Baby rat...?

[Nicky]

today at the expo i bought a baby rat for my cornsnake but my corns being stubborn and not eating it
i feel really bad for the poor little guy. does anyone know how to take care of him like feeding water tempature that sorta thing and like how would u feed a 3 week old rat? is there any chance i can save him/her if not then any ideas on how to get my snake to eat or if that fails the fastest way to kill him/her so he/she dosen't suffer?

[SCReptiles]

Some corns are picky about switching to rats. The one we have at the nature center will only take mice. There is not much you can do with an un-winged rat. I would suggest putting him in the freezer. Next time you have a mouse rub it all over the rat and try again.

[Reptiles4ever]

When is the last time u fed ur corn normally it should eat it right up. sorry i cant help ya with the raising part but other then that i dunno wut the problem would be

[SCReptiles]

Oh, and the quickest kill if you do not have Co2 is to hold it by the back legs and hit the back of its head on something solid.

[Nicky]

she always eats normaly i think it might be the the fact thats its a baby rat and shes used to adult mice that run around alot
as for the killing part i don't really want to hit it over the head maybe the freezer part man i hate killing baby rats or mice :(

[Nicky]

hmm well the rats taking some cream i gave it i dunno i guess cream would be better than milk i'm gonna call up a vet or someone who can help hopefull it'll survive it would be a shame if it died what a waste of life feedings ok but dying for no reasons horrible

[Reptiles4ever]

Good luck hopefully it will survive

[Zoe]

Kill it and freeze it... when you get your snake switched to dead prey and dead rats you can thaw it out and feed it to your snake.

Zoe

[ChokeOnSmoke]

you can buy formula from a pet store
Do a search on the net there is a bunch of info
I had the same problem happen to me but with mice and couldn't kill the little guys so I got a syringe and fed them from that(without the actual needle on it)
They lived for probably 2 weeks and then both dies in the same day. Must not have been getting something they needed.
When I started to feed them they were only a week old I think not even a fuzzy yet. You have to feed them a bunch of small meals everyday and help them defecate by rubbing their bums with a warm wet cloth or something of sort.
Good Luck

[ohh_kristina]

I would kill it and freeze it. I, too, have been in that situation. I had fed baby rats to try and raise them..it never works. They always die eventually. Save yourself the effort.

[Lisa]

Start feeding your snake dead mice, then get it on dead rats.

[mykee]

NO CREAM!! Rats are not kittens, they cannot digest cream or milk. If it is 3 weeks old like you say, it should be weaned, or really close to being weaned. It should eat on its own. If you do not have the knowledge or space to raise a rat, kil it and freeze it. Best for both you, and the rat.

[maiden_canada]

Originally posted by mykee
NO CREAM!! Rats are not kittens, they cannot digest cream or milk.

unless im wrong cats are lactose-intolerant?

[C.m.pyrrhus]

Situations like this make me wonder why some folks get snakes. You would think that they would fully understand the problems that arise with keeping them. I personally would kill it, freeze it and use it on a later day.

In the future I would suggest purchasing some frozen mice. That way you do not have to deal with the killing, and all this can be avoided. But understand if you cannot kill prey, then do not buy live again. Honestly, something you have to deal with....

[mykee]

Maiden, you are correct, CATS are lactose-intolerant. Not kittens.

[maiden_canada]

ahh mykee i didn't know that, do you feed kittens milk because they need calcium? i don't understand why kittens aren't lactose-intolerant though, what changes when they're older?

[ohh_kristina]

Originally posted by C.m.pyrrhus
Situations like this make me wonder why some folks get snakes. You would think that they would fully understand the problems that arise with keeping them. I personally would kill it, freeze it and use it on a later day.

In the future I would suggest purchasing some frozen mice. That way you do not have to deal with the killing, and all this can be avoided. But understand if you cannot kill prey, then do not buy live again. Honestly, something you have to deal with....

I agree with this. Though I have been keeping for a while now, it is still heart breaking to have to kill a rat..but you have to do it. It comes with the territory, so to speak. Toughen up!

[maiden_canada]

if the snake kills it in 1-2mins, and you can kill it in under 10seconds, whats the problem? its the same when you hit it against a wall as when you toss it in the cage.

[C.m.pyrrhus]

IMO killing is killing. For us as people, we find the need to make death as painless as posible for moral reasons. I have even taken a baby rat as a pet because he showed to be "smarter" than the rest and felt a bit of affection for the little guy.

I do have a heart, but I also know that I am keeping many rodent eating animals. The time it takes prey to die at the "hands" of a snake is usually slower than that of what we as people can do, and usually with less pain and discomfort, but we still find it bad or evil to do anything other than what is recommended by societies moral stanards. This boggles me. I don't get it...:: shrugs ::

[lilyskip]

CM--I don't think the issue is that we find it 'bad' or 'evil' to kill a rat, it's just difficult to be the one who has to do it. although it's clearly faster and more humane for the rat, we end up with the sole responsibility for ending something's life, rather than just being an instrument of its death. i think a lot of it also comes from squeamishness (at least, I can speak for myself on that one).

I agree with everybody, though...killing rodents comes with the territory...it's just harder for some of us than others.

[C.m.pyrrhus]

Well, I did not mean "we" find it bad, just that in general it is frowned upon in society. I tell folks about my interest, and then eventually it leads to how I feed my snakes. I also work at a Animal Hospital and the folks I work with do not get it. They feel it is a bad thing to do for some odd reason. Although I may add, they think it is a good idea to rip venom glands and fangs out of snakes to train dogs on venomous species...but killing rats is bad.

[Nicky]

thx ,meh i'll try and keep it alive as long as possible and try to feed it to my snake but if it starts getting thin i'll kill it and spare it the suffer

[mark129er]

whack it and freeze it, rats have a good "shelf life" in the freezer. Do you feed your corn live mice?

[Nicky]

ya she eats live mice but i watch her to try and prevent her from getting hurt even thoe i know the only true way to protect her is dead but she stopped eating dead a long time ago... c.m pyrrhus i never said de fanging snakes and traning dogs to attack snakes wasen;t bad i just wanted to try and keep the rat alive until my snake will eat it.

[Jayson]

If the rat is three weeks old, It is already weaned. If it is not weaned, then keeping alive and letting it starve to death is animal abuse.!!

[ohh_kristina]

Originally posted by Nicky
ya she eats live mice but i watch her to try and prevent her from getting hurt even thoe i know the only true way to protect her is dead but she stopped eating dead a long time ago... c.m pyrrhus i never said de fanging snakes and traning dogs to attack snakes wasen;t bad i just wanted to try and keep the rat alive until my snake will eat it.

she stopped eating dead? Sounds like a mistake YOU made. Never feed live after you have a snake taking dead! If she skips a meal, fine..but that doesn't mean you should try live because of that.

[Nicky]

ya but she went off eating for a good 5 months i tried senting, making a little cut so it would bleed it was like my only other otipon besides force feeding
ya i killed the rat so it wouldn;t have to starve to death nice and fast over the head.