Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi I have a woma that is about 4.5 ft long and the nicest snake I have ever owned. He always eats mice every Friday. This past Friday I wanted to switch to small rats as I was feeding him 2 mice at a time. He also eats in another enclosure. He has never seen a live rodent and I don't have to entice him. I just lay the defrosted mouse and he takes it no problem. He had no interest in the rat. Are they like jungle carpets and prefer mice? Do I need to scent the rat with a mouse? Or was this just a weird and maybe he wasn't hungry. He is about 3 years old and never missed a meal.

Rats taste vastly different from mice to snakes, and they smell different to us, too. It's not unusual for an animal to not eat one, but eat the other. Scenting might work, but not always.
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1.1 Blackheaded pythons
2.4 Woma
4.2 Aussie Olives
1.1 Timors
2.2 Bloods
2.2 IJ Carpets
1.1 Coastal Carpets
1.3 Macklotts
1.2 F2 Carpondros
2.0 Jungle Carpet
0.1 Carpondro
1.1 Brazilian Rainbow boas
1.1 Striped Bolivian Boas
0.1 child, CB
0.1 wife, WC

Mine absolutely destroy rats...

I have 1.3 from different bloodlines and all are enthusiastic rat eaters. I'll bet with a bit of work you could get yours switched...

Good luck

Joe
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- Joe Farah

http://www.freewebs.com/joefarah

I would definitely try scenting, or simply washing the rat. I have a male that goes off feed during breeeding season, after which I get him started up again w/ a guinea pig. After that, he'll take rats. If your main concern is the size of the prey item, and you order your rodents online, guinea pigs are about the same price as rats, so you may also try that.
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"He who would stifle debate rather than engage in it, does so at the expense of his integrity and credibility"

Mike Curtin

What size guinea pig equals a small rat? Also do guinea pigs smell more like a mouse or womas just prefer guinea pigs. I tried scenting a small rat the other day. He didn't want the rat at all.

With the distributer I use, the rat and guinea pig sizes are the same. As for the scent, I think they each have their own unique scent.

As for the scenting, I've been working on getting a stubborn JCP switched to f/t rats after the idiot I had given her to decided live mice were the way to go! I've had her back in my care for 6 months, and she's now taking f/t scented rats. The most important part I've found with doing this is washing the rat first w/ mild soap and water, and then rinsing thoroughly. Last night I tried scenting without washing several times with refusal. As soon as I washed the rat and re-scented, she slammed and swallowed it.

The next step will be washing without scenting, followed by rinsing, and finally just defrosting. I had a stubborn one a few years ago that I had to wash rats for for about a year, LOL!
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"He who would stifle debate rather than engage in it, does so at the expense of his integrity and credibility"

Mike Curtin