Bad Rat? - Where Responsible Reptile Keepers Connect!

Texas Rattlesnake · #1 (**permalink**) 10-20-2007, 02:58 AM

I fed my largest female Suri a 2XL Rodent Pro rat about a month ago. I don't think it was a "Zucker," but it was about the size of a small cat. In any event, while she normally digests her meal in about 7-10 days, I noticed swelling for about two weeks. It took her nearly a month to pass the meal and her poop was grey and pasty. Her saddles seem a little washed out now too. Uggh! Did I get a bad rat?

Well, you would have thought I learned my lesson with the first rat. But, nope. I learn slowly apparently. I fed a similar size Rodent Pro 2XL to our other large female a couple of weeks ago and she is struggling to digest it and going into an early shed now. These were my last two Rodent Pro rats. I switched to The Mouse Factory a few months ago and I am much happier with the quality of the rodents.

Dank, Trend, or anyone else, do you have links to the toxicity threads on other forums?

Denny Plank · #2 (**permalink**) 10-20-2007, 03:03 AM

usally it takes a few tryes to find the rats that are right for your snake. but it is best to make sure that she is not sick of has mites or anything.

Denny Plank · #3 (**permalink**) 10-20-2007, 03:05 AM

the rats were probably just infected with impatites. it makes there nutitional falue go down.

trendkill · #4 (**permalink**) 10-20-2007, 03:30 AM

Yucky. I've gotten grey poops from my pythons who are eating rodent pro mice. And after all the recent "Bad Rat" reports, I'm switching myself. I think I'm going with Mice Direct... we'll see how I like them. Their prices seem fair too.

I'm pretty sure dank has the links to the threads you're looking for. I can't seem to find them on the other forum.

Texas Rattlesnake · #5 (**permalink**) 10-20-2007, 03:49 AM

I found the threads. I like The Mouse Factory Jumbos because they are rather lean. I do think there is some merit to the contention that boas do not do well with fatty rats, especially BCC.

When my boas outgrow Mouse Factory jumbos, I'm switching to rabbits. No more 2XLs for my BCC.

Denny, thanks for the input but my boas do not have mites and are not sick. You should checkout the threads on the Kingsnake boa forum on rat toxicity. I'm glad I did.

Dank, thanks for sharing your experience a while back. You might have just saved my girls.

trendkill · #6 (**permalink**) 10-20-2007, 04:02 AM

Rabbits are where I'm headed as well. My new big female BCC has been eating rabbits for the past 2 years, and she's in amazing condition. She's lean and toned.. and that's rare for a boa her size.

Revj0e · #7 (**permalink**) 10-20-2007, 06:18 AM

Ive fed nothing but RP rats to all my snakes and never had a problem. Mabye the problems are coming after the fact, during thawing? Im not saying YOU or Dank is doing somehting wrong... just that maybe somehting is happening after they are thawing. It could be worth a look.

danktat · #8 (**permalink**) 10-20-2007, 07:22 AM

Rust actually was the first to tell me that he never had problems with RP rats when I first brought up the issue. I was told by a few of the larger breeders that they would "recommend someone else"...as to not appear to be making a company look bad but to "promote" another one. I should have gotten the hint. I will be trying other sources to see if it makes a difference.

Sorry I didn't see this thread earlier so I could get you those links before you found them for yourself.

There seems to be ALOT of this shedding out color after strange stools and regurges recently. Gets me nervous.

trendkill · #9 (**permalink**) 10-20-2007, 03:16 PM

I've never had an issue with RP rats either. I've also used that company for years.

But I've also been chatting with Mike Eckert, who lost a few boas to some very very bad rats from RP. This is his exact statement:

"I was raising both females up when I made the mistake of changing my rat supplier and getting suckered into ordering a big order from Rodent – Pro. Lucky your female and half my collection were in shed, and did not get fed. Their rodents were toxic and half my collection exploded mucus all over and rolled over dead, including her sister."

So on top of all the bad rat reports, that REALLY makes me nervous.

trendkill · #10 (**permalink**) 10-20-2007, 03:21 PM

And wow, he just posted this on the KS forum:

"I posted this problem three or four years ago in the hope that more animals would not get poisoned and suffer and die. The one and only order I got suckered into making with that same supplier wiped out half of my collection and most were young snakes that were fed small rats and mice. Boas, pythons and colubrids alike, exploded mucous all over the place and rolled. Some died before they even had time to loose all their color, shed and get all calico looking. Lucky half my collection was in shed at the time and did not get fed. I lost some of my best, irreplaceable specimens."