Feeding F/T Mice & Rats

[eMonk]

I think I know the answer to this but want to make sure. The pet store where I got my first bp said it was good to switch up the meals. They were feeding my baby normal live mice pinkies & hoppers. I'm currently feeding her f/t mice hoppers but have some frozen rat fuzzies too. To clarify, is it ok to switch up their meals or will it led to food refusal?

[knott00]

I've read that you should feed your BP as large a meal as it can comfortably eat. So if your BP can eat hoppers, don't bother feeding it pinkies.
If your BP is eating the hoppers and can't really go much bigger, don't switch. BPs can develop a preference for food and refuse to eat other foods then. Feeding rat fuzzies might cause her to develop a feeding problem.

[piper]

I think I know the answer to this but want to make sure. The pet store where I got my first bp said it was good to switch up the meals. They were feeding my baby normal live mice pinkies & hoppers. I'm currently feeding her f/t mice hoppers but have some frozen rat fuzzies too. To clarify, is it ok to switch up their meals or will it led to food refusal?

You feed a prey item the same width as the largest part of the ball python. Ball pythons can start on rat pups/mice hoppers but will soon move to adult mice quickly. They are also pretty notorious for being picky eaters so just stay with mice or if you would like, switch to rat pups now. Switching sizes of prey items is not advisable. It technically won't lead to refusals if it's just mice, but only feeding every 5-7 days, wouldn't you want something in its belly that's not going to be digested on the second day and you are left with a hungry bp and can't feed for another 3 or 4 days?!

I should add that, I'm regretting starting my one female on mice, which is what she was on when I got her but should have tried to convert to rats. If you stick with mice, you will end up feeding multiples because unless you can acquire large/retired breeder mice, which is the largest sized mouse available and hard to come by since it takes a few years for them to get to that size, you could be feeding up to 3 mice a feeding, which is ok, but costly in the end. She also started refusing mice and now only eats ASF's.

Read this page: http://www.canadianmouseman.com/eng/products.htm

That shows the different prey sizes available for mice.

Cheers

[Kaorte]

If you mean switching between rats and mice, I would not advise it. BPs are known for imprinting on food and not switching around. Either stick with mice until the snake grows out of them or stick with rats.

I am almost positive your snake can eat an adult mouse. Hoppers are usually only given to hatchlings under a month old. And they grow out of those very quickly.

[eMonk]

Thanks for the feedback. I just wanted to know if it was ok to keep switching back and forth between mice and rats thats all.

Thanks for answering my question Kaorte.

[Vypyrz]

One of mine will eat mice or rats live. Even though I prefer rats, sometimes I have to get multiple mice, depending on what is available...



Rob

[eMonk]

One of mine will eat mice or rats live. Even though I prefer rats, sometimes I have to get multiple mice, depending on what is available...



Rob

Yeah that's the thing with me. I have 4 rat fuzzies left for my pastel that was raised off them & about 20 frozen mice hoppers that I purchased for my normal. My pastel is feeding great right now, every 5 days. However my female normal isn't so was thinking of giving her the rat fuzzies instead and the mice hoppers to the pastel. Eventually switch them both to rats when these mice hoppers are finished.