Reptile & Amphibian Forums

On 12/30/09 my fiance went out and got a live male medium rat to feed our ball python. Then I noticed signs that he is probably starting a shed cycle!! He was more interested in playing with the rat than eating it. Maybe he's going on a feeding strike, I've read that they often do this in winter. We recently adopted Fred 11/09/09 so I don't have a huge history of his feeding habits, but he's never had an issue thus far until now. Any advice on what to do with this yucky rat? I don't really have a proper small animal cage to house it in until my BP decides to eat.
I live in Germantown, Maryland (Montgomery County). If anyone can benefit from this live medium male rat, please let me know!

Ugh... We need to switch to F/T! Would much rather toss a dead rat than take care of a live one!

My advice it to choose your prefered method of humane death and kill the rat. After the snake is done sheding and may be hungry again and offer the freshly dead rat (still warm is best) and see if he will take it. If he takes it then you can continue to offer fresh killed for a wile then try to switch to F/T. If he refuses the rat put it in the freezer and you can try it some other time when he is acting hungry. Then if he does not take it, you can toss it.

If you really can't keep the rat till the snake is done shedding, kill it now and freeze it.

I hope you can switch him over to f/t without much trouble. It is much safer.

Best of luck,
A
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1 BP
4 Cal Kings 3 alb 1 het
3 Alb Corn
1 Rev Alb Nelsons

My vote is for killing it and freezing it for later. If you're going to keep snakes, you should get used to this as soon as possible unless you expect to always order pre-killed frozen rodents (which is best anyway but may not be practical for one snake).
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What goes up must come down...unless it exceeds escape velocity.

I agree with the statements above. Most snakes will take frozen and thawed mice/rats with no problem. Pythons also have heat sensing organs so if you thaw the rat out in warm water and get it up to 90-100 degrees (you can guess at this) it should help with the snake's feeding response. As you said, many snakes will not eat during a shed cycle and some go off of feed during the winter. Most of my snakes, including a ball python, will not eat when the are getting ready to shed.

What I have found is the absolute easiest way for me to kill a mouse or rat is to toss it in a pillowcase and slam it against a wall. It's a little weird at first but if you think about it, it's a far more humane death than feeding it to your snake alive. If you snake accepts the frozen and then thawed rat, you should consider buying packs of frozen rats from your pet store. It's more convenient than going to the store every time you need food, more humane for the rats, and safer for your snake. A snake left unattended with a rat can be very bad. Take a look at this picture of a python that was left with a rat it didn't want to eat:

Thank-you all for the advice. I was able to obtain an old hamster cage from a friend to house the rat until after my Ball python sheds. That way I won't have to worry about killing the rat and my BP can just have his meal when he's ready.
It's really heartbreaking to see that awful picture of what the rat did to that ball python who wouldn't feed. Since at this point I have only one snake and have chosen to feed him live rats (for the time being), I am being smart about it. Five to ten supervised minutes is my rule, if my snake doesn't try to strike within that period of time now I know he's not hungry/interested.

It's good to know that you are smart about it. If you are willing to keep an eye on the snake as long as it is with live food then you will most likely be ok. Often snakes are bitten while they are attempting to subdue their prey but it *rarely* is serious.

I try to post that photo whenever the topic comes up because I really think that, while it is pretty gruesome, it's something snake owners should see at least once if they are feeding live rodents to their pets.