Hi all, I work at a petstore in central indiana and had a customer come in today with a small, approx 12" long, baby ratsnake that he had found in his house. He didn't want it and I suspected if he left with it that he would kill it, so I said I'd take it. I've had snakes in the past, the most recent being a rosey boa but I've never had a ratsnake.

My main issue here is feeding....obviously I'm going to try newborn pinkies for this guy, but what other options are there if he won't take the pinky? I have easy access to :

Pinkies/mice/etc
mealworms
waxworms
redworms
nightcrawlers
circkets
feeder fish (all sizes)

I can also get anoles but I don't think they are small enough for him. For now he'll be set up in a basic tank with newspaper for bedding, a large ceramic water dish, hiding cave/box, and a branch for climbing purposes. Any help would be appreciated!! Thanks!

Hello...as far as I know they only eat rats and mice. If you decide to keep it vs letting it go, it will need tank temps between 80-85 during the day and in the 70's at night for proper digestion.

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MARSHA

:D I'm smiling because I have no idea whats going on!

I do plan on keeping it....I had been planning on getting another snake anyway so this was fairly convienent for me. The temps are no problem, I've got a heatpad to put on the tank to regulate temps.

Think it's wild?

If he dosnt accept pinks after a few weeks try anoles...this isnt suggested but since hes so young you should feed him what he will eat

Hello,

Ratsnakes will eat pinkies and progress through the rodent chain of size as they grow. Nothing else that you have listed needs to be tried.

The site doesn't have a caresheet on ratsnakes yet, but you could easily follow the cornsnake caresheet we have and the ratsnake would do great. (They have similar care.)

The cornsnake caresheet can be found here: http://www.herpcenter.com/showthread.php?t=6976

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Joeking - unless it was released by someone near this guys house I'm sure it's wild....he wanted absolutely nothing to do with it and was glad to get rid of it.

Others - thanks, I'm going to give him a couple days to settle in and then bring home a nice small pinkie for him. Thanks.

Brought him/her home a small pinky today and it was greedily gobbled down....probably would have eaten 2 easily. Makes me feel better about keeping it. So now he has a happy home with someone who likes him. Thanks all for the help.

Congrats, Im glad he ate for ya!

Well the little guy (girl, guy, whatever...) is doing well. He ate 2 pinkies on the 12th and I brought home 2 frozen pinkies on the 17th and thawed them, and pretty much to my suprise he ate both them too....I was suprised to see a withc snake eating f/t pinkies, good news for me I guess. =)