Reptile & Amphibian Forums

When I first got my dumerils I was assured it was eating frozen. Well I tried everything I heard of and long story short all she will eat is live. It was no problem when I was feeding her mice, and eventually she graduated to small rats. At first it was okay, it took a few strikes to get the rats but eventually she would get them. The last couple of times I've fed her she has struck out at the rats a little-almost defensively- but hasn't ever ended up eating them. I fed her two mice the other day to keep her fed but they are way too small now and not enough food. Now this last time I put her in the feeding cage with a small rat to try again and she went after it right away so I thought there wouldn't be a problem. After a couple of hours I checked in and the rat had done some good damage to my snake. There were a few severe bites in the side of her completely through the skin. I took her out and put her back in her cage scared that my handling might injure her further. The wounds don't seem fatal but I'm definitely not an expert. My two questions are 1) Should I do anything to help her heal or prevent disease or infection? 2) What can I do to help her eat, I know the rats aren't too big for her? Thanks in advance

What techniques did you already try to get her to eat forzen/thawed?

Did you try freshly killed prey?

Talk to a vet about the wounds! I would definitely change the substrate in the cage to newsprint if you haven't already.

~Rebecca
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1.1 Ball Pythons (1.0 '05 Ghost, 0.1 '03 Normal)
0.1 Dumeril's Boa '04
0.2 American Pit Bull Terriers (40 lb darling lap dogs)

yes, first of all get your snake to a vet. secondly, if youre gonna feed your snakes live dont be a dumbass and leave a live rodent in a snakes cage unattended. it's things like that can cause those of us that do feed live to get a bad rap.

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1.1.0 Colombian Redtail Boa
2.1.0 Sumatran Blood Pythons
1.0 Black Blood Python
1.0 Dumeril's Boa
0.1 Coastal Carpet Python
0.1 Jungle Carpet Python
1.0 Texas Tiger Salamander

Put a THIN layer of antibiotic cream on the wounds, if they are just skin and muscle related. If you can see any bones of organs get her to a vet asap. Butterfly bandaids that they use over stitches could help hold the skin together, but if the cut is large enough for that, then again get her to a vet. In terms of getting her to eat rats. Try feeding her a small mouse first so she gets in feeding mode. She will definetely be looking for more, then you give her the rat, which you could try scenting with a mouse (or mouse bedding) but you probobly wont need to.

What you really need to do is get her on dead food. have you tried fresh killed? If nothing else, don't ever leave a snake alone with a live rodent, I have litterally seen snakes KILLED by rats overnight.