What kind of rodent?

OK, I'm not trying to pick at you or anything. 4 or 5 mice versus 1 big rat, obviously 1 big rat is preferable for a couple of reasons. But when talking 1-2 adult mice versus a rat pinkie, the only advantage to feeding the rat is that you've gotten it switched over.

Yeah, I agree with you on that. I wasn't picking at you either, lol. :D

Still, our first bp was the biggest I've ever had -- she was already 4'+ when I got her -- and she wouldn't eat rats or white mice. She wanted live, colored mice for dinner and nothing else. And yes, she'd eat 4 or 5 as a rule. She had whole sheds every time and rarely turned down a meal of her preferred food, so she can't have been in too bad of shape. If she'd ever taken a rat, I'm sure we'd have stuck with that, but it was most important to us that she eat.

I feed my ball large mice but I'm planning to switch over to rats very soon.

Also feeding multiple smaller prey items rather than a large (read "suitable") over long periods can be detrimental and retard the proper growth of the snake's head in proportion to the rest of it's body. Apparently they can get "pinheaded" if they are not working the expansion of their jaws as they grow and feed. Won't affect thier health so long as they are eating enough but who wants a tiny headed BP. LOL ok that just reminded me of that shrunken head scene from Beetlejuice.

http://www.80stees.com/images/products/Beetle1.jpg

ive heard that "pinhead" theory before. ive also heard it was bullpoop :roll: . its not about streching anything. its about growing, which is replicating cells making the snake bigger. you could feed it pinkies or rabbits its not gonna have any bigger or smaller head. if im wrong, ill need evidence before i admit it.

Mice for now.

Not too sure how sold I am on it either - hunting for the link now - but I do remember reading it only applied to snakes with pronounced differentiation of head to neck ( I read that as big or pronounced head) and becomes totally irrelevant once they have reached maturity. I am entertaining it only as a theory - and someone else's at that - and even then only in light of the number of places thier jaws are not not directly connected to allow that megamouth stretch action. At any rate I always subscribed to the general reccomendation to try to feed to match the girth of your snake.

ill buy the fact that the wont be able to stretch their jaw quite as easily if they are given prey that is too small. only because i cant touch my toes without injuring myself. lol. it will not affect the size of the head though. i suppose it could affect the muscles...but the only way to know is to test. and noone is gonna tak the time to test that.
do you guys think snake work the same way we do, in the way of tendons and ligaments? like, i cant touch my toes because i dont stretch. would an adult BP thats been fed small mice all its life be able to stretch around a rat?

I feed my snakes various sized mice from Large to small. My bp's a still youngins.