rats vs mice

whats better adult mice or what ever size rat id feed my guys are about 2' long whats better and what kind of rats would i feed? small wenaed ext

Whichever your snake will eat consistently works best.

As far as sizes - for BPs and other girthy snakes look for a rat with about the same girth as the thickest part of your snake. Terms referencing sizes can be awfully varied between what you might see on feeder sites and what the interpretation of that might be at your local supplier etc.

Hope that helps. Use the search feature and I bet you can find a tons of threads on rats vs mice.

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I've heard arguments that rats are more nutritious, but until someone does a detailed analysis it would be hard to say for sure.

Your snake is 2' long approximately, but that could vary depending on girth, weight, etc.

The normal rule is to feed 1 appropriate sized prey item (determined by being no larger than the maximum girth of your snake)


My one BP that I had been feeding a normal mouse to, i now feed a 40 gram rat to (one who has opened its eyes, but may or may not be eating solid food)

Just depends, its best to eyeball it and go with the girth thing :)

I would say it depends on two issues (given the proper size of either)....One: What will your snake eat? And Two: what can you most easily and consistently supply? It boils down to "Whatever works best for you."

I prefer feeding rats not really for any other reason then all our bp's seem to prefer them, and when your breeding rats they tend to be less messy smell better and not bite the hand that feeds them. Its your own choice really don't think either would hurt your snake,have seen a greater amout of growth since we switched to rats but that is in a very small colletcion so not offering it as anything more then my opinion.

my BP just hit 20. after feeding it a small rat, poor dumb lil fella ran right up and snizzed my bonez's head and when he turned around poof bonez literally put his head up its but lol, ive been lookin around to see whats more nutritious for my python and if rats are i think ill def. start to breed them i just dont know if its much of a hastle cuz the prise does add up at 3.50 per small rat. i mean a tank is like 10gal tank is like $15 or so i could just divide it with a piece of wood or cardboard and get 2water bottles so when i have to seperate the male i can just use other side of tank no?
i also read feeding the rats or mice, fruits and dog food is good for a healthy pre for my bonez?

Don't feed your feeder rodents dog food. Mazuri (so I hear ) is a good food. Plus, table scraps are a plus :)

Also, if you divide a 10 GALLON TANK to seperate males from females, expect them to chew through the divider.

I'm a rat guy alway's have been , I've heard the more nutritious thing it can't be verified so I guess it's opinion. Now I think rat's are better cause you don't have to feed multiple mice to big animals , I think that's a good reason for choosing rats.

IMO...I believe that Rats are more nutritious. I bought a baby ball a few years back and fed him on mice for a while..and then when i started him on rats, there was a huge difference in size. I will stick with Rats.

The whole rats are more nutritious thing is a myth.

I have a clutch of hypo females that I held back 3 years ago, half eat mice, half eat rats ... they are all within 100 grams of each other ... some of the mousers are the biggest. I also have many many other examples of mousers vs. rat eaters growing at the exact same rate.

The growth rate of your ball python has everything to do with how often/how much (ie. physical mass) you feed it, temperatures, level of activity, and the individual animals genetics.

-adam