Amber eats mice fine but she refuses to eat rats!

[OnyxWerewolf]

Amber is about 2 years old now and she is more than capable of eating a rat. Actually, she ate a rat a few times before but I think those times were just sheer luck when she took it.

I also attempted to defrost a mouse and rat together in one bag and she still refuses the rat. She'll sense a mouse scent on the rat but she ignores it. However, i show her the mouse, she attacks.

She still prefers to eat mice but they're too small for her and I want her to start eating rats. It's like making a toddler take the cup instead of the baby bottle...but she still wants the baby bottle! ugh! she made me mad lolol...but i'm cool



Anyone got any advice?

 

[Velvet]

lol All I can say is good luck...

I have an adult male who will NOT eat rats. I've tried everything! You can take a horse to water but you can't make them drink as they say. He does however eat African softfurred rats which are bigger than mice.

I would suggest trying to get hold of some ASFs to try with your amber. From personal experience, trying to force my boy to eat rats just made me EXTREMELY frustrated, wasted alot of money because I had to throw the rats away and didn't get me anywhere. He won't even TOUCH rat pinks...lol

 

[ghosthousecorns]

Wow how big is this snake that a mouse is too small? I feed all my adults mice and they don't need anything bigger than that, can you post a pic of your snake?

 

[starsevol]

Amber is about 2 years old now and she is more than capable of eating a rat. Actually, she ate a rat a few times before but I think those times were just sheer luck when she took it.

I also attempted to defrost a mouse and rat together in one bag and she still refuses the rat. She'll sense a mouse scent on the rat but she ignores it. However, i show her the mouse, she attacks.

She still prefers to eat mice but they're too small for her and I want her to start eating rats. It's like making a toddler take the cup instead of the baby bottle...but she still wants the baby bottle! ugh! she made me mad lolol...but i'm cool



Anyone got any advice?

Why does she "have" to eat rats? ALL mine (27 corns, 7 rosy boas), eat mice, and always have eaten mice. A huge jumbo mouse is just fine for a large cornsnake.

 

[ComoxCorn]

I wouldn't worry about rats either. All my corns eat mice. A few of my largest corns get fed jumbo mice (retired breeders).

 

[Tracee]

I also have to say I don't think you actually have a problem here... it's a good thing in a way, as mice are often easier to get hold of! And rats have quite high fat content, too. I really noticed the difference in my boy after feeding him rats for a while, he was very sluggish, not nearly as active as normal.

Just get the biggest jumbo mice you can get hold of

 

[OnyxWerewolf]

oh...jumbo mice...
thanks everyone! great now i sound like a noob lolol...
i dont mean that she "needs" to eat rats but i was just going according to a so-called general corn snakes pet care book or something...
otherwise, i'll see if i can find those jumbo mice.
thanks everyone! and thanks for telling me about rats being too high in fat content...


stupid book -.-


well maybe not...is it still possible to have corns eat rats as a part of their diet? otherwise, i must be mistaking the rat diet for the rat snakes


nvm i just answered my question lololololol....

ignore the noob

 

[wax32]

I tried Jumbo mice on my corns a few times. My big female takes them no problem. My male will eat them and then a few days later regurge them. Now I'll be sticking with just regular adult mice for them! No need to make an adult fat by giving it too much food anyway I guess.

That's not saying some HUGE guys might be able to take bigger meals tho.