Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I keep catching yellow ratsnakes that find their way into my mouse room. Everytime, these snakes have eaten some very pretty fancy mice. I caught one the other day that ate some siamese mice! I considered keeping one of these snakes, but the last one did not want to eat after its initial meal and I was worried about it wasting away, but I did not want it back in my fancy mouse room, so I had my mom release it onto her property (she lives way out in the woods.) I might like to keep the newest capture, but how difficult is it to acclimate wild yellow rats to captivity? This one is about 2 feet long, so it is an old snake. Since I just caught it, it will be awhile before it digests that large meal, so I don't yet know how it will react to being in captivity. Any suggestions?

That message SHOULD have read - this is NOT an old snake, lol.

Also, I do have many cornsnakes, so I am not new to snakes, I just have not had many wild caught snakes. I had a wild caught corn when I was a teen and it adapted perfectly to captivity (she was one of my favorites.) Maybe I just did not give the last yellow rat long enough to adapt to living in a cage?

charlene

I currently have two wc yellow rats and they have been stellar eaters since day one. People I have talke to say that they adapt very well to captive conditions, possibly even moreso than wc corns. Since you have corns, just set the yellow up like the corns and you should be fine. Both of mine took f/t rat fuzzies for their first meals the day I got them. Good luck! Billy

>>I keep catching yellow ratsnakes that find their way into my mouse room. Everytime, these snakes have eaten some very pretty fancy mice. I caught one the other day that ate some siamese mice! I considered keeping one of these snakes, but the last one did not want to eat after its initial meal and I was worried about it wasting away, but I did not want it back in my fancy mouse room, so I had my mom release it onto her property (she lives way out in the woods.) I might like to keep the newest capture, but how difficult is it to acclimate wild yellow rats to captivity? This one is about 2 feet long, so it is an old snake. Since I just caught it, it will be awhile before it digests that large meal, so I don't yet know how it will react to being in captivity. Any suggestions?

I agree with BillyBoy, I have had two wc yellow rats and both were the most aggressive eaters I have seen.

~Dan
-----
0.0.1 San Luis Potosi Kingsnake
1.0 Yellow Rat Snake
0.1 Normal Cornsnake
0.0.1 Eastern Garter Snake
0.0.1 Northern Water Snake