Mice vs Rats - fussy Spotted

[Nathan_J]

Hi guys,

Just wondering if its common for pythons to not take rats over mice?

I've got a 1.5yo Spotted who will happily take an adult sized mouse every week but when i offer a hopper rat, he's not interested. He has only ever taken the rat once; the very first time i offered one. Ever since then he shows no interest.
Is this something anyone has seen/heard of before?

I'm happy if he continues to take adult mice or moving to XL mice, just curious about the rat thing.

thanks.

 

[ralazal]

Hi guys,

Just wondering if its common for pythons to not take rats over mice?

I've got a 1.5yo Spotted who will happily take an adult sized mouse every week but when i offer a hopper rat, he's not interested. He has only ever taken the rat once; the very first time i offered one. Ever since then he shows no interest.
Is this something anyone has seen/heard of before?

I'm happy if he continues to take adult mice or moving to XL mice, just curious about the rat thing.

thanks.

I have a friend who has an adult carpet python that refuses to take anything but mice. He feeds her multiple mice per feed. It's weird to see, just turns her nose away from rats, but will snap up mice all day. I think she is about 7 or 8 years old.

 

[CF Constrictor]

Hi Nathan
I must admit , i have only kept carpets and they all took to rats no problem , but i don't think what you are experiencing is uncommon. I have heard of people scenting rats with mice or even chicken broth to entice fussy eaters. Could be worth a try ?
[doublepost=1594381254,1594380954][/doublepost]Im sure glad my carpets like rats , if i had to feed my big boy just mice, he would need about 2 dozen per feed.

I have a friend who has an adult carpet python that refuses to take anything but mice. He feeds her multiple mice per feed. It's weird to see, just turns her nose away from rats, but will snap up mice all day. I think she is about 7 or 8 years old.

 

[Colt1997]

Hi guys,

Just wondering if its common for pythons to not take rats over mice?

I've got a 1.5yo Spotted who will happily take an adult sized mouse every week but when i offer a hopper rat, he's not interested. He has only ever taken the rat once; the very first time i offered one. Ever since then he shows no interest.
Is this something anyone has seen/heard of before?

I'm happy if he continues to take adult mice or moving to XL mice, just curious about the rat thing.

thanks.

I know i have had it with stimmys that wont take rats but will tske mice some are just picky

 

[RAIDERSGOULDY]

I had a diamond python who would refuse rats. Tried all different techniques and he just refused. Put a mouse anywhere near him and he would devour it

 

[Flaviemys purvisi]

To snakes, mice and rats smell completely different... if you kept say a live weaner rat in a tub with a dozen live adult mice for a week and then gassed it and offered it your snake, it'd smash it.

 

[Bluetongue1]

As others have said, it is not abnormal and does happen on ocassions with some snakes. The most reliable way to transition a reluctant snake from mice to rats is the daisy-chain technique. This simply involves attaching a rat to the rear end of a mouse with a few stitches of cotton sewing thread. Just make sure you offer the combined rodents such that the snake strikes the mouse and begins with it. After three or four such feeds the snake should have learned to associate the smell of rats as food and take a rat without the attached mouse.

 

[Lurker]

My female diamond wouldn’t take baby rats when she was younger, but would take adult mice all day if you let her. I thought I’d starve her out of her fussiness but as we’ve all learned over the years, that’s easier said than done; pythons are very used to going long periods in between feeds and I was more worried about her than she was herself.
So it looked as if she’d beaten me when I tried the braining method. Sliced open a young rat’s skull and exposed the brain matter and she hit that so hard I dropped the tongs in shock. That was it for her, she was on rats from then on but one thing she’s always done with them, is she’s very particular on the size of rat offered. If she thinks it’s too big she just will not take it, and so I tend to feed her two smaller rats each feed.

Bit of a princess really, but she’s a very calm and gentle creature.