Feeding Mice VS Rats

OK Im sure this has been asked many times I just cant seam to find any of the posts!
Is there a huge difference between feeding mice or rats? My snake was on rats when I first got him stupid me bought mice to feed him instead of sticking to rats Ive had major feeding issues ever since Ive tried to switch back to rats It seams he just doesnt like the rat stink :P So I sented them with mouse that I had leftover It worked for a few feeds but Its just not working anymore and now he is missing feeds and Im more stressed than him!!
So on to the questions He is about 280 grams and I feed every 7 days (I try!!) should I keep trying to feed the rat pups or should I just switch to mice seeing he seams to prefer them and how many should I feed? one or 2 adults per feed also as a full grown snake how much will I be looking to give him per feed?? I can get eithe rat or mouse easily mice would cost more in the long run BUT Im not too concerned about cost just the health of my snakie :)
I always seam to write a novel when asking a question!! sorry :oops:

There is a bit of nutritional difference but not a massive one the problem will come when he is bigger, for example I have a 1600 gm male that would need 160 gm a meal assuming I can get 50 gm (large mice) That is 5 or 6 a feeding, it just gets complicated at that point. A feeding snake is always a good thing there are mouse feeders out there but they are not as common. I'd try to switch but take it really slow scent first and than start pinkies and go from there.

http://www.nal.usda.gov/awic/zoo/Who...nal02May29.pdf

I forgot the link.

The breeder I have dealt with in the past a few times keeps his on mice their entire lives, just feeding multiples when the snake is larger. I have been doing the same with my snakes, since they were raised on mice and seem to prefer them. I have heard that rats are a bit more nutritious, but not so much it is a "you have to switch" but more a "it is preferred you switch". In my opinion, it is more important that the snakes eats rather than WHAT he eats. If he is hunger striking on rats, don't feed them.

Gram per gram it's all the same however when the snake is full grown it really becomes a matter of convenience.

Obviously feeding one prey item is more convenient than feeding 3 to 5 prey items.

Depending on whether you have a male or a female feeding will be slightly different.

Thanx I do appreciate the advice!! I think I am going to keep trying for rat I will get a new frozen mouse maybe I need a fresh one to really sent the rats I think i will buy some smaller rats and feed him a couple until he gets the "taste" of them I just hate that he isnt eating lately and even when he was it was a 30 min to hour process of trying to convince him to take the rat! sometimes he "kills" the F/T and leaves it Then I re-heat and re-sent and he "kills" it all over again finally he eats (for the most part) but the last few feeds got harder and he refused I hope he is good and hungry when I feed again Wish me luck :)

im lucky mine will only take rats

Im here to say rats are better than mice.

Having a female 2 years in a row lay 14 fertile eggs that go down hill who would only eat mice. She has since been moved to rats and i will be even more convinced next season when she lays a healthy clutch.

This female is also 4.5 years old at 1500g peaked. On mice she would not get any bigger than this eating 2 breeder mice a week. I feed all adults 50-80g per feeding and thats all they ever need. Ever since she laid her eggs 2 months ago, she has already filled out and passed up 1500g being on rats only now. :gj:


Males on other hand IDC what their eating as long as they eat.

Okay I did a statistics project on feeding mice vs rats to baby balls for their first 16 meals. Gram for gram there was no statistically significant difference in growth rates between animals fed mice vs animals fed rats. However the animals we did not use in the study where significantly larger than those used in the study because we fed them rat pups from the get go. Ave rat pup size is 14-24g while ave small mouse is less than 10g normally 6-8g. So the rat eating animals in the study had to eat rat pinks and fuzzys because of the gram weight difference. So basically the more grams your animals eats the more it will grow period. It doesn't matter if it's rats or mice. Rats however are larger and given a single prey item it will provide way more food to the snake than any single mouse will. Weigh your mice see how much you are actually feeding them and know that small rats range from 50-70g.

I feed rats only. Rats are more nutritious. You may not notice a big difference at first, but after a few feedings the difference really shows. They are fatter and healthier. It sucks having to feeding multiple mice to get the same amount of nutrition anyways. Why anyone would feed mice to ball pythons is beyond me.