Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have a yearling Female Jungle Carpet Python.
She was eating pre killed adult mice no problem.
Now its time to switch to rats because adult mice are not big enough.
I tried a live rat overnight in her feed box. Didnt work...
I tried a live rat overnight in her cage. Didnt work...
I tried a live rat that was with a mouce hopper for 30 minutes overnight in her feed box didnt work. Didnt work...

Im really worried that I am going to have to feed her tons of mice for the rest of her life.

Any more suggestions would greatly be appreciate?

It can be a pain switching over to rats but but you should be able to get your carpet to take them with this method. I started mine on rats as soon as they could take a Rat Pinky becuase their "Rat" odor is stronger when they have fur but I still had to employ this tactic. Use a frozen/thawed rat and rub it all over with a full grown mouse to transfer the scent. I brained the mouse with a pin to the back of the head as well to get more scent that would be appealing to my snake. If you feed the scented rat to your snake after waiting a week or two between it's meals it should take it. I leave the rats on it's perch underneath the heat lamp to keep the rat temp up to the snake's liking and to spread the smell around. Your snake will take it eventually as long as you dont cave in and give it a mouse. My two carpets took to them on the first try but one would not accept a second one that was not scented with a mouse again like the first feeding> You should only have to scent your rats the first couple of times and then they should be switched over. Just NEVER feed them mice again and you shouldnt have any problems. Also its not a good idea to leave live prey in with your snake unmonitored becuase of some pretty nasty bites and resulting infections your snake might sustain. (Especially from Rats. I have always enjoyed watching a snake eat live prey but F/T are so much better for the snake safety wise and the food is guarenteed parasite free. Good luck
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"Oh c'mon guys, it's so simple, maybe you need a refresher course! It's all ballbearings now-a-days!"

I dont feed my snakes live prey but my GF does. These are her snakes. It took a long time to get them to eat frozen mice and now its really a pain to get them to eat rats. And the rats I am feeding at only rat pups. They are barely able to walk around much less defend themselves.

So I was a bit confused. Did you tell me to get a rat and scent it with mouse odor, or get a mouse and scent it with a rat? And if you meant for me to scent a mouse with rat oder did you really want me to brain the mouse while it is alive?

Sorry for all the questions but I need to make sure I understand waht you are saying before I go out and buy something after work.

Thanks again,
Sayyed

I want to try to switch my yearling JCP to rats too but wasn't sure how to go about it. She eats 2 adult mice a week right now. Would 1 small rat be ok for her now? She is about 3 1/2-4 feet long. She is in shedding mode so I want to wait till she sheds and hopefully she'll be really hungry to accept the rat with no problems.

>>Im really worried that I am going to have to feed her tons of mice for the rest of her life.

Unfortunately you might just have to. Jungles and Irian Jayas sometimes have a bad habbit of getting stubborn about what kind of rodent is considered dinner. Kinda like Ball pythons...

At this point I wouldn't expect her (since she is showing the inclination) to be a consistant eater on rats. She might become one with time but then again she might have a stubborn streak. First off I would try to feed her only pre-killed rats. Leaving a live rat in the cage with a snake for long periods of time is NOT a good idea.

Some ideas as to how to get her to eat rats:
1. Stick the rat in hot water with a few mice.
2. get mice shavings with urine and wipe the rat thuroughly in them.
3. Let her go longer periods between feedings. If you feed her weekly, start offering her rats only bi-weekly, ect...

Hope this helps,
Darci
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Takes all kinds to make a World...

This really works What you do is when you go to the pet store get some mouse shavings And put the rat in the shavings on the drive home. when you get home wait about A half hour or so then feed your snake It should woof it right down.Let me know if this works

Absolutely didnt work.

We took a rat pup, rubbed two different mice all over it, then took the rat and rubbed him in the mice shavings and took him home and put him directly into a feed box with her. 5 hours later. Nothing.

So the next thing I have been told to do is to feed her a mouse and put the rat in behind the mouse as she is eating. What do you think, bad idea? I particularly dont care for the idea but im running out of ideas. Its been about 4 weeks since she has eaten and if she doesnt eat soon, I will feed her a mouse.

Sayyed

Hey Sayyed, sorry things aren't working out for you. I dont really know what else to suggest other than try triggering the feeding response by holding the warmed rat pup that has been scented in some tongs and dangle it in front of your snake at night when it naturally would be on the prowl for food. My snakes feeding and nip response is much higher at night after the lights have gone out. It helps to try and place it right behind the carpets head and many times it will turn and strike at it. 4 weeks isnt a terribly long time not to be eating but as Darci said some carpets never switch over. I found my suggestions archived on this board when I switched my carpets over to rats and they worked for me. Hope something works for you. Best of luck
Seth
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"Oh c'mon guys, it's so simple, maybe you need a refresher course! It's all ballbearings now-a-days!"