She ate a rat after a whole year...

[TardGirl]

Today my 3 year old bp ate a small rat See like a year ago i was feeding her a rat,a live one cause she will not eat dead, and she grabbed it wrong and it bit her in the neck. Well today i went to the petstore and got 2 gerbils and a small rat. I was going to try this new feeding thing cause all that she would eat after see got attacked by that rat was gerbils, They were hard to find and cost alot of money like $10.00 a piece. Well the feeding method i was going to try today was taking a gerbil and feeding it to her and then right after she eats that give her a prekilled rat.well i was getting the gerbil out of the box and i guess see seen it she started coming out or her cage to get it out of my hands, so i quick just tossed the rat in there and she just looked at it and then grabed it killed it and then ate it her first rat after a whole year. I just hope that she wants to eat rats all of the time again, I spent 2 days just trying to find gerbils for sale. Well this was good day for me.

[remsin76]

thats good but you should really try to get ur ball to eat pre killed or frozen. my ball didnt eat it at first but then i used the heat lamp to warm the mice up and its been taking them since.

[TardGirl]

Yeah i am going to try to start her on frozen rats, I have been trying for like 2 years now, I was going to give that rat to her prekilled but i thought that i would just see if she ate it live first cause she had not ate a rat dead or alive in like a year.I am going to try a prekilled rat in a few days. I will have to try that heat lamp thing that you were talking about that might work, I never even thought about trying that before, thanks for the tip.

[JamesBryan]

That's great that your snake ate. They can worry you to wrinkles sometimes.

James Bryan
Bryan Reptiles
Cusotmer Service Above The Rest

[Invictus]

Pre-killed all the way. Even a ball will take it if you warm it up enough. I use hot water for my boa and corn snakes. Sometimes when the boa won't take his rats, I move the rat past his eye, kind of on the side of his face instead of dangling it in front of him. That works every time.

[Eric]

Try scenting the rats with a gerbil. If that doesn't work get a small box punch a few holes in it, put the gerbil in the box. Place the box in the balls cage and throw the rat in. This work for me many times. The only problem is, you got a new pet gerbil. You will save some cash though. Good Luck!

[Monkeys]

Yah, I never feed in the living cage, I have a small wooden box with air holes that I feed everything in. BEcause I dont want them to think that everytime my hand enters the cage they get food. I learned this from this site and its suppose to reduce the agressivness of the snake to the owner or more accuratley reduce the # of bites. Its worked good for me. Also the smell of the diffrient prey placed in the box mixes and I've found that it improves their feeding habbits. You just gotta be carfull to get the sscent of the bo off you!!!