Reptile & Amphibian Forums

all this guy will eat is gerbels how do i get him feeding on rats.

scent the rat with gerbil.
or feed it a gerbil and follow up with a rat for a few weeks, then just offer a rat.
or let the gerbil run around in front of the snake, try to yank the gerbil out, introduce a rat. this could be challenging....

We had one that had eaten Gerbils when we bought it, so what we did to switch it was to put the rat/mouse in used gerbil shavings for 12 to 24 hours prior to feeding. The rat takes on the scent of the gerbil and usually not always the snake will feed. We had to try a rat and a mouse using this method and the animal in question ate a mouse, but since we can't get gerbils in CA that was still better than not eating at all.

Debra

Personally I had a ball like that too, wouldn't eat anything but live gerbils... I really didn't like doing this, dangerous for the snake! So I did what I could to get him onto f/t gerbils for a while - As in, I'd stun the gerbils and throw them in for a while, then put killed ones in and move them about with long tongs, then just threw the dead ones in. After a while of that I started freezing the dead gerbils with dead rats (with some 'dirty' gerbil bedding). I offered a gerbil out of that, he took it... I offered a rat out of that, and with prompting he took it... I offered another rat (the next week) after that and he refused, so I offered a gerbil that was sort of scented like a rat, he took it... Went on and on until now all I have to do is put a dead f/t rat in and he'll eat it... If nothing else these critters teach you patience, thats all you really need... Anywho, those are my 2 pennies in this situation.
-Sara
ladywolf17@aol.com