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 #1998374


Stina
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 Question about pre-killed rats

I already posted this in the feeder section but it doesn’t seem like it is read very much. I’d like to know the answer to this soon or I need to go get more rats tomorrow.

I have several large snakes and decided pre-killed rats would be better then live. I get them from a reptile store and they kill them there for me. Last week we got enough for everyone but my 2 biggest snakes didn’t want them. (They have been eating live so I guess didn’t like them already dead.)
ANYWAY....
So the rats had been dead about 2 1/2 hours by the time I decided they weren’t going to eat so I put the rats in the freezer. I’d like to thaw them out now but is being dead for 2 1/2 hours before being frozen too long? Can it make my snakes sick?



05/04/09  02:47pm

 #1998403


Occ1123
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   Message To: Stina   In reference to Message Id: 1998374


 Question about pre-killed rats

I wouldn’t be concerned about it being dead for 2.5 hrs. before you froze it.

I would feel differently though if it had already been frozen and you wanted to re-freeze it and then re-thaw it or if it had been dead overnight.
05/04/09  03:27pm

 #1998770


Stina
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   Message To: Occ1123   In reference to Message Id: 1998403


 Question about pre-killed rats

Thanks. I went ahead and thawed them out. My ball python ate one but my bull snake wouldn’t touch it so I’m off to the store tomorrow. I’d really rather NOT feed him live rats if I can help it though.
05/04/09  11:37pm

 #1999057


JackAsp
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   Message To: Stina   In reference to Message Id: 1998770


 Question about pre-killed rats

I had a a pine that took over eight years to switch. he was my most stubborn live-feeder ever. The trick that finally did it was this:

1. Start feeding him in a tall round bucket. Put the live rat in first, then bring the snake over and let him drop in on it at his own pace. You’ll probably have to unwind his tail from your wrist while he constricts, but he won’t really care.

2. Keep doing it for a few months, until he’s been at the point for a while where he actually recognizes the bucket and climbs right across your arms rushing over towards it.

3. Wait until after he sheds, and is at his hungriest.

4. Put a smaller dish, also round, in the middle of the bucket, with a fresh dead rat in it. Something like a small pet food dish is perfect.

5. He will rush over to the bucket, smell the rat, dive in, grab it, and sort of ricochet down around the edges of the dish that it’s in. He is now in a coiled position, full of adrenaline, and has a rat in the midle of his coils, right where he is used to having one when he starts eating.

6. At that point, if he’s anything like McBain was, he will simply assume that he must have killed it himself and forgotten, and will go ahead and eat it.

7.After that, simply putting a dead rat in the bucket the next time, with no trick-dish, should get the same result, and eventually you can phase that into him eating any kind of rat he sees wherever he sees it, including in his enclosure.


Another trick a lot of people use is to offer a pile of fuzzies, some of them live, some of them dead, and gradually decrease the number of live ones.
05/05/09  02:12pm


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