I'm now a ball python owner.

You're going to give a 100g rat to a 1000g Ball? That's good for a week or two of fasting.

The large adult mice I have are hairless, but they are huge. Probably 25-30g. Doesn't take many to fill up the snakes.

I've seen what rat pups can do to adult snakes when doing necropsies. Tons of fat enveloping the liver and the other organs. It's just not healthy looking.

Oh really?

Damn... I didn't know rats could have that effect.. :weirdface

I honestly thought that really large mice were mostly fat and could be bad for your snakes?

Do small/medium rats also have that effect?

I'm feeding my other BP small rats...

Really young rats/mice have alot of fat content. They need it for the energy and to stay warm. Weaned rats don't have as much fat content compared to their body weight. They're leaner. Older rats have a good bit of fat content too (which is why my boa gets one 3lb rabbit instead of 3-4 jumbo rats, much less fat content).

Retired breeder mice are pretty chunky, just like retired breeder rats.

The large mice I have seem to have alot of muscle mass and not a whole lot of fat. I've bought small/medium rats before and they didn't have much of a fat cover either(you can feel it in their skin and around their lymph nodes).

It's just my personal preference to feed mice. I can judge whether a snake has had enough and can vary the amount they get every week(especially the breeder males). The adult females are large with alot of lean muscle mass. They feel firm to the touch instead of squishy. The males are nice and lean as well. Big, fat males are lazy breeders, or won't breed at all. I cringe when I see 2,000g+ males, LOL. fatfatfat

I remember Adam saying a few times that you can tell if your snakes are eating too much by their feces. Large, frequent bowel movements equals tooo many groceries. :)

Well I feed her today with no problems.:D I think the mouse was to small thou. It was just a little smaller than the largest part of her. I don't think I can find live rat pups close to me. The only thing I can find is small hopper mice and large rats. I guess i'll just have to order some f/t. I might get some scales to weigh her and her prey. I think i've seen some where on her 10-15% of there body weight. Correct me if i'm wrong.