Moving from mice to rats this week

[frankykeno]

Well the time has come to try Baby and Punkin on appropriate sized rats (of course after my obligatory email to Adam for reassurance LOL...thanks always Adam for your unending patience with my worry wort ways!)

We are going to start ordering bulk frozen rats this fall after Finn arrives (who is already a super rat eater) and want to make sure both Baby and Punkin are well settled with rats before we do our first order.

They have both done wonderfully well on mice mind you, but with Baby eating 2 a week and Punky downing 2 or 3 and our local supply being all over the place size wise, I'm really hoping both of them take to rats okay.

So just to double check.....adult mice are basically comparable to rat pups correct? So if both snakes can easily consume multiple adult mice, I should be looking at the next size up for rats as in weanlings? Or would it be better to go with rat pups this week (even if they have to take more than one) and then move up to weanlings in a couple of weeks?

I'll do a search on the forum for any hints in moving them over from mice to rats but quite honestly I'd be very surprised if I get a refusal from either of these piggie eaters of mine LOL *cross my fingers anyways*

Wish us luck folks!

~~Jo~~

[kraniumz]

You can feed the snake food thats as big as the thickest part of its girth. Thats the general guideline.

But im not too sure about the nutrition part where if adult mice are as nutritious as rat pups. But i do know rats are like steroids for their growth. My bps seemed to grow rapidly or should i say fatter once they switched to rats.

[kraniumz]

Oh and Good Luck!

[mlededee]

if you go here you can see pics and measurements of rat sizes in pretty good detail: http://www.rodentpro.com/catalog.asp...el=frozen_rats. the only bp i ever fed mice to was my very first one, and once she was taking adult mice easily i switched her to weaned rats and then quickly to small rats with no problem. the weaned rats from rodent pro may be a little bigger than the mice you are feeding now, but since both your snakes are eating multiples that should be no problem. since you are ordering in bulk you might even think about getting some weaned and some small rats so that you will have them on hand when the snakies get bigger. once you switch them to rats they are gonna grow fast.

[tigerlily]

I agree with Mle, go for weaned rats. Yeah I think I need to reorder from rodentpro as I may have an increasing snake population in a couple weeks.

[frankykeno]

Yep I used the Rodentpro guide when I was looking for what would be the next step up for Baby and Punkin as far as rats go. I'm calling around to the two local pet stores today to see what their rat stock is as far as weanlings.

I'd just like to make sure the transition goes well before I end up with a lot of frozen rats that they are turning their snouts up at LOL. I'll be really shocked tho if these two piggies refuse but *knock wood* anything can happen with these snakes so I'm learning LOL.


~~Jo~~

[kurgan]

Interesting.
I wasn't actually sure what 'size' rats I had been feeding as the information just got lost in the deluge when I got Monty.
Looking at those pictures they look most like fuzzies (only bare) but on the larger end of things. I do remember the advice was to finish the bag of 10 then move up a size.
I am very tempted to see if he will tak two this Friday (I reckon so) but I will hold fire untill he poops for the first time!

[frankykeno]

Well poop, both the local pet stores are sold out of appropriate (or even slightly smaller) rats. Well there's always next week or a trip to another town if I can find anything in driving distance that has the rat sizes I want.


~~Jo~~

[rabernet]

Well poop, both the local pet stores are sold out of appropriate (or even slightly smaller) rats. Well there's always next week or a trip to another town if I can find anything in driving distance that has the rat sizes I want.


~~Jo~~

Good Luck With That! (Sorry, I just couldn't resist an "Adamism" tee hee!)

Seriously though, I've not seen any place around me that's had rat pups available (but then I haven't been looking that hard yet).

Be sure to let us know how your rat hunt goes!

[frankykeno]

LMAO Ya Adam groupie you!


~~Jo~~