Baby Rat Snake

[Deadstick]

Hello everyone! First post, so please forgive me if I'm in the wrong forum.

Just to preface: Normally I don't like to take snakes out of the wild, but I caught a baby Great Plains Rat Snake on my front porch. My daughter LOVES snakes and has been wanting one for a pet for a long time, and begged me to keep it, so.... I now have a GP Rat Snake.

15 years ago I used to have Garter snakes as pets. Whole different ball game I'm sure...

This rat snake appears very healthy at this point and I'd like to keep it that way. The question is, does it NEED to eat pinkies or would it eat crickets?

Also, should I wait a while before feeding it or should I offer food right away?

Of course my daughter wants to play with it NOW, but I've read that it's a good idea to let a new snake acclimate to it's new home for a week or so before handling it. I assume that's a good rule to follow in this case. Should I refrain from handling (and keep my daughter from handling) the snake until it starts eating?

Any help/advice would be greatly appreciated.

THanks!!!

[gonesnakee]

No handling until established feeding there will be years of handling to come if established prior handling. If handled prior feeding it may never feed due to stress. Pinkies are the way to go yep, very, very few snakes eat insects etc. you want it on rodents right away. Keep on the lookout for snake mites, being wild it may have 1 or 2 that could quickly turn into 1000s. I'm sure if it had any ticks it would have been very obvious, but mites are tricky lil suckers. Good luck with your new snake, but personally I think the best bet is too realease it ASAP near where it was found & find a nice captive born established specimen as a pet. Just my opinion. Mark

[bighillreptiles]

Originally Posted by gonesnakee

No handling until established feeding there will be years of handling to come if established prior handling. If handled prior feeding it may never feed due to stress. Pinkies are the way to go yep, very, very few snakes eat insects etc. you want it on rodents right away. Keep on the lookout for snake mites, being wild it may have 1 or 2 that could quickly turn into 1000s. I'm sure if it had any ticks it would have been very obvious, but mites are tricky lil suckers. Good luck with your new snake, but personally I think the best bet is too realease it ASAP near where it was found & find a nice captive born established specimen as a pet. Just my opinion. Mark

I also agree 100%with Mark CB are better pets in the long run plus you wont have the legal issues with bylaws like keeping native reptiles .i know i live in Alberta and can't keep even CB bull snakes at all .so check with the laws that you have were you live