Not sure what to do with this rat

[Auskan]

I have a 1.4 colony of rats. Four of the adults are sweet as can be - I can reach in, do whatever I want to with them and they will never try to hurt me. The fifth is a whole other story. She starting biting when she was pregnant so I gave her the benefit of the doubt because she was pregnant and I know they can sometimes be nippy when they are. She nailed me real good a couple of times (to the bone more than once and wouldn't let go until I flipped her on her back and rubbed her belly). After that I stopped handling her, except with gloves and then one day she nailed me right through the gloves. Since then I haven't handled her at all and if I've had to move her, I grabbed her by the tail. Last night I had to reach into the enclosure and was moving something around - not even trying to touch her - and she actually ran across the cage to bite me. I was able to pull away before she did anything more than nick me, but even that started to bleed and hurt quite a bit today. I've decided I've had enough of her as she isn't even that great a producer so she's not worth keeping around. The problem is that I don't have a snake big enough to feed her to. My BP is eating small rats but this is a full grown adult. My bp might possibly be able to handle her by the end of this year if she starts eating consistenty sometime soon and puts on some girth, but she certainly couldn't take her now. I don't really want to keep this rat and risk a bite any time I have to reach into the cage. Would you whack her now and freeze her in double freezer bags until such time as the bp can eat her, or what would you do? (I don't know anyone with a snake big enough to eat her).

[Cruciform]

If you package it well, and put it in a good freezer (chest type, not the in-fridge kind) she should be "good eatin'" for up to 2 years.

So give her a whack and put her out of your misery until such time as she can be eaten.

The guide to reptile parasites recommends F/T should be frozen for at least 30 days anyway to cover all the bases.

[mykee]

Seeing as we're lucky and rats don't cost $37 a piece, whack here and toss her. It's only one rat.

[sapphire_moon]

Auskan, to bad you didn't live closer, I would take her.

Or what I did when my female did this is (IF you want to keep her), I put on some heavy duty gloves, grabbed her by her middle, and put my thumb right underneath her chin so she can't grab/bite anything. Support the rest of her body with your hand.

When you are secure that she can't get to your other hand (or glove it just in case) ROUGHLY start scratching her belly. Not enough to hurt her, maybe enough to scare her. She will probably squeak ALOT. Just make sure not to push down to hard!

I did this, and my beige female sat in a cornor for like 30 min before even trying to join the rest of the females. And she hasn't charged me or attempted to bite me since.

You could also splurge and go get one of those vaccum sealers at wal-mart, they have some for like $50-$60.

Goodluck with your bp. My female just took her 2nd f/t 3wk old rat last night!

[asphyxia]

I'd give her a 1 way ticket to the cement floor. :)

[Linds]

I agree with Cruciform. Wack her and seal her up well in the freezer. She should still be good by the time your ball can take her down :) Who knows, maybe you will end up with something else sooner than that ;)

Originally posted by mykee
Seeing as we're lucky and rats don't cost $37 a piece, whack here and toss her. It's only one rat.

Yeah but that's still a life, and that shouldn't be wasted... :mad:

[lanceinhispance]

i would whack her and throw her in the woods or something and maybe a fox will get it

[drewlowe]

wack her, put her in the freezer for later use.

[Linds]

Originally posted by lanceinhispance
i would whack her and throw her in the woods or something and maybe a fox will get it

That always works. LOL... you don't even need to throw them in the forest. When I had a mouse infestation in my basement, I was finding litters of pinks here and there, I would put them in my front garden and they would be gone in no time :flick:

[Auskan]

Originally posted by sapphire_moon
Or what I did when my female did this is (IF you want to keep her), I put on some heavy duty gloves, grabbed her by her middle, and put my thumb right underneath her chin so she can't grab/bite anything. Support the rest of her body with your hand.

When you are secure that she can't get to your other hand (or glove it just in case) ROUGHLY start scratching her belly. Not enough to hurt her, maybe enough to scare her. She will probably squeak ALOT. Just make sure not to push down to hard!


Unfortunately, I tried this several times already, and it doesn't seem to faze her (I got the idea from Linds as she said she rubs their bellies to show dominance). I tried this both immediately after being bitten, and also just from time to time to remind her I am alpha, but she seems to have no fear and just comes after me regardless, so I'm just sick of her. If she produced nice big litters every 3 weeks, I'd keep her around and just avoid handling, but since she's not even doing that......

I think tonight she will be history but as my BP shed last night and is sort of eating again, I will put her in the freezer and hopefully she can be eaten sometime in the next few months. I'll use a double bag method with some good freezer bags and get as much air out as I can. I've been thinking about getting a vacuum sealer anyway, so perhaps now would be a good time to invest.

Thanks to all of you for the suggestions....

[sapphire_moon]

I see. I know what you mean. I am still leary of my beige rat. I just avoid going in there unless I HAVE to. I have the water bottles and food opening on the outside of the cage, so I don't have to go in there unless it's to clean. And there are no babies right now, so I don't have to get in there to get baby rats.

[Zoe]

You could also splurge and go get one of those vaccum sealers at wal-mart

huh? what's wrong with using a straw? :P

[Linds]

Originally posted by Auskan
(I got the idea from Linds as she said she rubs their bellies to show dominance).

I think you are thinking of Lisa. I never do this, nor would I. I don't have problems with bitey rats in my colonies, and the once or twice I was given a biter, it went to the freezer fairly quickly. I don't want to be breeding anything like that, it is imperative all my breeders have good temperaments. Even if you can turn the biter around, doesn't mean it doesn't have bad blood.

[reptile boi]

whack her and sell her for a feeder for like $2.00




Thanks,
Ben

[Auskan]

Ooops, sorry Linds and Lisa for getting the source of the info mixed up.

Ben - who would you suggest selling to? For $2 it wouldn't be worth going to any trouble - I think I'd be better off keeping her in my freezer in the hopes I can one day feed her, and if I can't, it would be easier to toss her than try to find a buyer. Thanks anyway :-)

[WingedWolf]

Yep, keep her for a later day. As has been said, put her in the back of the freezer, where she'll stay nice and cold, tightly packed. She'll be good for 2 years. Either your BP can take her, or you'll have something else that can, by then.

Heck you could even cut her up (somewhat gruesome) for a monitor lizard. If she was mine, that's what I would do.

[kam_herp_hut]

Just curious, as a breeder of rats (for both pets and food for my snakes), I have encountered only one biter.
But what I am wondering, do the rat breeders here harem breed? Or do they rotate and extend the breeding life of their rats? Just curious as a harem bred rat usually doesn't last long, and is usually always on the defence. I have seen rotated breeders last for a good 3+ years, alway throwing large litters.
Anyways, I was just curious what people here do.

~Tara

[Auskan]

I think most people here breed continuously. I don't have such a huge need of feeder rats so my rats actually get good breaks between litters. I also have both pets and feeder rats. My pets (2 females - a russian blue dumbo and a beige hooded top-eared) are kept separately most of the time. I just put them in with the other three this weekend as I am ready to get a litter out of each of them but it will be their first litter each and they will definitely not be bred continuously. The other 3 are really purely breeders, but two of them are just as sweet as my pet rats and I can do anything with them. The only problem is this one biter. I got her as an adult with a litter of 3 week olds with her, which I fed off. She was also pregnant and had another litter 4 days after I adopted her (they were given to me). She has basically been a biter from day one, which I'm sure is why she was given away :) However although the male is in with her continuously, she doesn't seem to breed continuously. I don't know if she is not very fertile or just old, but her most recent litter was born nine weeks after her last litter, even though they're together all the time.

[sapphire_moon]

I harem breed, but I haven't had my males in with the females for over 2 months as I don't need that many rats right now. Also I don't think to many feeder breeders are going to last long because alot of people allow them to have only so many litters then rotate to a new female from an existing litter.

[justinO]

LOL @ the responses...

We used to have 1.2 breeders, that we got from a pet store and we think that blood line is unusually vicious.... the one died in labour and was a nutricious meal for the monitor, the other did flying dives to bite us!

So the other we wanted to kill SO BADLY, but she's a great mother and even better wet nurse..... when we got 10 other females, a few of them wouldn't take care of their babies and the mean one took anything we gave her and nursed them.

IF you want to keep her as a breeder, like we did with ours, we are just very careful now and make sure never to give the opportunity to bite, always grabbing by the tail and take the babies out with hemostats!

But, if you don't have a cage or situation to avoid getting bit, "the law" (a big cement brick we use as a slaughter block) is calling her...... get whacking!

:hammer: :hammer: :hammer: :hammer: :hammer: :hammer: :hammer: :hammer: :hammer: :hammer:

heh

[sapphire_moon]

Oh I know the "want to kill her" feeling. Our beige rat took flying leaps to attack us as well. I want atleast 1-2 more litters from her, then it's the snake's belly!

[Lisa]

Some times you have a rat that you just can't work with (just like some people). With rats you have a couple choices, and offing them is one of them. I've had a rat that didn't get along with other rats or me, it's in the freezer right now.