Hi all, I finally made my way over here. I thought about asking this question over on the "other" forums, but sometimes answers don't always seem to be too terribly forthcoming. Anyway, it seems that a number of folks over "there" have made comments about switching to rats as soon as possible, and stating that rats are "more nutritious" than mice.

I've been checking out the books I have, as well as some articles in Reptiles Magazine from the past few years, and so far I have not found anyone in any of those sources making any statement that rats are preferable.

In fact, one article I read talked about a practice of "power feeding" snakes to get them to breeding size faster, and how this might actually be detrimental in the long run.

I have no current plans to breed, and my nearly 4 month old ball python seems healthy and happy, even if he might be smaller than someone's "power fed" BP of the same age.

So other than the basic concept that a rat of the same size as the mouse would be (theoretically) younger and possibly easier to digest, is there really ANY nutritional advantage to rats over mice?

Thanks.