Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have a problem with my female black rat.
She is nose pushing, and is starting to damage her nose.
I know I am not doing something correctly.
I have tried aspen, reptibark, and newspaper substrates.
I have given her multiple hides.
She is in a 20-gal long, with a half-screen top.
I use a 40-watt incandescent.

She doesn't rub the screen - she pushes the corners.
She puhes hard enough to move her ceramic hide.

I need suggestions for how to make her happier so she will stop hurting herself. She is 52 inches and in very good condition otherwise. She is a road kill rescue and is eating F/T and F/K mice.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

John D

-----
I am so not lesdysxic!

0.1 Creamsicle Cornsake "Yolanda"
1.0 Bairds Ratsnake "Steely Dan"
0.1 Desert Kingsnake "FATTY"
0.1 Black Rat (WV Rescue) "Roberta"

Several suggestions for you to try -
1. Get her a larger enclosure - at 52" she's a big girl and might do much better in something in the 48" long range (55 gal aquarium, various plastic enclosures) instead of the 20L.
2. Get her a different kind of enclosure - sometimes with wc specimens, it takes a long time to get used to glass. Again, try something like a boaphile, vision or even a large sterilite/rubbermaid that is semi-opaque.
3. Try different hides - not sure what you've tried but I have had great success using the plastic kitty litter boxes with a hole cut in one end and overturned. Also try anything you think she can just squeeze into so that when she coils, she has contact on all sides and her back like empty cereal boxes, snack bar boxes, etc.
4. Make SURE your temps are dialed in and she has lots of choices. This goes back to a bigger enclosure - a 52" snake in a 30" long aquarium doesn't have access to very many choices.

I have had a couple of wc snakes do this, the worst case was a roadkill rescue male corn snake. He would push so hard in the corners that his nose would get very swollen. Once I moved him into a sterilite, it stopped immediately. That was a few years ago and he now resides in a 20L with two hides and he hasn't pushed in years.

Good luck!
Billy
>>I have a problem with my female black rat.
>>She is nose pushing, and is starting to damage her nose.
>>I know I am not doing something correctly.
>>I have tried aspen, reptibark, and newspaper substrates.
>>I have given her multiple hides.
>>She is in a 20-gal long, with a half-screen top.
>>I use a 40-watt incandescent.
>>
>>She doesn't rub the screen - she pushes the corners.
>>She puhes hard enough to move her ceramic hide.
>>
>>I need suggestions for how to make her happier so she will stop hurting herself. She is 52 inches and in very good condition otherwise. She is a road kill rescue and is eating F/T and F/K mice.
>>
>>Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
>>
>>Thanks,
>>
>>John D
>>
>>
>>
>>-----
>>I am so not lesdysxic!
>>
>>0.1 Creamsicle Cornsake "Yolanda"
>>1.0 Bairds Ratsnake "Steely Dan"
>>0.1 Desert Kingsnake "FATTY"
>>0.1 Black Rat (WV Rescue) "Roberta"

Billy -

Thanks for excellent suggestions!

I will start with larger enclosure and Temp checks and go from there.

Good looking corn - is he the rescue?

Thanks again!

John D.
-----
I am so not lesdysxic!

0.1 Creamsicle Cornsake "Yolanda"
1.0 Bairds Ratsnake "Steely Dan"
0.1 Desert Kingsnake "FATTY"
0.1 Black Rat (WV Rescue) "Roberta"

Your welcome John. Yup, that's the rescue. He's a really cool little snake.

Let us know how it goes with your black rat. Glad you recognized the behavior as her way of telling you something was wrong. In general, snakes won't do that unless their basic needs are not being met and that usually comes down to temps and/or security/stress issues.

Again, best of luck with her!
Billy

>>Billy -
>>
>>Thanks for excellent suggestions!
>>
>>I will start with larger enclosure and Temp checks and go from there.
>>
>>Good looking corn - is he the rescue?
>>
>>Thanks again!
>>
>>John D.
>>-----
>>I am so not lesdysxic!
>>
>>0.1 Creamsicle Cornsake "Yolanda"
>>1.0 Bairds Ratsnake "Steely Dan"
>>0.1 Desert Kingsnake "FATTY"
>>0.1 Black Rat (WV Rescue) "Roberta"

My WC black rat (about 42 inches) was doing that. I moved him from a 40gallon rectangular tank to a 50 gallon or so upright tank and added a tree. He spends at least half of his time now climbing and exploring in the tree, and his nose seems pretty well healed. Remember, these guys love to climb in the wild and raid birds' nests. They are most comfortable in three dimensions.

Jon,
You will definately want to go with a bigger enclosure. A 55 gal should be about the min. All of my adult rats are in enclosures that measure 2 foot long x 2 foot wide x 2 foot tall. In my case I can get away with a shorter length because I used depth and hight. If your only going to have her and a few other snakes, then it would be cheaper to go with the 55 gal. I would also put a large branch in there for her too. It doesn't have to be real thick, slightly thicker than the snake but try to shoot for something a few inches longer than the tank itself. This way you can prop it up diagnaly across the tank. If your worried about bugs and what not you can use pvc pipe with end caps. A length of 4" pvc pipe with a cap on one end can be used as a fake log hide too. One more set up item that I do for mine is I add some fake plants. Try to get a screen for your cage that will have a hinge in the center. Use one side for mantainance, on the other end (the high side of the branch) use very small zip ties or bread bag ties to wire the plants to the top of the cage. This will give the illusion of being on a real branch and should calm her down alot! No need to thank me.. Just let me know when your ready to breed her and I will buy her babies!!lol.. - Blue