Rat Spieces vs Mouse Spieces

[ToriLuv]

Which is better to start my BP Baby on shes has already had a Rat Pup...which is more nutrious? Which is better to feed? thanks

[Spaniard]

Neither has been proven to be better or more nutritious for your snake. However most people will prefer to feed rats because when they get older and larger you can feed one small rat as oppsed to multiple mice. Its more convenient and some snakes do not like eating more than one prey item at a sitting.

[ToriLuv]

thank you

[mainbutter]

2x what spaniard said. many snake species (including ball pythons) get big enough that a single adult mouse isn't enough food for an entire meal which is why many people recommend rats or ASFs(african soft-furred rats) for ball pythons.

[Neal]

If you are on rats that's great because eventually you would have to switch over anyways, and sometimes bp's don't like to switch.

[Crazy4Herps]

Rats have larger bones than mice, and therefore more calcium.

[kc261]

Rats have larger bones than mice, and therefore more calcium.

Actually, the exact opposite is true, based on the info on rodentpro's website:
http://www.rodentpro.com/qpage_articles_03.asp

Adult mouse = 2.98% calcium
Adult rat = 2.62% calcium

However, which one of those 2 is better for BPs is unknown.

[rabernet]

If you are on rats that's great because eventually you would have to switch over anyways, and sometimes bp's don't like to switch.

Why would you have to switch? I happen to feed rats exclusively to my collection, but that's because that's what I breed. But I raised most of my females to breeding weight exclusively on mice before I started breeding my own food.

To my knowledge, there have been no studies done on the nutritional requirements of ball pythons. So to say one prey is better for your snake than another can't be backed up with existing scientific data.