Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have a 3 year old Carpet python. We bought him maybe a month ago (four feeding sessions) and has only eaten twice. The other two times, he gets close to the rat and when the rat turns around to look at the snake, she just flinches back like shes scared of the rat. The fourth and final time we fed it, we got two smaller rats that would equal the size of 1 big rat. She still just acts completely intimidated by the rat. Its starting to get annoying, because she ate fine the first two times. I don't use frozen thawed rats (I have great luck with live rats and my mom highly dissaproves of me keeping dead rats in the freezer).
I called the guy up, the one who I bought her off of. I asked him how he fed her...and guess what? Three years of frozen thawed prey. It does seem like the python would only eat if the rat remained still for the whole time. Thats not going to happen.
I guess those first two times were a fluke.
Anyway, my mom told me she heard of this "rat kill box" that has CO2 in it. All you have to do is stick the rat in this box and it dies. My vet told me to "swing the rat in an arch and kill it". I couldnt bring myself to do that.
Frnakly, if I got this rat kill box, I would use it for all of my snakes, so I wouldnt have to sit there and monitor the snake, and make sure the rat isnt harrasing the poor thing. If you know where this box is, or for sale, please tell me so!
Thanks
john

sorry ive never heard of that "box", but honestly, if you grab a rat by the base of the tail and either swing it and whack its head on the edge of a table or grab it by the base of the tail put a screw driver at the base of its skull and pull back quickly they dont suffer and its over before you know it. but honestly, frozen is cheaper, more cost effective, i mean large rats are under 2 bucks! i just got some collosal rats for my coastal carpets and they were 2.50! and they are huge, he he. and even if you dont buy in bulk single frozen feeders are as much as 75% cheaper. oh and alot less likely to haror any parasites. cant tell im all about frozen can ya lol

I never understood all the commotion about killing rats? Hold it by the tail on a hard surface, a shelf in my case, and a quick bang to the base of the skull with a handy stick. Hurts like hell for a second, after that it's painless. If you had rat/mouse traps it would do just about the same thing, no? Just different I guess since you're not the one whacking them? Snakes gotta eat. Buy them or kill them yourself, end result is one dead rat. No amount of "feeling bad" is going to bring the rat back. I suppose it's the price you pay for having a lovely snake as a pet.

My two cents, and that's about all it worth.
Gabe

Another easy way to kill rats if you can't see yourself killing one is put the rat in a bag and smash it on the wall. Make sure you use a good bag because if it can't handle the rat's weigh and you swing the bag you have a rat flying through your room.
I tried this method a couple of times and it works very well if you smash it hard enough.
Hold the rat's tail and swing it on a door post might not kill the rat in one smash. Then the rat's nose starts bleeding and if you swing it a second time you'll end up with a nice red stripe on your wall.
I always hold the rat's tail and let it get grip of a surface with his front legs so he stretches himself and then I brake his back with an iron stick which kills the rat immediately.
I know killing a rat is hard when you've never done it before, but you get used to it, and with 'the rat in the bag' method you don't actually see the rat dying so I guess that's easier to do.
Good luck,
Bas

>>I have a 3 year old Carpet python. We bought him maybe a month ago (four feeding sessions) and has only eaten twice. The other two times, he gets close to the rat and when the rat turns around to look at the snake, she just flinches back like shes scared of the rat. The fourth and final time we fed it, we got two smaller rats that would equal the size of 1 big rat. She still just acts completely intimidated by the rat. Its starting to get annoying, because she ate fine the first two times. I don't use frozen thawed rats (I have great luck with live rats and my mom highly dissaproves of me keeping dead rats in the freezer).
>>I called the guy up, the one who I bought her off of. I asked him how he fed her...and guess what? Three years of frozen thawed prey. It does seem like the python would only eat if the rat remained still for the whole time. Thats not going to happen.
>>I guess those first two times were a fluke.
>>Anyway, my mom told me she heard of this "rat kill box" that has CO2 in it. All you have to do is stick the rat in this box and it dies. My vet told me to "swing the rat in an arch and kill it". I couldnt bring myself to do that.
>>Frnakly, if I got this rat kill box, I would use it for all of my snakes, so I wouldnt have to sit there and monitor the snake, and make sure the rat isnt harrasing the poor thing. If you know where this box is, or for sale, please tell me so!
>>Thanks
>>john

I seriously flick em in the head hard enough with my finger to kill them. But I played thumps all through high school.

Don't know if it will help, my pet store sells frozen mice and rats by the singles. Just hop over to the pet store on feeding day and grab what you need. I know that killing mice/rats is not an easy thing to do, but you can offer a faster death than your snake will.