Reptile & Amphibian Forums

How often would you feed a baby black rat about 15 inches long? He is feeding on pinkies. I usually do it every 5 days but the little guy just never seems to be full. Thanks.

Baby rat snakes usually will eat 2-3 pinkie mice in one sitting every 5 days.Hatchlings have a voracious appetite but you do not want to over feed them. As your snake gets older and larger move he/she over to fuzzies.From that point on I would suggest feeding one fuzzie to him or her every 7-10 days and as an adult I would suggest the same only with larger prey(Adult mice,rat pups,small/medium rats - according to size) I would also suggest trying to get your snake to accept pre killed pinkies.This way when your snake is old/large enough to eat adult mice he/she won't face a possible injury from a rodent bite. Some snakes will NOT accept froze/thawed mice at all. I tried to get my yellow rat to eat thawed pinkies and he does not touch em. I even exposed the brain( Gross Job!) to entice him some and he still refused. What I use to do with my Ball Python is put the adult mouse/rat in a pillow case and smack it against the wall,knocking it out thus giving the snake the upper hand and preventing bites and injury. Sounds rough but they didnt sell pre frozen mice rats at any pet store around here till recently.Good luck with your snake!

Yea, I feed all mine frozen thawed. When I couldn't get it here I had to kill the mice myself to. I just put them in a bucket and give them a good wack with something. When they stopped twitching I fed them. So, about 2 pinks every 5 days huh. I had no idea. I have about 11 years experience with snakes but I never kept many hatchlings. I usually traded them off for something bigger or sold them to a pet shop. I decided now that I have a pretty good collection built up that I would raise some of the little guys. I never knew that you should feed them that much. I have the same problem with a gray rat of mine like you do with your yellow. It's really irritating huh? I have about a 2 foot yellow rat but it will eat anything anytime. He's still on hoppers as of now. So will 2 pinks every 5 days work fine? Thanks for your help. I have another question about another gray rat of mine. I'm gonna make a new topic about it so if you can will you give me an answer? Thanks.