Mice Hopper vs Rat Fuzzies?

[JeweledPeach]

I have 1 ball python right now who is about 5-6 months old. He is on 1 live mouse hopper once a week and is doing well. He is always willing to eat and has never refused a meal for me. It seems to be a good size and puts a lump in his belly for a day or two.
I just recently decided to expand my collection with three more beautiful morphs. From what I've been told, they are all 150-200 g max and have been on 1 live rat fuzzy once a week.
I'd like all 4 of them on the same thing, but I'm not sure who to switch to what. What's better in your personal openion as well as nutrition wise? I was thinking rats, but then I heard they're higher in fat? Not sure if this is true? Also heard that mice are higher in calcium which they'd need right now since they're growing babies.
I also raise and show rabbits, and was wondering if rabbit can be on the menu in the future? How big is too big for an average adult ball python? I was thinking no bigger then a 7 week old rabbit, about .75-1.25 lbs.

[RobNJ]

For convenience purposes, rats...for nutritional purposes, hardly a difference. Mice have considerably less mass than rats of a similar size.

[PigZilla50317]

I personally would get them and keep them on the Scented sized food they expect until a quarantine period goes by and the get comfortable with their new home so you don't shock them into some having feeding problems. Switch after a few weeks to a month

[Stewart_Reptiles]

Both hopper mice and rat fuzzies are fed to start of hatchling right out of their eggs at this point you are underfeeding your BP

From what I've been told, they are all 150-200 g max and have been on 1 live rat fuzzy once a week.

BP that size can take down an adult mouse or a rat pup.

Switching prey type is a matter of preference, availability and convenience other than that gram per gram it's pretty much all the same the only difference is that down the road you will feed one prey item versus multiple.

[satomi325]

I have 1 ball python right now who is about 5-6 months old. He is on 1 live mouse hopper once a week and is doing well. He is always willing to eat and has never refused a meal for me. It seems to be a good size and puts a lump in his belly for a day or two.
I just recently decided to expand my collection with three more beautiful morphs. From what I've been told, they are all 150-200 g max and have been on 1 live rat fuzzy once a week.
I'd like all 4 of them on the same thing, but I'm not sure who to switch to what. What's better in your personal openion as well as nutrition wise? I was thinking rats, but then I heard they're higher in fat? Not sure if this is true? Also heard that mice are higher in calcium which they'd need right now since they're growing babies.
I also raise and show rabbits, and was wondering if rabbit can be on the menu in the future? How big is too big for an average adult ball python? I was thinking no bigger then a 7 week old rabbit, about .75-1.25 lbs.

Rats and mice of the same size are almost identical in nutritional value. But yes, rats have a slightly higher fat content. Just only a few percentages. BPs grow at a faster rate on rats than mice. BPs on rabbits grow even faster. Feeding a single rat is more convenient than feeding several mice. Some snakes won't eat more than one or two feeders in one sitting, so keep that in mind too when feeding single vs multiple prey.


I feed adults 1-2 small rats a week. 1 medium would be the largest.

I tried feeding rabbit before, but no one wanted it. Even my most aggressive feeders. It was even scented with rat.

I used a live newborn baby rabbit. It was about med rat size.

~1 lb rabbit seems too large… Thats ~453 grams for an adult if you feed weekly. I personally don't feed more than small-med rats weekly to adults. Thats between 70-110 grams.

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[OsirisRa32]

I've only ever heard of rabbits for much large species of snakes as food...like retics

[satomi325]

I've only ever heard of rabbits for much large species of snakes as food...like retics

You can feed rabbits (or any other type of feeder animal) to any type of snake as long as it's the appropriate size.

I don't know this person directly, but one guy fed his ball pythons exclusively rabbits once they got large enough to eat them. The snakes grew like weeds after that.

Personally, none of my adults would take rabbits. But if they would, I would rather feed them that than rats. It is much cheaper for me. My local rabbit breeder charges $1/newborn rabbit, which is the same size as a med rat.

[sorraia]

I'd say get everyone on rat fuzzies (or maybe the next size up for some of the larger ones), just more convenient than trying to feed more of a prey item.

I have been feeding 4 snakes, acquired 2 more snakes yesterday. The 2 new snakes are babies, 60 grams, and have been eating mouse hoppers, so for now I’ll keep them on that. My other snakes (larger male is 185 grams, I forget offhand what the smaller male is, the females are 215 and 220 grams) have been eating rat fuzzies. Now that I see the two in front of me, the mouse hoppers are a tad smaller than the rat fuzzies, but not by much. My two older girls are about ready to move up to the next prey size, the boys can probably stay on rat fuzzies a little longer. This is just what I’ve been doing so far.

[JeweledPeach]

I am happy to report that the one on mice had his first rat today! I didn't scent it, as I've never had problems with him in the past, and it turned out I wouldn't have needed to. Looks like he'll be good to go when the others get here in late Feburary SO happy I was blessed with an easy eater!
Thanks everyone!!

[MarkS]

Feed them what they're willing to eat. As long as the snake is getting enough to eat it really doesn't matter what it is.