Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi. I know that this is a stupid question, but I haven't been getting any help. I currently have 5 snakes, & will be recieving another tomorrow. He's a 1½ year old leucistic Texas rat snake... my first rat snake. According to his original owner, he's always eaten F/T mice. But there's nowhere nearby that I can get frozen mice from. I've checked every petstore in my area. All they sell is live. I know one option would be to order them online, but he only eats one mouse a week, & it doesn't seem worth it. Also, I wouldn't be able to buy in bulk, for I'm only 15, & my parents don't want tons of dead animals taking up their freezer space. Anyway... I want to know if it's possible to get him to learn to eat live mice. I'm willing to do just about anything. If not, then I'll figure out some way to give them to him dead. I know this is a pretty dumb question, but I've never had to face this problem before. Any help would be appreciated, & if you've had the same problem, I would love to hear from you. Thanks for reading.

-Prttyhtmchn

If you have access to live rat pups, they're a pretty safe option. The snake will have no trouble with them, and they can't bite.
If you have a reptile show near you, you might be able to buy a bag of 10 mice that would last you a month, and it's really cheap.

Unless you are getting a pretty darn good deal on the live mice, it would still be a much better value to order bulk online.
And 50 mice really don't take up much space in the freezer. Just make sure they are in a paper bag so mom doesn't have to look at them every time she opens it.
The idea of a reptile show posted below is always my favorite choice. Check the EVENTS to see if there are any near you, or let us know what city you're near, and ask if anyone knows of any. I love living near a city that has one once a month. It gives me an excuse to go look at the snakes while buying a couple of bags of frozen rodents.
I assume your other snakes are NOT rodent-eaters?? Otherwise buying bulk would be an even better option. Good luck, and good choice of snakes. I just love my leucistic texas rat. Duffy

We have reptile shows once a month. I usually end up going to check the prices on certain snakes, & for supplies. All of my snakes are rodent eaters, but for the most part, will only take live mice. I've tried teasing them w/ the dead ones, but it doesn't work. It seems by the two responses I've gotten so far, I don't have a very good chance of getting him to eat live mice. Maybe I'll try reptile shows for food from now on. I'd never really considered them. Thanks for all of your help... both of you.
-Prttyhtmchn

Kill the mouse (a thump on the back of the head will do), wait for it to stop twitching, and throw it in. I prefer feeding dead prey, even to my w/cs.

He'll TRY and eat it, it's just with an inexperienced snake vs. an adult mouse, there's a decent risk the mouse will nip the snake, in my opinion. But ratsnakes are not at all picky eaters. My black rat had eaten nothing but live mice for 10 years, but the first time he was offered a dead rat, he was all over it. I feel lucky he doesn't try to eat my hand .
(Have you tried blowdrying f/t for your other snakes? It's my favorite trick, especially for boids, but it doesn't always work)

My others snakes consist of 3 ball pythons, a Columbian red-tail boa, & an albino California kingsnake. All eat live mice except for the king. For her, I knock them on the head, & then throw them in. I've tried everything to get her to take them live, but she can't catch on. She gets bitten every time, so it isn't worth trying anymore. I could do the same for the ratsnake, but I don't like having to kill the mice. I just feel bad about it. But if that's what I have to do, I will. I just wanted to know if I have any chance of getting him to eat the live mice, because it didn't work w/ my king. Thanks for all of your help, everyone.
-Prttyhtmchn

Just to ease your conscience tell yourself this,"Real fisherman don't feel sorry for the bait." And do what you gotta do. If you can't face knocking the rodent out, do this; pop 'em in a bag, and pop em in the freezer the day before you feed...thaw in warm water, and let er rip. Or what we do at the shop, put them in a bag, and slap the entire bag up against a brick wall...it's a little less personal, but saves you from having to risk injuring your snake. In my personal opinion, you are lucky that your balls eat at all, and I guarantee that if you give your boa a couple of weeks off feed, and then present them with a fresh killed rodent, they'd snap it up. A little while of doing this, and then try the same with a f/t rodent, should be in business. I've used this technique with a lot of stubburn feeders to get them off of live. Hope it helps. Just don't be afraid to do what you have to do for the safety of all your herps, they are in your care after all.

I understand what you're saying but the fact that your snake only wants frozen/thawed is a big bonus! I always fed live until recently and now I can't figure out why I didn't switch a long time ago...it's so much easier and better to feed thawed. You have the freedom of not having to deal with a live fuzzface and your snake wont get bitten or worse...like roundworms.

A bag of 10 large mice takes up about the same space as a pound of ground beef...not much space at all. As a mother, I would rather find dead mice in my freezer than live mice that can become potentially loose in my house! LOL! If your mother allows you to keep a snake, I'm sure she'll understand the need to take up a little freezer space, especially if you remind her that this way, there's no chance of escape.

You've got a pretty rat, there. Kill his mice before feeding. Just thump them in the back of the head with your finger. You'd be surprised how effective this is. If you have that many snakes, suggest ordering frozen and put them in a taped-up paper bag if your parents will go for it. Even the orders of 1000 mice and rats I get don't really take up much space, you'd be amazed. I wouldn't try to switch it to live.