almost roadkill

[csa]

my husband and i rescued a black rat snake and have been unable to get him to eat. he was hit by a car but seems to be healthy otherwise. we have had him for over a week and have offered small bits of meat, but he will not eat. any suggestions?

[dave68]

Uh yeah small bits of meat are not typical fare for a whole prey eater you should get it a mouse or small rat and try that, i bet it takes it within seconds of being offered. Good luck and nice on yeah for the rescue!!

Dave

[Vengeance]

Im pretty sure rat snakes won't eat slabs of meat. You need to offer it either live or dead/frozen mice of appropriate size. The mouse should be about as large as the largest section of his body.

[Mike177]

you probly wont get as good of a responce with a pre-killed mouse. the snake will probly prefer the live one but you never know he may not care. best of luck with the guy.

[thunder]

csa, where are you located? maybe one of us can help you with your rescued snake. have you kept a snake before? if you need help with any other aspects of the snakes care, such as its space and heating requirements, dont be afraid to ask.

[Linds]

Try offering a small, live rodent (something 1/2-3/4 the size of the snakes girth, they can take much larger but I wouldn't recommend it since the snake was recently involved in an accident and may have unseen injury). Make sure to supervise the entire feeding, as a rodent bite can seriously injure a snake (even fatally), and you need to be ready to step in in the event that anything happens (nails scraping, teeth biting, etc). Also, one week is nothing for a snake. They can go months and months without food in most cases, so don't worry if he doesn't start feeding right away. Good luck with him :)