FaunaClassifieds - View Single Post - Getting Rhino ratsnakes to eat
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Old 04-16-2018, 10:16 PM   #14
bcr229
I've had to assist feed some really tiny babies in the past. The long, thin ones like BRB's and rat snakes seem to be the trickiest as they're the hardest to hold on to, plus they usually make a run for it at the worst possible moment.

One trick I've found that makes life easier is to cut the hind leg off of a f/t mouse and feed that instead of a mouse pinky, which falls apart into a yucky mess, or a rodent tail, which is much like pushing string down the snake's throat. Pick a hind leg that's an appropriate size meal, bend it at the hock, and put the hock into the snake's mouth/throat first with the cut end and foot following it. It's fairly easy to get it far back in the snake's throat by pushing gently on the long leg bone. The snake also can't spit it out easily since the leg wants to unfold, so it gets caught up in or behind the snake's teeth.

Once the snake starts to swallow it you can often sneak a mouse pinky in behind it, assuming the snake is big enough to eat both food items at once.

The remainder of the one-legged f/t mouse just gets fed off to one of my king snakes.