Rat Bite!
 

today i fed my red tail boa a medium rat and the pet store i go to only has live rats so thats what i give him and he has always eatin live food.
I usually stun the rats before feeding him but today i guess it didnt work i noticed when he uncoiled of the rat that the rat had bitten him. The rats teeth were somewhat big and it looked like thy had pierced the snakes skin.

Just wanted to know if this is anythin i should be worried about or if there is anything i should do to help the snake.
(P.S the snake doesnt have a noticable wound on him) didnt know if you needed to know.

If it diesn't appear to have a a wound I wouldn't worry much. One of my females got bit couple months back and I treated it with Polysporin and it healed up normally and was gone by the next shed. Hope that helps..

Just watch the wound area for a while. Usually small rat bites will heal up just fine in a shed or two. If a knot starts to appear in the area, take it to a vet cuz an infection from the bite is setting in.

More importantly, KILL the rat next time. Not daze, but KILL it. Break it's neck, and it can't bite your snake. Rats are formidable critters, and possess the ability to KILL your snake.

Here's a thread that may make you think twice about live feeding....


The Live Pile


Hope that helps
Rick

To prevent this in the future, you can also use Hemostats or tongs to hold the prey while your boa strikes, if you are not one for killing them. this way, you can have better control over the panicking mouse and prevent it from biting your snake in most cases. ( sometimes the snakes do get those coils around to where you cant keep track of the darned things head)
If i see a mouse/rat attempting to bite, i will just put the tongs in its mouth, and it will bite on those instead.

Granted, taking the time to do that for each animal might be time consuming for larger collections, but if you only have a few, its a good way to feed live and be safe about it. :)

OK, I went and checked out that link to the live site, and so today bought a frozen mouse for my previously live-only bp, and I am glad to say she took it. Yay! Now to work on switching the boa......

Boa tend to switch easier in my experience. I fed live for many years cuz I was just ignorant and thought they would only take live. Not one of my animals had a problems switching to frozen/thawed.

I'll never go back if I can get away with it. LOL

Boy I hope so! He is a young snake, so I'm trying to do it sooner rather than later. He is currently taking 2 live mouse fuzzies per feeding, and has already refused f/t pinks. The ball was switched after a shed, so she was super-hungry, which I'm sure made it easier, and I still had to heat it and whack her in the nose and do some teasing. All worth it imo. Should I try to offer the boa (BRB, 22 in) 2 f/t fuzz per the usual routine, or offer a f/t hopper in a week or two when he grows enough to bump up the size? Maybe offer a f/t rat pup? He did mouth a f/t pink once, but wouldn't have anything to do with it after that. Suggestions welcome, I prefer f/t in general as they are much easier on me!

Ahhh, BRB. To be honest, I was speaking of Boa Constrictor. I know so very little about BRB, I probably ain't the best person to advise with those. But, I imagine any snake, with a little patience, will switch over with out too much problem. I even feed my Rattlesnake rescues F/T with no problems. And they are wild animals.

Just don't get discouraged if they refuse at first. A trick that works for me is simply making them skip a meal if they don't take it readily. I still do that. If you refuse a meal around here, you wait till the next scheduled feeding. LOL

You may have to dance it around with tweezers or something. The pitter patter of little feet, and movement can help stimulate a response. Leaving it lying on the warm spot over night is another trick. Many snake ssp are more active at night, and will eat more readily during these times.


Hope that helps
Rick

Transition or problem feeders should never be touched or thumped or any other term used for making physical contact between animal and prey.It only compounds issues and slows the process :shootfoot You hear people having all kinds of problems feeding their animals and generally the blame is applied to the animal and not the keeper.You hear of some pretty extravagant procedures some keepers dream up :rofl: primarily due to impatience.

Its my opinion many problem feeders are started when keepers try and shove F/T prey at an animal to soon after first shed.Touching the animal with the prey provides the animal with its first external stimulation,which by all definition is a negative !
Affording two full weeks after first shed affords near 100% success with F/T on the first feedings,same applies to new neo arrivals.There are a few other common practices that contribute and are unjustly blamed on the animal.Once an animal is removed from its mothers presence it becomes human Dependant for survival.Human interaction motivated by impatience never mixes with wild instincts :NoNo:

All the highest quality housing,equipment and experience in the world combined will never over ride a wild animals instincts. Their very simple creatures and have no comprehension of human time tables.

So are there really problem feeders ? or just problem Keepers ?
Ive been wrong many times but . . . . :ack2:

;)

My apologies, perhaps I should have specified. The bp successfully switched to f/t mice after its first shed WITH ME. I have had her for about 4-6 weeks now, fed live mice, this f/t was by no means her first meal. I see your point about the first thing touching a baby snake should not be food. I'd imagine it encourages biting before a good sniff/lick for identification.