Refused live rat pups

so, i have two live rat pups that my snakes refused. I strictly feed f/t at the moment and this is my first time feeding live as a keeper. none of my other snakes are due for a meal(big OR small).

the pups were left with the snakes for ~7 hours while i was at work, in a dark quiet room(aka the reptile room)

any advice on what to do with them? how to potentially keep them alive? Id hate to cull because 1) i still need live feeders and 2) my local rodent “dealer” upped their prices so i spent $5+ on two live pups. 3) im a little baby and even though no aspect of the reptile keeping world bothers me, as ive been keeping for quite a long time now, id still feel a little guilty for culling.

First of all I would recommend never, ever leaving live prey in with your snakes unsupervised, even rat pups. They are capable of injuring your ball pythons

If you want to keep them alive until you can offer them again, you can put them in a tank or tub with some bedding, a hide and some rat food and a rodent water bottle, all of which you can easily pick up at a pet store. That being said, all of that is going to cost more than the $5 you spent on the pups. It may just be easier to humanely euthanize, freeze them and then offer them later. If all your snakes are already on F/T, I’d stick with that

you’re completely right about leaving them unsupervised! I was in a rush today, and didn’t even think about it before leaving. I didn’t even remember it until about halfway through my shift. They were removed as soon as i got home. luckily the snakes are unharmed, it was a silly mistake.

They were actually bought for my boa hatchlings(that i made a post about two-ish weeks ago) who have steadily been refusing food for me, both f/t AND live.

Keeping them alive wouldn’t be a hassle for me, considering i have all of that laying around the house anyway. I don’t know if they’d necessarily be considered pups or pinkies, since although they are the SIZE of a pup, they’re still relatively hairless and helpless.

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If they are that small, you are going to be out of luck feeding them and keeping them alive. You will be better off putting them down. At that age they are pretty well incapable of inflicting any damage to your animals, so you can always try to keep them warm and if they survive try again over night/tomorrow.

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Rodents that age are reliant on their mothers’ milk and can’t be kept alive without a lactating adult female.

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