Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My 4.5 foot black racer i caught on thurs ate a mouse its first try! I bought a brown mouse live, and then killed it and fed it and an hour later, the mouse was gone and there was a buldge in the snakes stomach. Im so happy every1 said it would be a horrible pet and never eat and it ate a dead mouse its first try. Now that i have him feeding, i can concentrate on getting him tamed. I also heard a lot that wild black racers tend to have alot of parasites or diseases and stuff. Is there any way to notice if he does before its too late? (without taking it to the vet) Also, do you think it will maybe be easier to tame now that its eating?

That's the first step. I'm also glad to hear you were able to get it to take pre-killed. Now give it some space and don't worry about taming it until you know that it's settled in and feeding regularly. No handling for a few days and limited viewing. Nervous snakes will sometimes regurgitate when they feel threatened to "lighten the load" as part of their flight response.
As far as parasites- some wild caught snakes can live for years with various internal parasites and as long as they aren't stressed too much they can survive- not thrive but survive. I've seen some WC imported snakes die within a month or two, even though they were eating. The problem is that parasites weaken the snakes system and with stress and a closed environment, they can get out of control. If your snake has worms- you'll need a fecal sample to diagnose them. A vet could tell you what type of worms they are and recommend treatment. External parasites like ticks and mites are easier see and to treat. Check out the posts on the Herp Health forum here on Kingsnake for some good info.
Congrats on getting your snake to eat!
Lora

Congrats on having it eat already. I think racers would make great pet snakes if they didn't try to escape all the time. I'm not worried about them being agressive but I wouldn't want them to hurt themsleves by trying to get out the whole time. About the parasites. Ok on most of the racers I've caught there have been red mites. Around here we call them "Chiggers". Most of the south does. Anyway, just look closely at the scales and you might see these red-orange little bastards. If you see alot you could give the snake a rub down in olive oil. Let the oil stay on for about 10 minutes. Every now and then put some more on til the 10 minutes is up. Then get all the oil off by gently rubbing it off with a warm wet cloth. Do this til the oil is gone. The mites should come off with it. See the oil suffocates them and it kills any eggs also. If you dont see any don't worry about it. Oh, and wait about 2 days before you handle it because such a high strung snake might regurge it's meal. After that time just give it a check for the mites. Hope I could help.

Not that your posts aren't welcome here, but that forum is read by people with a lot of experience dealing with wild-caught racers in captivity. Some very knowledgeable people haunt that forum. You might get more insightful feedback.
-----
Chris Harrison

...he was beginning to realize he was the creature of a god that appreciated the discomfort of his worshippers - W. Somerset Maugham

The Racer forum seems to be less thriving. Check it out and see how many replies i got....You guys seem to know alot about racers anyway