Reptile & Amphibian Forums

my snakes have been off feed for a while now. they were eating live but i would like to try feeding dead rats. i bought a 16" hemostat so im going to first try with that. see if that works if not im also going to just leave the dead rat in the tub over nite and see if that works. if these both fail how long is reccomended to keep trying these methods? any suggestions? should i wait until they start eating again before trying these methods? thanks.

ballfreak, I guess I'm not really sure what you are asking.

You say "they were eating live," do you mean live mice or rats? It matters because it will probably be harder to switch your snakes from live mice to dead rats, whether they are pre-killed or thawed. If you would have them available, I would suggest starting the switch with either live pre-weaned rats (younger-than-weaned) or with f/t adult mice. That is IF I am understanding you correctly in what they were eating before.

By talking about using your hemostat, are you saying that you would present a live rat on the hemostat, or a pre-killed or thawed rat? If you meant you would first present a live rat to attempt to switch your snakes over to rats, even on the hemostat, once the snake takes the rat, the rat can still hurt the snake if you are feeding live (if you were to use a weaned rat or larger).

When I feed my snakes, I've never been willing to leave a prey item with the snake overnight, whether it is live, pre-killed, or thawed. I minimize distractions when I present the prey (keep loud noises and foot traffic down to minimize vibrations, and keep the snake dark when necessary), and if the snake hasn't at least started eating in about 20 minutes, I figure it isn't going to happen, and remove the prey item. I've been hopeful before and tried leaving the prey item in for over an hour, but the snake really won't eat if it hasn't at least started to within those first 20 minutes.

If your snakes are used to live mice, as I was guessing earlier, you should probably wait until they are accepting mice again before you try to switch them to rats. If any of what you are wanting to do presents a drastic change from what they are used to, you should wait until they decide to start eating again before you make changes to what has already worked.

I'm not sure, but I hope this is helpful.

~Rebecca
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0.1 Dumeril's Boa '04 (Courtney)
1.2 Ball Pythons
[1.0 '05 Orange Hypo (Specter)]
[0.1 '05 Het Orange Hypo (Sylvia)]
[0.1 '03 Normal (Sue)]
0.2 American Pit Bull Terriers (40lb darling lap dogs:Brandy&Mara)

ok let me clarify. my snakes have been off feed for several months. they were eating live rats. i want to get them to start eating dead rats either f/t or freshly co2 killed. now since they havent been eating i figured let me try with dead ones. but im not holding to much hope. i got a hemostat so im trying to this right? so my question was should i wait until they eat a live one again or should i try with the dead ones? also i house mine in a rack system and each one has a hide. when i put live ones in today no one was intersted still. i do try every week even tough no one has eating in months? i was wondering should i remove there hide and then put the rats in? it seems sometimes they dont even come out to look at there food? im thinking the awnser is no. thanks for your help.

Your snakes are probably just off their feed for the winter, and will come around when they feel like it, not when your stress level fully peaks.

If you are still doing what they are used to and what has worked before, then you probably shouldn't change anything until they start feeding again - that way you can judge better if they don't like what you have changed, rather than they just don't feel like eating yet.

It is good that you want to switch them over to dead rats.

Unless you're euthanizing rats in bulk, I am under the impression that CO2 isn't very efficient.

Still, don't change anything yet until they decide to eat again. Then, after they have eaten once or twice the old way, go to fresh-killed for a feeding or two, then try f/t.

Good luck!

~Rebecca
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0.1 Dumeril's Boa '04 (Courtney)
1.2 Ball Pythons
[1.0 '05 Orange Hypo (Specter)]
[0.1 '05 Het Orange Hypo (Sylvia)]
[0.1 '03 Normal (Sue)]
0.2 American Pit Bull Terriers (40lb darling lap dogs:Brandy&Mara)