Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I don't like feeding live, unless I have to. All of my snakes accept for one eat f/t. I have an African Rock Python that is a bit over 4 feet long who used to take f/t but now he won't. I tryed moving the f/t rat in front of him, tryed warming it at different temps and even waited an extra week to see if he would be hungry enough to eat anyhing....all with no luck.
Its been suggested to stun or kill the live rat right before I give it to him, and start out that way. I'm not a fan of trying to do this, but if I were to, what is the best, most humane way to stunt/kill a rat?
Or better yet, any other suggestions on how I can get him back on frozen?
I don't want to deal with going to the pet store all the time to buy a $4- rat. I don't like to see and hear (the screaming) the rat suffering if it is not needed. I don't want to deal with live rabbits in the near future either. Besides, I have a freezer full of rats that are meant for the Afrock and I want to use them.
Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks!

Here is a pic of him eating a f/t mouse about 6 months ago.

I had a similar problem with my burm when I first got her and then my boa did the same thing.

You may be stressing it out, not to mention yourself. Give it a couple weeks, then try warming a frozen one up. Put it in there and leave it alone for a few hours.

I was also told that if you warm them up using the infra red lights, that works better.

These snakes will eat when they are hungry, and there is only a small percentage of them that will not take frozen.

It takes time and patience but it will go back. If you offer it to much of a variety it will also stress out and not eat at all.
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0.2 Rotts
1.0 Super Tiger
1.0 Amel Retic
0.1 Ball Python
0.1 Red Tail
0.1 Blood Python
1.0 Green Ananconda
1.0 Emerald Tree Boa

I'm the same way, I've got nearly all of my snakes on f/t, BUT a couple will only accept pre-killed food. You can tell when they come out to investigate the food that they can smell the difference. Obviously my first advice is to keep trying different f/t methods, but if those don't work, pre-killed usually does the trick. The way I do it is I put the rat in a large, sturdy sack (burlap works best), and then whack it at least 3-4 times against the bricks on the fireplace (any hard surface will work). If you think about it, this is the equivalent of jumping off a 10-story building, so it's instant.

I breed my own rats, and keep several as pets so I hate it when people say to "stun" rats or break their teeth off... if you wouldn't want a snake to suffer in pain, why is it ok to torture another animal which can be as intelligent, loyal, and trainable as a dog?
Snakes DO have to eat, but just like we keep our snakes safe from all the natural dangers in the wild, we should also accommodate a quicker death for their food. It's safer for the snake too.

Okay I'm rambling,
~kasey