Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I purchased a 2.5 year old female black rat snake earlier this week and now she is missing. She is the future mate for 5-6 year old male black rat. I put the two of them in a 10 gallon take last night with a screen lid and an 8 pound laptop computer on top. I woke up this morning and my new girl was missing.

I am trying to figure out what happened.

Is it possible that the male ate the female ? I fed him a rat pup the night before so he should have not been very hungry. The appeared to get along.

Thanks for your help.

Conrad

My male ate at 8pm and I saw them together in the cage about 11pm that night.

Conrad
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Peace through Strength
War through Weakness
Defeat through Kerry (like Johnson)

I looked at the cage and can see that she pushed through a hole in the lid.

Got to start looking for her.

Conrad

When will people learn?

Your younger snake has most likely been a late night snack for your older one. Above that he probably tried to mate with her and since she was not sexually mature she would have died if anything had taken place. Why are you putting a full grown black rat with a youngin in a 10 gallon tank in the first place? That's WAYYY too small!!!

Dude what were you thinkin....honestly....you coulda at least asked
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-Chris

0.1 Licorice Stick Black Rat
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I had a larger female that lived with my male until she died and there where now problems.

I had these two together the day before and they got along just fine. They were in the 10 gal cage so I could keep and eye on them and they did great for 3-5 hours before I went to sleep.

I am pretty sure that the new girl escaped as I can see were she pushed through the lid of the cage.

Conrad

>> When will people learn?
>>
>>Your younger snake has most likely been a late night snack for your older one. Above that he probably tried to mate with her and since she was not sexually mature she would have died if anything had taken place. Why are you putting a full grown black rat with a youngin in a 10 gallon tank in the first place? That's WAYYY too small!!!
>>
>>Dude what were you thinkin....honestly....you coulda at least asked
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>>-Chris

Not that the 10 gallon thing was a good idea, but I seriously doubt a female black rat over 2 years old would die if bred. At that age, it's probably mostly full grown. Unless they were underfed and stunted, I'm surprised they even fit in a 10 gallon though. I have trouble getting my 4'corn back in his big enclosure.

Yes, my question would have been how they fit into a ten gallon also...At 2 1/2 years old she should be nearly big enough to breed, unless like earlier mentioned fed a maintanance diet instead of a solid growth diet. I've got yearlings that are over two feet long, so we're talking a snake that should have been at least 3ft, and at that age of a male you are looking at a snake that should be 5ft or more. Hope she shows up for ya though...in my personal opinion I believe that she more than likely used that hole to escape also. Keep your eyes open!
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Conrad
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