Reptile & Amphibian Forums

It takes 3 years just to reach 4ft? I was exspecting a year. How long do rats live? What happens if you overfeed a rat? is it harmful? I've been feeding it frozen pinkies. is live better than frozen or does it even matter? I havn't fed it a live one because I'm afraid if it doesn't eat it I have the mouses starving to death and pain on my concience. And I'm afraid its gonna scream as the snake is eating it. I thought rats constricted them to kill first. is this true? I'm only hesitating to feed live pinkies to it, but grown mice are fine as they are not so "helpless" looking. how old/ big until i can feed grown mice? Thanks

I don't know the record for Rat Snake longevity but I'm sure it probably exceeds 20 years. I'm sure someone on the forum can tell us. I suspect a good average is more like 15-17 years. Generally, its better to feed frozen/thawed mice than live ones. One of the reasons is that the freezing should kill any parasites that could be present in a live animal. Another is to prevent injury from a mouse or rat that fought back. I have a large Boa I took as a rescue that has over 40 significant scars from rat bites. Some snakes do a better job of constricting prey than others. I have ones that seem to recognize the difference between live and dead prey. They will constrict live but slurp down a dead one. In reference to prey size, I think a good rule of thumb is to feed prey that is no larger than 50% bigger than the snake's widest girth. I heartily recommend you do a search for a Rat Snake Care Sheet. There are many of them on-lne and will give you lots of details that i haven't covered yet. You can also use a Corn Snake Care Sheet. You essentially keep them in the same conditions.