Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i need some advice on switching to rats ive tried everything, egg yoke, chicken broth, putting frozen rats in with frozen mice. any advice is appreciated.

thanks
mark

try rubbing it on a live rat. the live rat hates it but it's worked for me.
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1.2 normal ball pythons (Cindy, Darwin, and Periscope)
0.2 rescue chinese water dragons (Yoni and Linga)
0.0.1 Mountain Horned Lizard
1.0 rex rat (Scurvy)
1.0 gerbil (Yerbul)
0.1 mice (Cute Girl Mousy)
0.1 bunny (Spazz)
1.1 betta fishes (Vicious and Killer)
2.2 great danes (Shasta, Odysseus, Merlot, and Watson)
1.0 fat fuzzy mutt (Smokey)
1.1 cats (Thidwick and Turtle)
3.0 horses (Buddy, Sam, and Scout)
1.0 goat (Billy Jack)
0.0.1 chupacabra (it ate our chickens)

jenny.thegreenes.org

i live in alberta where you canot have live rats. illegal.
any other sugestions?

Wait what? How ridiculous. Sneak one in. Technically my gerbil is illegal too.

You might be stuck with just feeding more mice. Try the switch again in a couple months, maybe the change in season will make the snake more interested in bigger prey items.

Only other thing I can think of is to maybe skin a mouse and put it over the front half of the rat. Lol, saw that on TV, some scientists used it to trick a burmese into eating an alligator.

Sorry I can't be more help!

~jenny
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1.2 normal ball pythons (Cindy, Darwin, and Periscope)
0.2 rescue chinese water dragons (Yoni and Linga)
0.0.1 Mountain Horned Lizard
1.0 rex rat (Scurvy)
1.0 gerbil (Yerbul)
0.1 mice (Cute Girl Mousy)
0.1 bunny (Spazz)
1.1 betta fishes (Vicious and Killer)
2.2 great danes (Shasta, Odysseus, Merlot, and Watson)
1.0 fat fuzzy mutt (Smokey)
1.1 cats (Thidwick and Turtle)
3.0 horses (Buddy, Sam, and Scout)
1.0 goat (Billy Jack)
0.0.1 chupacabra (it ate our chickens)

jenny.thegreenes.org

If you are quick, the method for switching to F/T may work. Feed a mouse and at the tale/tail end of the swallowing add a rat. Don't force it, just slide it with the normal swallow. After a few times of this, the taste is already there and it isn't something new.

Jason
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That which does not kill me postpones the inevitable.

Hey Mark, I'm guessing since you're using egg yolk and such you've tried everything else. If live is not an option and a really warm f/t rat dangled in front of him with tongs don't work...I give em a mouse. After all the work, some snakes will want to go back to mice later. Keep in mind...a jumbo mouse is better then not eating at all. I've got two Balls that will not look at a rat, but will eat 2-3 mice at a time...sometimes you gotta go wid da flo.
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Dale....dgoins222@yahoo.com
www.LibertyReptiles.com