Dinner Time for Grampa(warning snake eating)

HI all,
Its been ages since I posted pics of my other critter. You may remember I breed other things here than Discus. I've been breeding snakes now for a long time...longer than Discus actually. I have kept Boas, Pythons, King snakes, corn snakes, water snakes, and my favorite...Rat Snakes. The others species of snakes came and went, Rat snakes are to me like Discus are.I probably will always have both. So my recent projects have been breeding albino Rat snakes and I have a total of 8 here. Some abino and some hetero for albino. All have been bred and raised here. The pics that follow are of Grampa... my oldest Rat snake and father of my other generations. I think he is about 14 years old now. He is a really gentle snake, easy to handle.

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Now I know I warned you that this was a feeding thread, and it is. But its probably not what you expected to see. Though my snakes will gladly take rodents, I have my snakes all trained to eat Chicken. The larger ones even eat the Eggs my hens make. In this case, the restaurant is offering the house Special..

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Heres a few pics of the grandkids..this is texas grey rat snake hetero for albino

Hes a yearling
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I know.. I know...they are so cute you are all speechless. We get that alot when we do workshops at senior citizen centers . It seems only young kids are able to overcome their feelings of awe at these cute scaley critters. :)

Great pics Al and you know I love snakes. Cool on getting them to accept chicken. When feeding do you move the chicken with the tongs to simulate that the chicken is live?
Pat

Thanks Pat! I hold the chicken with Tongs because it less confusing to the snake...which is safer for my fingers!. These aren't "venomous" in the true sense of the word but all snakes saliva is thought to have anti-clotting properties to a degree and these guys have small sharp teeth. Their bites don't really hurt but they bleed. My snakes are not aggressive by nature but introducing food into the equation brings out the predator. Rat snakes are constrictors and the thing with constrictors is they bite and don't let go. Venomous snakes, bite and let go , waiting for the venom to work. There have been times when i had to dab a little rubbing alcohol on the bite area to get them to let go.

al

Interesting Al, next time they will not let go trying blowing gently into their mouth. This method works for lizards :)
Pat

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Originally Posted by Second Hand Pat

Interesting Al, next time they will not let go trying blowing gently into their mouth. This method works for lizards :)
Pat

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Pat Its a good idea to try , but I think they just bite down harder! To them its not so much a defense reaction, its the difference in losing and keeping a meal.. strong motivation. To give you an example of how strong a motivation. if you keep snakes together , you need to feed them in separate containers. If Two snakes grab the same food item they will both eat it and meet in the middle. who ever eats faster often eats the other snake as well, You would think the act of being eaten would cause the snake to let go of its prey... but that doesn't happen. I had some close calls here with that happening when I was too lazy to move them to different tanks and tried to feed on different parts of the same tank.


al

Wow!

Al, we recently bought a ball python. The first snake that I have ever owned. My wife had some other smaller snakes when she was younger. I'm jealous of yours eating chicken while ours will not eat a frozen thawed rat yet. :D Though we got him right around when he went into shed, so that might have something to do with it. He's also young and has been on live rat pups until we bought him. I might have to make a special trip to get some live rat pups, but that's going to get pretty inconvenient with just one snake and roughly an hour drive! Hoping maybe I could get him in hunting mode with a live one and trick him into eating a frozen/thawed.

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Originally Posted by jwcarlson

Al, we recently bought a ball python. The first snake that I have ever owned. My wife had some other smaller snakes when she was younger. I'm jealous of yours eating chicken while ours will not eat a frozen thawed rat yet. :D Though we got him right around when he went into shed, so that might have something to do with it. He's also young and has been on live rat pups until we bought him. I might have to make a special trip to get some live rat pups, but that's going to get pretty inconvenient with just one snake and roughly an hour drive! Hoping maybe I could get him in hunting mode with a live one and trick him into eating a frozen/thawed.

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Jacob,
I've had ball Pythons before. Great snakes. Pythons hunt largely by use of the heat pits. If you are trying to feed them and they are finicky take the thawed rat and put it under the heat lamp for a few minutes.. Then place it near the python and Cover the tank with towels..turn off the heat lamp and light. That often helps. You can also try taking that thawed rat and rubbing it with your hens feathers...that may also help .
AL

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Originally Posted by brewmaster15

Jacob,
I've had ball Pythons before. Great snakes. Pythons hunt largely by use of the heat pits. If you are trying to feed them and they are finicky take the thawed rat and put it under the heat lamp for a few minutes.. Then place it near the python and Cover the tank with towels..turn off the heat lamp and light. That often helps. You can also try taking that thawed rat and rubbing it with your hens feathers...that may also help .
AL

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Interesting. I've only been able to get him to strike defensively at the rat by touching him with it. He doesn't seem interested at all. I am warming the rat with a hair dryer. I tried "braining" one last night. Heating it up and leaving it for him all blocked out might be worth a shot. Hen feathers is interesting. I think the biggest issue is that's he's still new and very nervous. I'd not seen him out of his hides at all. Though he's certainly coming out during the night (on account of him knocking things over and shedding). I've also heard a drop of vanilla on the rat's head can help trigger a bite.

More snakes eating pics..

These are another set of juveniles here.

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Washing it down..

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Al, I have to be honest here snakes whether they are venomous or not I am completely a wimp. I have been terrified of snakes my whole life which makes no sense since I scuba dive and snorkel with sharks in the open oceans and they don't bother me at all.

Hey Al, the shipping box is used as a hide for the snakes?
Pat

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Originally Posted by Second Hand Pat

Hey Al, the shipping box is used as a hide for the snakes?
Pat

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Yep.. reduce reuse recycle :)

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Originally Posted by Discus Fever

Al, I have to be honest here snakes whether they are venomous or not I am completely a wimp. I have been terrified of snakes my whole life which makes no sense since I scuba dive and snorkel with sharks in the open oceans and they don't bother me at all.

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You aren't alone Scott. I used to do workshops on reptiles and it amazed me that Kids would have far less fear, but their parents were terrified. Somewhere along the way from Preschoolers to adults people learn to fear snakes. I never got the memo.:)

al

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Originally Posted by brewmaster15

You aren't alone Scott. I used to do workshops on reptiles and it amazed me that Kids would have far less fear, but their parents were terrified. Somewhere along the way from Preschoolers to adults people learn to fear snakes. I never got the memo.:)

al

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Between preschool and adulthood is when most people watch Indiana Jones for the first time.

Very cool Al! Very attractive looking creatures. I used to catch wild snakes in Australia when I was a younger bloke in the cooler months when they moved more slowly and were easy to find sunning themselves. During the 7 years I was an active snake catcher I only got bite by a venomous (not deadly) snake 1 time. They’re amazing creatures, but alas, my darling wife is not a fan, so fish it is for me :p

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Originally Posted by danotaylor

Very cool Al! Very attractive looking creatures. I used to catch wild snakes in Australia when I was a younger bloke in the cooler months when they moved more slowly and were easy to find sunning themselves. During the 7 years I was an active snake catcher I only got bite by a venomous (not deadly) snake 1 time. They’re amazing creatures, but alas, my darling wife is not a fan, so fish it is for me :p

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Danny I give you alot of credit! Australia has some seriously venomous snakes! 66 venomous and 20 of the worlds most venomous! Ah I would love to see them. The only thing I would be more stoked about would be the carnivorous plants. Something like 250 species .. and an incredible 120 species of sundews . I was born on the wrong continent.

I found out a couple of years ago that we have 2 carnivorous plants here in Mississippi. They grow where it's shady and moist. I bet if I were still able to stomp around down there I could find one.

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Originally Posted by LizStreithorst

I found out a couple of years ago that we have 2 carnivorous plants here in Mississippi. They grow where it's shady and moist. I bet if I were still able to stomp around down there I could find one.

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Liz you have quite a few species of carnivorous plants... 25 species covering the 4 main groups.

https://www.mdwfp.com/media/news/mus...f-mississippi/