i came home from work to fing a very small black rat snake in my once empty 20 long aquarium..the kids want to keep him, i have read alot of care sheets for rat snakes but I would like some input from some one with experience with wild caught snakes. give me some do's and don'ts. should we try to keep it. it is 13 inches long. it looks too small for pinkies. i have kept snakes before but not this small and not wild caught. please help
thanks
chris

I'm not a snake person so I can't be of much assistance. Do you think it might be able to take day old pinkies?

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Hello,

Unless I am mistaken, Rats and Corns are very similar. That being the case, I don't think the snake would have a problem taking a mouse pinkie. They are pretty small when they are newborns. When I got Rayne, my Snow Corn, she was only 10-12 inches and she took pinkies without any trouble. (Once I got her to feed for me. lol)

Wild caught animals often have some sort of parasites. They could be internal or external. If you decide to keep it, I would suggest a vet visit.

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black rats can be very aggressive too so make sure you handle him daily. i made that mistake WAY too many times.

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2 Eastern Box Turtles-Calvin & Hobbes
1 Spotted Turtle-Guppy
Chow/Sheperd Mix- Colby
1 Cat- Evi
1 Black and white tegu- Strider

And try to keep it far enough away from any collection you might already have. Some parasites from wild caught can be devastating to a captive bred animal. Until it's gone through a proper quarantine period and a vet check,,,I'd keep it well away from any of my other herps. Good luck. ANd as a footnote: in many states it is illegal to take and possess, many more have also made it illegal to release it back into the wild after a certain amount of time. Check with your local wildlife department.

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Ken
"Some people spend an entire lifetime wondering if they made a difference in the world. But, the Marines don't have that problem." -- Ronald Reagan

thanks for the input. well the kids got bored with the snake, i was able to get him to eat one pinkie mouse then after he went poo we let him go out by my small garden pond, he seems to like it. that was a week ago and we still see him sunning him self on the rocks around 11am every day.
thanks again
chris

you could probably put a pinkie out for him every now and then maybe once or twice a week somewhere he will find it and he would be likely to stay for a long time! i always wondered if you could have a snake that was handleable but lived in the wild, maybe that way you could keep a pet with very low maintnence...lol

I agree with the others, watch for parisites, handle him, but also make sure that the cage is comfortable, otherwise the snake gets more aggressive and likely to bit.