Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I was fishing last week in the middle of nowhere and on the drive back I saw a 3 and a half foot black rat on the road. I caught him and took him home. I put in a 20 long with a cobra heat mat under the tank and reptile bark for bedding. My question is this, Does the enclosure sound good? He has fed already on a small mouse. He is although as mean as the day I caught him. Do black rats adapt well to captivity?

I'm no expert, since I just got my first black rat last week. But your setup sounds good, especially if he already ate a mouse. That's a good sign. The warm side should be about 83-88 degrees, and the cool side should be around 75 (room temp). Make sure that there are hide spots on the warm and cool side. You can make good hide spots by taking the clay dishes that go under flower pots, and breaking a small hole in them with a hammer. A climbing branch would be good too.

Wild snakes typically don't do as well in captivity as captive bred ones. However, if you gently handle your snake on a regular basis, he should calm down.

Good luck!
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-Andy

Fact is, some won't tame down at all. But I'd suspect yours is young enough to make a go at trying. First, feed dead food in a seperate container. Blacksnakes get really accustomed to the door or lid of their cage opening meaning food! Try vinyl gloves and long sleeves at first. Snakes hate the taste if they hit the glove. It might sound cruel, but cut the heat off overnight (assuming you don't have the air conditioner cranked in the room) and let him/her cool down some before handling. If all goes well, slip off a glove and handle for a while, put it back and handle again. They are much calmer when cool and are less likely to go ballistic. I have made great pets out of many Elaphae that started off mean. But I have had a couple that were nasty to the end, would stike through the glass without provocation, etc. But that is the exception to the rule, and the bite from a snake that size isn't much to worry about anyway. Good luck!

Thanks...ill try that, but i already fed him a live mouse a week after I caught him so going to dead might be hard.

>>Thanks...ill try that, but i already fed him a live mouse a week after I caught him so going to dead might be hard.

It will adapt to dead or frozen/thawed easily. They are eating machines.
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Jimmy (draybar)

on the very next feeding. Put it in and leave him alone for awhile. You can do that with dead; you can't with live. I take my frozen rodents out in the morning or when I get home from work and feed the snakes at night. I can check the enclosures in the morning to see who hasn't eaten. Put your thawed/frozen or at least thump a live one in at night and leave the snake alone till morning. The rodent should be gone by morning.

>>Thanks...ill try that, but i already fed him a live mouse a week after I caught him so going to dead might be hard.

Watch that the temps. don't get too high in a 20 tank.I keep mine at room temps with a 100 watt clamplamp at 10 hrs. a day above the basking spot(hide box in this case)And don't worry that it won't switch to dead prey,keep offering dead,it will eat when it's hungry enough.