Adult Carpet takes down Jumbo Rat

[candyraver69]

EEK I picked the wrong thread to read LOL, too many gory details for me!

Hope Scarlett is okay and heals up nice. I hate how slowly snakes heal. It takes so many sheds for even a minor scratch to go away

[Max713]

Haha, not for the squeemish.


Cranky girl! Made the mistake of attempting to check on her wound today, cranky she was! Didn't actually strike, but bumped me with her nose pretty good. All the warning I needed to leave her alone.
Question to you larger snake owners: How long do you usually leave your snake alone after feeding? I've been told around 3 days... I wouldn't have messed with her normally, but I really wanted to check on her wound.

[infernalis]

Originally Posted by totheend

I live in the country and get unwanted mice (unless they are in the freezer, they are not allowed in my house!)..

You live in the country and don't have a cat?

Where I live, a cat is mandatory unless you like mice in the house.

On topic, wow! what an amazing sequence of photos!

[Max713]

Thanks infernalis! Like I said in my other thread, she's quite photogenic

[totheend]

Originally Posted by infernalis

You live in the country and don't have a cat?

Where I live, a cat is mandatory unless you like mice in the house.

On topic, wow! what an amazing sequence of photos!

You are sooo very right!! I need a cat and almost got one this winter....but I have a jack russell that kills everything, including cats. She would kill the mice but she isn't out at night when they are and she has problems on take off (she can't get traction on hardwood). I was just really afraid for any cat that would be so unlucky to live here....

[Sapphyr]

Haha, Candy, I have a feeling you're going to be walking into a fair number of unwanted gore around here. xD Snakes gotta eat, prey has to be killed somehow(if it's live). c:

Edit: Though, I certainly wouldn't call this gore. In my opinion, gore is like... blood dripping all over the place, guts spilled out, severely wounded, etc. I'm guessing that's more of extreme gore? Maybe I'm just too used to 'gore' in general, so used to it that I call extreme gore just regular gore.

[Lankyrob]

I leave all my snakes for a MINIMUM of 48 hours but more often 72 hours before handling after food.

[Max713]

Well I woke her up again today to try and get a look at her neck, much less grumpy today.
The wound looks great, completely sealed, looks very minor but I did put some neosporine(sp?) on it. The lump is slowly shrinking, but still quite noticeable.

[Jendee]

"Also snakes know when a prey item it too big, they will not go to eat anything they know they can not handle. I have seen a few pics of wild snakes splitting but this is due to being attacked by another predator."

I would be more concerned with a regurge, if a prey item is too big for your snake to lay comfortably for days after feeding the snake will regurge it. losing vital stomach acids which could lead to a serious problem, its just not worth it trying to up your snakes growth rate, over feeding is not a safe or responsible thing to do. In gthe wild you may see a animal take on something really big but they have the whole survival thing going "who knows the next time an opportunity is gonna come up" to me peoplle who want to over feed their snakes always have a motive..its not for their snakes best interest, its always something like they want there snake to grow faster/bigger, they think they are saving money, want to breed ect ect. and they are putting there animal at risk for their own reasons, its sad!

I agree you should move to rabbits because an xxxl rat is an over weight rat but find a rabbit the equal size of the rats you are already feeding him your doing good!!

Mine get left for 24 hrs, although I have so many handling isnt an everyday thing..I do have my favorites lol
I think the fuller there belly is the longer you should leave them. all my snakes have a slight bump which is down to normal in 24 hours. So picking them up at that point wouldn't be uncomfortable. If the animal has a sizable lump that last for more the 24 hrs Id say id be a bit cranky and wouldn't want to be handled lol plus again I wouldnt want to risk a regurge, regurges can start a battle that you just don't want to get into lol

[percey39]

Originally Posted by Jendee

"Also snakes know when a prey item it too big, they will not go to eat anything they know they can not handle. I have seen a few pics of wild snakes splitting but this is due to being attacked by another predator."

I would be more concerned with a regurge, if a prey item is too big for your snake to lay comfortably for days after feeding the snake will regurge it. losing vital stomach acids which could lead to a serious problem, its just not worth it trying to up your snakes growth rate, over feeding is not a safe or responsible thing to do. In gthe wild you may see a animal take on something really big but they have the whole survival thing going "who knows the next time an opportunity is gonna come up" to me peoplle who want to over feed their snakes always have a motive..its not for their snakes best interest, its always something like they want there snake to grow faster/bigger, they think they are saving money, want to breed ect ect. and they are putting there animal at risk for their own reasons, its sad!

I agree you should move to rabbits because an xxxl rat is an over weight rat but find a rabbit the equal size of the rats you are already feeding him your doing good!!

I Was never suggesting to power feed that is pointless to even contemplate when you see the size of his animal, the time has well and truelly passed to power feed a 6' animal lol. All i was sayin was that the extra protein from the lean meat rabbits would cause a growth spurt. The fat content in larger mice and rats is incredibly, they are basically like us eating nothing but KFC ( imagine your heart if you only ever ate fatty foods ). With the up sizing of food there would be no problem with going a size up in rabbits next time you make an order mate. Only go up by 100-150 grams at the most, most of that weight will be bones in the rabbit any way.

Also you will find regurging of food is often caused by conditions being wrong or over handling/annoying the snake and not letting it just bask/digest. As i have said before i try and feed all my animals decent sized prey items and prey items that are low in fats. This to me serves more purpose than over feeding with small fatty meals and causing long term health issues. All captive animals are well and truelly over weight!

[shaunyboy]

Originally Posted by percey39

I Was never suggesting to power feed that is pointless to even contemplate when you see the size of his animal, the time has well and truelly passed to power feed a 6' animal lol. All i was sayin was that the extra protein from the lean meat rabbits would cause a growth spurt. The fat content in larger mice and rats is incredibly, they are basically like us eating nothing but KFC ( imagine your heart if you only ever ate fatty foods ). With the up sizing of food there would be no problem with going a size up in rabbits next time you make an order mate. Only go up by 100-150 grams at the most, most of that weight will be bones in the rabbit any way.

Also you will find regurging of food is often caused by conditions being wrong or over handling/annoying the snake and not letting it just bask/digest. As i have said before i try and feed all my animals decent sized prey items and prey items that are low in fats. This to me serves more purpose than over feeding with small fatty meals and causing long term health issues. All captive animals are well and truelly over weight!

^^^^^
couldn't agree more mate

i feed my adults every 21 to 30 days i try and vary their diet with the odd bird,rabbit and i'm trying to get squirrel at the moment

i feed 3 or 4 times their girth also

i've had carpets refuse to eat a meal that on hindsight i feel was too large.they would strike constrict for long legnths of time then abandon it.

you could offer up to 5 or 6 times and get the same result

i have found this out over the last 8 months where i have been experimenting with various food sizes

i feel larger prey items over longer periods between feeding benifit morelia better than other methods

the above has been my personal experiences when working with morelia

to the op
thats a very nice looking coastal you have there i'm glad the wound is healing

cheers shaun

[Max713]

Thanks shaun.

I think I'll bump up her food size after all my frozen rats are gone.

[caudill187]

That happened to me once with an 8-foot burmese and a jumbo rat. I ended up having to have a friend of mine place 5 or so sutures in the snakes neck. Rats become amazingly athletic and tough in adulthood. I won't do that again