Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I feed live rats (I grow my own), and I usually dont think twice about rat pups and weanlings. But, when it comes time to feed small and medium rats, I really have a hard time with this. One problem I have is that, well, the darn rats just dont stay in the tubs. Unlike pups or smaller sized rats, they just climb out. Secondly, I just feel unsafe about the larger sized rats. I know there has been considerable discussion about f/t vs. live, and yes, this is one of the topics noted. I just simply get much better feeding responses with live. My question, I'll try to be as humanistic (SP?) about this as possible, is there a way to stun a small/med rat to feed? Immobilizing the prey, but not killing them. I was thinking about the CO2 chambers that some people use before they freeze off live. If done correctly, CO2 chambers are suppose to put the prey to sleep first, before turning up the CO2 volume. Oh, and no, smacking them on the wall is out of the question... Its an adult rat, not a little mouse..

Thanks in advanced,

~Johnny

Oh, if I am just being a wuss, let me know, wont hurt my feelings.

NOW EVERY1 LISTEN I PERSONALLY HAVE NEVER DONE THIS BUT IT VERY WELL WAS SUPER EFFECTIVE.

place the rat in a pillow case and swing it around in circles fast about 20-30 times when that rat comes out it will basically be drunk off his heezay and he will be so not knowing his surroundings that the snake should have no problem taking it

pros) no inhumane injury to rodent,rat still alive,snake will have same feeding response,less chance of injury to the snake

cons) while I personally may LOVE round up and gravitron i dont feel the rat will share the same enthusiasm especially without being at 6 flags

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Steve Markevich

Updated Daily! SerpentsDen.Com

Im all for doing things as humane as possible.... BUT the pillow case description was hilarious!! LMAO!!!
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Mike & Wendy

2.0.0 Siberian husky, Jackrussel/schitzu
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hehe, thats all I can say, is hehe...

~Johnny

either learn to catch them quicker as they leap out of box if they aren't eaten......

use a spoon to tap them into submission without killing them....(*they will come alive again ...thus still leaping from box AND being mad enough to bite you now)

just hold the rat either in hand or with tongs till the snake takes it from you....

kill it ..throw it in....let it there for a couple hours...if not eaten.......take out and use elsewhere or freeze it.....(*to use or sell later)....

CO2 will kill them...........before you know it........

NO2 may not kill them at first ,but will knock them out ,,but not for long.......

best idea......use all smaller rats and don't blow the snakes up like blimps in the first place?......
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JYReptiles

Scales-N-Tails Reptiles ltd........Pa

Thanks for the input! I never feed larger than small rats, some might be small mediums, but never never bigger than that. Even if I think the snake can handle it. I dont have a problem catching the rats as they jump out, just wanted to know if there is a better way. Thanks again,

~Johnny

learn when balls will and won't eat...never kill too many rats at once......start with the balls that may not eat and kill rats and feed them .......if they don't eat then you take the rats and warm them in front of heater for a minute and throw them in with different balls...then another ......if necessary....then sooner or later they get eaten.....

I like the "out of my hand or you don't eat" method....but all balls don't like an audience......

I throw them in alive alot.......but I don't use medium rats or larger.just smalls usually.......

and grab fast with tweezers (hamsters) or tail grab fast....

.......alot of balls don't eat.alot of times...

I freeze the stuff that isn't eaten........
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JYReptiles

Scales-N-Tails Reptiles ltd........Pa

i use the screwdriver method. Hold the rat by the tail and in a swift motion, hit the rat right behind the ears with the handle of the screwdriver. 99% of the time they are dispatched instantly, the only time they aren't is when I miss and hit to far back. This way you don't get the bloody mess of smacking them against something.
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Josh Hutto
JKReptiles

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a BAD dog is MADE not bred, support the American Pit Bull Terrior as the greatest breed of dogs on Earth!!!!!

I have a towel I put them in. I grab them out of the bin w/ the towel, wrap them up and them smack them hard against the wall...kills 'em dead!

The only problem with that is they sometimes blead out their nose, which leaves a small mess sometimes.

Hit them a little softer and they'll be stunned

ps...I HATE rats. The only part of this stuff I dislike.
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Jeremy Conrad
_____________

...Can't...stop...must...get...more...balls...

I've heard of just as many if not more injuries coming from stunned feeders as live feeders. I've heard of them coming to mid feeding and clawing thier way out and even mid attack - and trust me they fight back - you'll get more fight from an injured or confused animal than you will from a live clueless one. LOL.

Feed live or feed dead - either way is better than stunned - my opinion - I've been wrong before.

It's ok to feed a small rat to an adult ball - once a week - give it a couple of weans if that's what you are comfortable with feeding. My live feeders get small rats - they grow fine - I feed in a seperate container with tall sides - the rats can't get out the snakes can. Otherwise maybe a fresh killed one is what you are looking for - if your quick with the kill and drop you can still get enough last minute muscle spasms from the animal that your snake will think it's still alive. I have a friend that uses those electric mouse traps for fresh killing his. He says they work great - and he doesn't have to go out and buy a bunch of CO2.
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Tosha

"Nihil facimus sed id bene facimus"

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i agree with that..... because being injured they are also scared. an uninjured rat is not scared, mad rats can be very mean, i have a male here who i raised....he is a pet, i had a younger male that one of the snakes wouldnt eat, i dropped the rat in the cage with my others, the male attacked it, in trying to break the fight up and get the younger male out, the male i raised jumped out of the tank and on me trying to get to the rat i removed...... the younger rat bit me because he was scared, the other male bit me because he was mad....LOL

here is what i do, i have a pair of tongs, if you get them around the rats head you can pull the rats tail and it will snap the neck

Guess I will have to figure out one or the other. Very good point about a pissed off rat, never would have thought of that (thankfully I have not tried to stun one so far). Another reason I asked, I am currently training my snake sitter (I mentioned this a few months ago), and I think she would have a hard time snapping a rats neck. She does a great job, but I think wouldn't take to killing the rats herself. Actually, there is a funny story about that:

Like I mentioned, I raise my own rats, for about 3 months now. She (snake sitter, also a good friend) has been "training" with me every week now for about 2 months, learning how to clean cages, feed, all the in's and out's.

Well, about 2 months ago, my rats had their first litter, about 10, and she used to play with them when they were still little, she even named one shamoo (not that you could really tell them apart...).

I learned that this was a big mistake, as when you name them, you have a hard time feeding them. Well, I dont, but she did..
So one day we were feeding, store bought at this point in time, and one of my yearling females was still looking kinda hungry. I grabbed one of those rat pups when she was in the other room and dropped it in the tub. She walks in to see a tub open and asked what I was doing. The rat pup had ran behind a hide, so she couldn't see it, so I said "oh, just looking." Now, miss snake sitter knows how I am, and looked in the tub to see little shamoo running around, with a pair of snake eyes following it close behind. She stood straight up with her hands over her eyes and asked if that was a rat pup.

I replied by saying, "Yeah, but dont worry, the snake isn't even interested." Almost immediatly afterwards the snake snatched the rat pup and the rat made a few squeeks. Well, she started to laugh, and I thought it was so funny, but had to bite my tounge...

Ever since then, she doesn't name the rat pups when she is cleaning rat tubs. Although, I did name my male breeder rat steve mcqueen...

Thanks again everyone,

~Johnny

Not to sound cruel but what I do is take a rat out and I use my wood stick its about as big as round as 2 of my fingers ( but Im a big boy 6'8" 330lbs) I hold the rat down and give it a quick pop behind the head. Sometimes I miss and it bleeds quite a bit. Or do what my grandfather used to call stretching their neck. Take a rat out make a peace sign with 2 fingers put the fingers behind the rats ears around the next and a swift tug and they are limp as a cooked noodle. But I mean they are food so it really doesnt matter how you dispatch them. Thanks
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Damian Macioce
www.strongholdreptiles.com

I have tried everything except other gasses. I havent been happy with any of them except CO2. If you just gas them for about 2-3 min they dont die, they hold their breath and it knocks them out for about 10 min most of the time. The bigger they are they quicker they die, so decrease the time. It costs about $50-$60 to build one, but once you have it you can throw 5-10 in at a time and get it done quick. I have about a 2 gallon chamber and a 20oz CO2 can and it lasts me about 3-5 months (1 gas per week). I have gone to just feeding mice now because I cant stand rats though... it dosnt cost me any more because I breed them, and all my snakes love em. I kept getting mean rats, and they would attack me, especially if the snake bit them, but didnt kill them, they would be a handfull... now I just have to worry about one mad little mouse. Most of my mice are really good size anyhow... about the same size as a small rat. I have had snakes bit by mice and rats, and I much prefer my expensive snakes to be bit by mice. Nothing like watching a very mad 2000g BP bleeding from the face.

An alternative to the CO2 chamber:

http://www.ratmousezapper.com/

Just make sure you replace the batteries as often as needed because the last thing you want is to have a dying battery in there just slowly zapping the poor guy. Small to medium I throw in live if I don't have frozen or for those that still don't eat frozen, I know I'm gonna take a lot of heat on this one but I prefer this method over the smacking against the wall for the large to jumbos.

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The Rat Zapper 2000?

Why is it I can see that being marketed by ACME?
Haha.
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-Man fears the beast in the Wolf because he does not understand the beast within himself.