Alternating between feeder mice/rat ?

I was wondering if this is will cause a problem. Reason being is, my BP(5-6 months old) has been eating Live rat-pups with no issues. By the way I just got him over 2 weeks ago. Well the source I go to doesn't always have Live rat-pups available. Since of course they serve to other customers who request for rat-pups as well. With that being said, will there be a feeding issue alternating between mice/rat when one is not available?

Yesterday was feeding day, and he ate a weaned to medium sized mouse without any issues. And the mouse was equivalent in size/weight to the rat-pup I gave him the previous week. I'm wondering if it's still fine to continue this pattern. Because I don't know any other rat breeders that are near my area who have large supplies of Live rats in various sizes.

By the way, I prefer and do Live(supervised), or pre-killed, not interested in F/T feedings at the moment.

I appreciate anyone's opinions or thoughts. Thanks! :cool:

Sometimes when they take a mouse they will want nothing to do with a rat ever again. This can become a pain when the snake is bigger and you have to feed 5-6 mice a week. If I had a snake eating rats it would never get again. I made that mistake before now I can't get her to have any interest in rats but if your snake will switch back and forth I can't see a problem doing it.

Sounds interesting, thanks! Wow 5-6x mice a week seems like a lot. I would think maybe 2-3 large mice or 1 jumbo/xl mice and a large mice would make up the difference for an appropriate sized rat. Hopefully my BP won't have issues alternating back and forth, so far so good.

As long as the snake takes them it is not a problem. I have one now that prefferes mice and I am trying to switch her over. She will eat rats but she will only take one about every 14 days and I want her on a 7 day schedule. I am hoping she will come around.

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Originally Posted by mdjudson

Sometimes when they take a mouse they will want nothing to do with a rat ever again. This can become a pain when the snake is bigger and you have to feed 5-6 mice a week. If I had a snake eating rats it would never get again. I made that mistake before now I can't get her to have any interest in rats but if your snake will switch back and forth I can't see a problem doing it.

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I have a big female close to 1800 grams who only eats mice. It is a pain in the but.

As of last week, my BP had his first Adult mouse. And it went well, though it took a lot longer for him to swallow the mouse compared to the medium sized mouse he had last week.

Well now that he's capable of eating adult/large mice, I want him back on rats again. But a weaned rat is a tad too big for his size right now. And the rat-pups I have access to aren't as big as the adult mice I had recently fed him. And looks to be lesser in grams than the adult/large mice.

Can I feed him 2 rat-pups in one sitting to make up for the size/grams of the adult mouse? If so, how soon do I give him the second rat-pup? Then eventually he will be grow big enough to take weaned rats, etc. Thanks everyone!

It is my understanding thar you should be shooting for 10% of your BPs weight at each feeding. E.G. If my bp weighs 300g I would feed him 30g of food wether it be 2 mice or one rat pup.

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Originally Posted by Raf702

Can I feed him 2 rat-pups in one sitting to make up for the size/grams of the adult mouse? If so, how soon do I give him the second rat-pup? Then eventually he will be grow big enough to take weaned rats, etc. Thanks everyone!

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Yes, you can do this. I usually wait 10 min between feedings if I'm doing more than one. It shouldn't be a problem as long as your bp is still hungry.

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Originally Posted by karb0n13

It is my understanding thar you should be shooting for 10% of your BPs weight at each feeding. E.G. If my bp weighs 300g I would feed him 30g of food wether it be 2 mice or one rat pup.

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This works for young bp's, but kind of tappers off as they get older. I have a 2000K gram girl that might take a 80-90 gram rat if she's hungry enough. There is no way I would ever get her to take a 200 gram rat. That is huge.

OP - I have one adult bp that is a mouse eater. He gets anywhere from 2 to 3 big mice a week. What he doesn't eat gets fed off to the younger bps. He is the only one I can't switch to rats. Usually the younger they are, the easier it is to switch back and forth. But, I really think it depends on how picky your bp is. Good luck!

Sounds good, thanks for the info! I'll try 2 rat-pups on his next feeding, hopefully that goes well.

Also, how can you tell if the BP is still hungry? Thanks again

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Originally Posted by Raf702

Sounds good, thanks for the info! I'll try 2 rat-pups on his next feeding, hopefully that goes well.

Also, how can you tell if the BP is still hungry? Thanks again

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They usually do a lot of licking and move around quite a bit if in a tub. Sometimes you just have to try a second :)