Re: Feeding Rats to Rat Snakes

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Posted by ursulamatria on December 24, 2001 at 03:03:08:

In Reply to: Feeding Rats to Rat Snakes posted by Dirk on December 23, 2001 at 23:28:15:

Dirk:

A 6-ft ratsnake can certainly take a small adult rat, if not a full-sized one. I feed full-sized male rats to my E. o. obsoletas all the time. You are correct about the larger prey being better for the animal. Because it has larger bones, a rat stays with the snake longer, and the snake obtains more nutrition from it than from half-a-dozen mice that pass through the alimentary canal too quickly.

My "rule of thumb" when feeding my snakes, is that any time a snake is voracious about taking three prey items of a particular size, then it's time to move up to the next larger size of prey. If your snakes can easily take five or six mice (and I'm sure they can), then they're far beyond the moving up point.

Ursa

: Can a large ratsnake (5-6 feet) handle a full size rat for a meal? I'm guessing that rats have more food value than mice since they should have a better volume to surface ratio (less hair and more meat). Anyone here feeding rats?

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Thanks, I'll see if they'll take rats/NoTXT Dirk 12/24/01 (0)

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: Dirk: : A 6-ft ratsnake can certainly take a small adult rat, if not a full-sized one. I feed full-sized male rats to my E. o. obsoletas all the time. You are correct about the larger prey being better for the animal. Because it has larger bones, a rat stays with the snake longer, and the snake obtains more nutrition from it than from half-a-dozen mice that pass through the alimentary canal too quickly. : My "rule of thumb" when feeding my snakes, is that any time a snake is voracious about taking three prey items of a particular size, then it's time to move up to the next larger size of prey. If your snakes can easily take five or six mice (and I'm sure they can), then they're far beyond the moving up point. : Ursa : : Can a large ratsnake (5-6 feet) handle a full size rat for a meal? I'm guessing that rats have more food value than mice since they should have a better volume to surface ratio (less hair and more meat). Anyone here feeding rats?

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