5erfpzap.jpg.html)

[Humble308]

I found Pepper dead this afternoon during my lunch break. Last night was feeding night and Salt wolfed down 2 xs pinks, but she didn't want anything to do with hers so I'd left it on a paper towel. She has always been fairly lethargic so I figured she'd eat it later.

They're both about 6 months old (I've had them since the Dec 2) but she looked like a hatchling corn. I'm not certain of what happened. Their husbandry is spot on with ambient just being a couple degrees too low at 67-70, but not enough to kill I would think? I noticed she didn't move much compared to Salt who's fairly active and utilizes the arboreal decorations often.

I don't know. I'm pretty bummed right now, it seems like the hits just keep on coming after Lilith's escape.

[Humble308]

Here are a couple pics of their enclosure. Initially they were divided and seperated but somehow they kept finding their way to each other, so I just said eff it and gave them more climbing room. Since I've had them I'd never confirmed Pepper ate bc they've always been housed together and Salt usually leaves her food alone. But the breeder had fed them on 11/29 so I doubt in less than a month she'd starve, assuming she hasn't eaten once?!

http://i111.photobucket.com/albums/n127/Humble308/IMG_20151212_165534001_zps7qtncrwb.jpg (http://s111.photobucket.com/user/Humble308/media/IMG_20151212_165534001_zps7qtncrwb.jpg.html)

http://i111.photobucket.com/albums/n127/Humble308/IMG_20151216_245155436_zpsbnvz7mgk.jpg (http://s111.photobucket.com/user/Humble308/media/IMG_20151216_245155436_zpsbnvz7mgk.jpg.html)

[Slithersaurus]

Sorry for your loss. I can see that Pepper is really thin comparing to your other one. Could it be that she regurgitated once before coming to your hands and has been suffering internal injury from her own stomach acid since. Many baby snakes die due to this cause.

Anyway, nice cage! It looks like two story house for snake. Hope Salt likes it.

[Humble308]

Sorry for your loss. I can see that Pepper is really thin comparing to your other one. Could it be that she regurgitated once before coming to your hands and has been suffering internal injury from her own stomach acid since. Many baby snakes die due to this cause.

Anyway, nice cage! It looks like two story house for snake. Hope Salt likes it.

Now that you mention this, it very well could be that possibility. The day I got them I came home to find what looked like a hunk of an adult rodent leg and it smelled pretty bad. I didn't know what to make of it and removed it from the cage. Is it common practice to feed mouse parts to snakes instead of pinkies? The leg was large...larger than what I would expect either snake to be able to eat. The breeder said they were feeding on pinkies. But I think you're onto something with the regurg. If I see this again in the future is there anyway to prevent or heal the internal injury? I provided a hotspot, but they were fed a few days before I get them and I imagine the stress of travel could cause this.

Thanks for the tip. I hope to prevent this in the future.

[Slithersaurus]

I think the only solution is to avoid regurgitation at the first place, especially in the very young snake. If your snake regurgitate, what you can do is to make sure that they will have their need prepared. Temp must be right, clean water must always be there as snake will be likely to drink more often when they have internal injury from regurgitation. Do not bother or feed the snake for a week and hope that it will be able to heal by itself. Well, if the snake is healthy, well fed and has proper weight before, it normally would heal up, but if it's weak or very very young, it may not make it, it's up to fitness of individuals as well.

If the snake survive, in the next feeding, try offering smaller prey than usual to ensure that they can easily digest it. Double regurgitation is something you would want to happen the least, as for some snake, it could lead to certain death.

Well, that's waht I know. My corn snake used to regurgitate as baby due to the unusually cold weather while she hasn't settled to her new home. I did those above and she survived and is now a good healthy subadult that eats like pig.

[EL Ziggy]

Sorry for your loss Humble. Not sure what went wrong there but keep a close eye on your other critter.

[Humble308]

Thanks Zigs, I contacted the breeder mainly out of courtesy to let him know, I imagine it's even tougher when they lose one after it leaves. He said he'd replace her, which I wasn't expecting, but sad all the same. We concurred on the regurg and going to wait for warmer weather to ship. Salt is still doing well, we moved his enclosure upstairs where it's much easier to maintain ambient. Going to give him a couple weeks off from handling to settle after all the moving.