My snake hats rats

[ineedsoap16]

My bp is 350g and I have been trying to switch to rats for some time now. I keep getting mixed results. I have tried the rubbing the mouse scent on it. Some times it works and sometimes not. She is obviously hungry but nothing. I dance the mouse scented rat in the cage and she gets all excited but when she gets close to inspect it she gets this look like "oh no you are not fooling me". I figured that once she ate a rat I would be in the clear, But like I said, sometimes yes, sometimes no. She is very healthy looking(not suffering in the weight dept is more like it).

Do I need to just let her fast for a while and get real hungry of just keep up with what I am doing?

[Chu'Wuti]

I've had the same experience, so I know how frustrating it can be. Is your BP near a window? One thing that might also be contributing to her refusal to eat is that the daylight hours are decreasing significantly right now. If she's not near a window, though, that's less likely to be an issue.

What finally worked for me was thawing a mouse together with a rat pinky so the smells are thoroughly mixed. Feed the mouse & immediately follow it with a rat pinky. Try this a couple of times & then feed the rat pinky first; eliminate the mice after that and begin to move up in size on the rats. Sometimes the rat pinkies are more appealing than older rats to a snake unused to eating rats.

Good luck!

[ineedsoap16]

She is near a window but i normally try to feed whe she gets active about 8-10pm. So far the rat and mouse thawed togeter has worked when it works. She is far beyond rat pinkies. The times she has taken rats they have been in the 30-35g range so were looking at small rats.

I have never fed a snake multiple meals so how does that work? Do they really accept one after another? Do you have to temp (bat at them etc?) them or if they are hungry enough they will just take both?

Any info will be helpful.

Thanks

[Chu'Wuti]

Do NOT bat the rat at the snake! The snake will think the rat is attacking it. One way to tempt the snake is to lay the rat in front of the snake a couple of inches away and gently twitch the rat AWAY from the snake. The snake then thinks that the rat is trying to get away and becomes interested.

Yes, a snake will accept one after another.

The suggestion about pinkies can work even when the snake is "far beyond" that size--perhaps because the blood odor is stronger.

The problem with being near a window is the photoperiod the snake is receiving is altered with the shorter days we have now. The reptile brain seems to interpret the shortened days as a time to slow down. Even if the tank lights are on the same period of time, the natural daylight may be making a difference in the snake's responses.

In addition, if the room you keep the snake in has different temps from summer, that can also make a difference. What are you using to heat her tank? UTH, lamp, ??? What temps are you maintaining? How are you measuring the temps?

[ineedsoap16]

I will try the pinkie idea. I am heating her tank with an uth and a lamp in the basking area. My temps are 90-91 average on the hot side under the lamp and 82-84 on the cool side. I have two digital thermometers with remote probes to measure the temp.

[TPG]

My bp is 350g and I have been trying to switch to rats for some time now. I keep getting mixed results. I have tried the rubbing the mouse scent on it. Some times it works and sometimes not. She is obviously hungry but nothing. I dance the mouse scented rat in the cage and she gets all excited but when she gets close to inspect it she gets this look like "oh no you are not fooling me". I figured that once she ate a rat I would be in the clear, But like I said, sometimes yes, sometimes no. She is very healthy looking(not suffering in the weight dept is more like it).

Do I need to just let her fast for a while and get real hungry of just keep up with what I am doing?

How often are you offering food? If you offer food on a daily basis you might cause more stress than anything. I would suggest offering her food every 5-7 days if she eats she eats if not then wait till the next week and try again. I feed my snakes every monday no matter the age/size if they eat they eat. As long as your snakes are not losing drastic weight I wouldn't worry to much.

Also most Ball pythons go off eating during the months of November - April/May, My breeders will stop eating by the end of November and they won't start again until around February, so will start eating at this point and other might go another few months without food.

Have you tried leaving the rat in over night? Maybe she is just stressed from you being in the same room.

And lastly make sure your temps and humidty are on par because this will cause a fast too if they are not proper.

Hope that helps need anything else just ask!

[ineedsoap16]

My temps and husbandry look good. I have tried the overnight deal and no luck. Since my last post she has eaten two very small rats.. They were both larger than fuzzy but not qute small rats. The next feeding is going to be a small f/t rat tomorrow. Will hope for the best. Thanks for all the advice. I will be very releived when this switch over is over.