Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I tried feeding a small rat to my big male baird yesterday.Now he wont eat it and has been guarding it for the last 24 hours.Guarding as in striking out at me if I even go near him.He has his head laying on the dang thing.LOL.
I will get the rat out tonite that isnt a problem.Just strikes me strange that he is acting like a dog with a new bone.Ive never seen anything but monitors act this way.
Anyone else have a snake act this way?Ive never seen this in 20 plus years of being around reptiles.
thanks Paul

I don't know why the snake is acting the way he is, but I do know that snakes don't have friends. I would not have left the rat in the cage. Rats have been known to kill snakes that they could not escape from. You are lucky that your snake is still alive.

The rat was dead.Dead for at least 3 months in my freezer.I dont feed live unless it's something without teeth.And it still doesnt explain why he was acting the way he did....Paul

I'm glad you brought this up...I've never seen my baird's react this way, probably because he has yet to refuse a meal, but my hognose (a notoriously picky eater) does it all the time...he gets extremely agitated when there's a dead prey item in his tank that he doesn't want to eat, coils around it, and hisses and strikes viciously if I attempt to remove it...he'll stay that way for hours...when I finally get the mouse out (using a piece of cardboard to fend him off while I grab the mouse with the other hand) he actually seems relieved, and will then almost immediately relax and go back into his hide...I've never heard of this behavior with snakes either, and wonder what it means, and if it's common to most species...Since snakes are so solitary, you wouldn't think they'd need to guard anything, but it's hard to say what else that behavior could mean...hmmmm...

SR

Although I do have a possible theory; maybe the sight and smell of prey throws them into "feeding mode" automatically, resulting in high arousal and striking at movement even though they're not actually hungry; in other words maybe it has nothing to do with guarding--only with prey drive triggered by the presence of a prey item...

sr

That answer sounds very reasonable. I have a young Yellow Rat that is very non agressive towards me except on the days when I feed my snakes. The smell of all that food seems to get him going, and he has nailed me before on those days. I just let him hold on to my hand until he comes to the conclusion that my hand is not a mouse.

Do they have for sale a field guide to mice for Rat Snakes that I can get him? (LOL)

Good answer...Never even thought of it.He rested his head on it the whole time...Strange..Paul.