How to Feed Rat Snakes

From Hatching

• 1

  Wait about three or four days before trying to feed a newly hatched rat snake. At this point in their development, they are still digesting the egg sac minerals and this can keep them quite satisfied for some time. Provide a small dish of water for them so they don't dehydrate.

• 2

  Pick up the baby rat snake and hold it in your hand loosely. Place a live baby mouse, called a pinky, in your other hand and slowly introduce the snake to the pinky. The snake should grasp the pinky by the head or tail and begin swallowing it. If it does not do so immediately, let the snake "sniff" around the pinky for a few minutes. If the snake still shows no interest in the pinky put it aside and wait for another day.

• 3

  "Brain" the pinky. If the snake still has not showed interest in the pinky after more than a week, the rat snake may starve. Take a small needle and pierce the rear skull of the pinky. The milky liquid that emerges is brain fluid and triggers a natural response in the rat snake to eat.

From Juvenile or Adulthood

• 4

  Feed the rat snake what it is used to eating. Rat snakes stick with the method of feeding that they started with. If you started feeding them live food early on, switching to frozen is difficult or impossible. In the wild, rat snakes eat eggs, mice, rats, birds and anything they can wrap their lower jaw around. In captivity, if they started with a variety of mice, rats and eggs, it's not difficult to keep them on that.

• 5

  Drop the live rodent into the cage. When you only have one rat snake, it's an easy process. If you have two, drop one rodent on one side and wait for the rat snake to strike and coil around it. Then, drop the other rodent on the other side of the cage. It's possible that two snakes will try to coil around the same rodent and one snake could easily end up killing the other snake in the process.

• 6

  Thaw the frozen rodent in a pot of boiling water recently taken off the heat. It takes a good five minutes in the hot water for the mouse to thaw completely, give it an extra few if it is a large mouse. If a snake is digesting the formerly frozen mouse and tastes a spot in the center of the animal that is frozen, it will trigger regurgitation and that is a smell you don't forget.

Frequency

• 7

  Feed the snake at least once a week. If your pet eats a rather large rodent one week, it may refuse to eat until it is ready. After the first few feedings you will get to know your snake's eating habits better.

• 8

  Reduce feedings in the winter. In the wild, the winter signals a hibernation time for adult snakes of all breeds. This gets their body ready for reproduction in the following spring. One good feeding before it starts getting cold and you can cut back to one feeding per month. Return to the normal eating schedule in the spring.

• 9

  Stun larger rodents. If your snake is big enough to eat large rats, remember that large rats can do some damage to your pet. Grab it by the tail and smack it hard against the ground or flat surface. Drop it in before it can recover.