Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My WC black rat has been with me for a little over a year, and like most of his kind he handled down pretty quickly after he moved in. He does have one annoying habit -- he just refuses to use the large water bowl for soaking when he is in shed, as he was last week. I noticed Sunday that he was beginning to flake here and there so I ran a couple of inches of water into the bathtub and took him in for a quick swim and soak. He flailed about most convincingly and locked onto my right forearm for three good bites -- but they were really halfhearted, barely drew blood at all. Bak in his cage he shed within 15 minutes with no problem. Anyone have experience with rats that give you "warning" bites like that. I had the definite sense that he was basically saying, "stop messing with me or I'll get serious about this."

Sphagnum moss (dampened)in a good sized plastic container with a hole cut in the lid for entry.Place over under tank heat pad.Makes a nice "sweat" box for shedding.My male has problem shedding and this has helped him shed in one piece every time.He crawls right in.

What Ibrat said was an excellent idea. I have a somewhat simular method. If one of my snakes looks like their having a bad shed, I place wet paper towls and/or newpaper indside a container (critter cage, sterlite, rubbermaid, etc) and let them crawl around in their for around an hour or so. Works perfect every single time. I think it works much better then just placing them in water. Not only do you get an extremly moist enviorment, but the snake also has a resistance against something as it's moving around to help shed it's skin.

Steve

Posted by: Steve_Craig at Mon Jul 17 11:41:29 2006 [ Report Abuse ] [ Email Message ]

What Ibrat said was an excellent idea. I have a somewhat simular method. If one of my snakes looks like their having a bad shed, I place wet paper towls and/or newpaper indside a container (critter cage, sterlite, rubbermaid, etc) and let them crawl around in their for around an hour or so. Works perfect every single time. I think it works much better then just placing them in water. Not only do you get an extremly moist enviorment, but the snake also has a resistance against something as it's moving around to help shed it's skin.

Steve

There is an old movie (but color) that was on some cable channel last month called The Doberman gang .
It was kinda goofy (they robbed banks ) but great looking dogs. A friend had one from Kimbertail kennels we had a Fila for 14 yrs than he passed away.

Yes and you can tell to when they are ticked. Its not a 'mean" bite but its a bite that will draw blood than they let go right away . I dont know if would call it warning bite but its a bite saying let me go .
As you know around shedding time they are the most ticked .
I used to wear a sweatshirt and winter leather gloves when my rat was mad and I had to take him out for cage cleaning,etc but I know now when he is nervous and not friendly and when he is fine . Now he stays calm plus I know when he is okay or not .
I have never actually been bit but my sweatshirt or gloves have . I mist mine when he is close to shedding twice a day do that with all my snakes works great.
They dry off fairly fast but the misting goes a lone way .

Thanks for the tips -- will try misting or a damp hide box next shed. Yes, I was struck by how his bite was so minimal -- just enough to say "leggo!" but not seriously aggressive. An interesting evolutionary adaption that preserves teeth and jaws for their prime function, snagging rodents.

About the warning bites.The first blackrat I ever caught 20 or so years ago bit me with a full open mouth on the back of my calf and wrapped around my ankle!Hell of a thing to see.I walked back to my friends truck with him all wrapped around my leg and still firmly attached. He said he never saw anyone catch a snake like that.Anyway that snake was with me for 5 years and never bit after that and he was handled often.The big male I have right now is on his fifth year with me and has never even tried to bite.I picked one up last friday that handled like someones pet.Bottom line is...some do and some don't.

Thats a big rat real nice looking . Mine is 1.5 yr old Texas leucestic (not sure of spelling). He is great once you take him out of his tank before that is nervous but hasnt tried to bite.

I imagine yours eats Rats?

Black Rat ankle bracelet!!! LOL... That's funny....
-----
Regards, Bill McGighan

Perhaps he was saying, how dare you take me out of my natural habitat and get me as a wild caught animal. Don't get wild caught animals. If you want a snake, get a captive bred speciman.

Re his wild caught status, I generally agree that captive bred is best. I have posted here before how he came to move in last summer; I live in a suburban area where they were doing a lot of drainage channel construction and the wildlife was flushed into back yards. A neighbor came over to tell me that there was this "huge" snake on her back porch. The eventual outcome was pretty obvious: sooner or later some bozo would see him around his house, start yelling about "rattlesnake!" and chop off his head with a hoe. His home range had been pretty much paved over, and I know it is not a service to relocate a snake far from that home range. (The closest open country/wooded areas suitable for a black rat are probably 5 miles away.) Hence, the best course seemed to be adoption rather than leaving him to his likely fate.

In that case, I think your heart was in the right place. I guess some issues like this one, it is hard to decide what is best for the animal. I didn't realize that was how he ended up in your care. I just don't like it when people deliberately take animals out of the wild for pets or people who purchase wild caught specimans. I respect your decision in this matter. Best of luck.

I actually had not kept any snakes for some years, since my youngest son went through his "snake phase." (he's grown and gone now.) Back then we kept only captive bred, including some native venomous. When we did encounter a snake in the wild we would on occasion bring it home, keep for a few days and then release back to the original site. But we did catch and keep a speckled king out of our neighborhood after a neighbor came over to tell us how we could come get this damn thing or he would kill it! It's always a dilemma, but if I find a snake that is very likely to wind up dead via human action, I'm going to bring it home if there's no viable release option. I'm also not opposed to kids keeping a WC snake as a learner snake if it instills in them a lifelong appreciation of reptiles. Bottom line is there really isn't a hard a fast rule as long as we err on the side of leaving snakes where they belong and will thrive where that is a workable option.

Well said MikeinOKC.I agree 100%.Sometimes it is best for an experianced keeper to care for them rather then letting them get clobbered by someone who does not know better because they are afraid of them.