Hey ppl, I ve just up sized my food from weaner mice to weaner rats as i have been advised to do. Well the problem is she will not take the rats, she is scared of them or there smell it looks like. She is a14 months old south west carpet and weighs 250g and about 1300mm long, she will take weaner mice but not the 35g weaner rats i ve already wasted two in the last 2weeks and at $5 each i dont wannt keep riskin it. HELP ME!!!!
SWCP wont take rats. HELP!!
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Snowman
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Keep em in the freezer for a few months... Get yourself some adult mice. I found it easier to go from adult mice to weaner rats with my SWCP.
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Snowman
Guest
About 18 months... I waited until they're taking 2 adult mice then switched to weaner rats, then juvie rats then adult rats....
melly88
Well-Known Member
have you tried rubbing a mouse on the rat??? i do that & they usually give it a good smell & go for it!!! also maybe go down a size in rats. cos the size different between a weaner rat & weaner mouse is pretty big (in most cases) pet stores vary.
hope this helps!!!
hope this helps!!!
Slats
Well-Known Member
Buy a bag of adult mice.
Defrost your rat then shake it in the bag of mice for a minute.
It will come around.
Defrost your rat then shake it in the bag of mice for a minute.
It will come around.
trickedoutz31
Well-Known Member
you could always try breaking open a mouse and rubbing it onto the rat to sent it like a mouse then throw the broken mouse back into the freezer for future use 
Slats
Well-Known Member
I get them off mice as soon as they can take a pinky rat.
trickedoutz31
Well-Known Member
once youve had rat you never go back
Thanks for the advice ppl.
Yeah mell i have tried that but the rats smell is to over powering, i think i might down size.
trickedoutz and slats ill try these ideas but they sound the same as rubbing a defrosted mouse against the rat.
cheers
Matt
Yeah mell i have tried that but the rats smell is to over powering, i think i might down size.
trickedoutz and slats ill try these ideas but they sound the same as rubbing a defrosted mouse against the rat.
cheers
Matt
melly88
Well-Known Member
yeah give down sizing ago & another idea is 2 leave her for an extra day or 2 before feeding. eg if u feed every 7 days wait 9 & she will b extra hungry.
good luck.
good luck.
stevesmartt
Not so new Member
my boa didnt want to move off smaller feed, so i stepped up feeding instead of once a week, i fed every 5 days and he never denied both ever. ... someone did give him a large mouse which i thought he would pass but he had a field day with it. Hit it harder than anything he took before. what if you tried day old chickens to mix it up a bit? It may take some time for her to come around. Are we "allowed" to feed live feed??? we were in the UK with some provisions.
stevesmartt
Not so new Member
obviously it would not be left unsupervised and removed if there was no interest shown. Rats i would not do it with.
Kenshin
Very Well-Known Member
one of my adult female sw carpets will not take rats it is vary fustrating when she eats 6-8 mice in a feeding she has taken to in the past with a great deal of stuffing around i found when i defrost a heap of adult mice in a hot bucket of water i soak the defrosted rat in there to soak up as much mice like smell as possible and that seemed to work once the other time i shoved it in her gob as she yawned from her first mouse altho she is so aggressive shes more interested in trying to smash me then eating which does not help luckly i have a large male which is a living garbage disposal so he seems to delight in her not eating rats the other adult pair i have smash mice with gusto and every few offerings they will accept adult rats which is a start
shane14
Very Well-Known Member
my male at first wouldnt take them, but that was because he was full from a weekly feed of adult mice. He now takes 2 weaner rats in a flash. I feed every 10-18days.
Also with having a smaller carpet too which feeds on mice. The rodents get kept in the same container thus they all have the same scent.
Also with having a smaller carpet too which feeds on mice. The rodents get kept in the same container thus they all have the same scent.
Kenshin
Very Well-Known Member
i find rats or at least adult rats have a vary strong overpowering scent which may be the problem
Jewly
Very Well-Known Member
I have a Coastal Carpet that wouldn't eat for me for over 4 months but a couple of weeks ago, I cut open the head of the rat and he took it after a little while. This week I just offered him the rat without cutting it open and he smashed it straight away so you could always give that a go.
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