Reptile & Amphibian Forums

How often should I feed my black rat snake? Caught him yesterday and he ate a mouse today. He's 2.5 to 3 foot long and beutiful!

Feed him as much as he wants. When he's full, he'll refuse any more food. Watch for regurgitation and unusually foul and sour smelling stools. He may have a parasite load that may require flagyl, panacur, or even antibiotics. Here's a pic of my WC York County, SC, male. He needed all three meds before he settled down to normal feeding and normal digestion. My female, also from York County, required flagyl and panacur. Lotsa luck.

How do I get it tested for these parasites? And do you know how to sex them? BTW I'm in Shelby, NC

Here's the pic!

We'll try one more time.... Sorry bout' that..

Pretty snake.
Best way to do a fecal is put your snake on clean newspaper after feeding him (or even bare clean glass). Scoop up the feces as fresh as you can, put in a clean ziplock and refrigerate if you can't get to the vet ASAP. Tell them you want a fecal floation done, which is pretty cheap. If it's positive for something, you'll have to pay for a visit and meds. Even if the vet doesn't treat herps on their own, fecals like this are done in central labs, so you can go to pretty much anyone to get the testing done.

Alex

Thanks..

One good meal once a week will be fine. Give it a couple or three days peace and quiet after it eats before trying to handle. If you stress it out too much right after a meal it might puke on you. Black rats are great snakes. The suggestions regarding parasites, etc, were good ones. One can easily spend more money on a wild-caught ratsnake, just making sure it is healthy, than a captive bred one...Good luck with your new snake. Duffy

Thanks guys!