I want my BP to put on some weight

just lke if you were at a resturaunt. You wouldn't buy 3 small drinks, you would buy 1 large drihnk. Reason: Pricings
if you were a snake. You wouldnt eat 15 pinkies, you'd eat 1 rat.
Reason: Nutrition

That's not the example of feeding multiples we're discussing. Of course there is a vast difference in nutrition in the example you provided and the answer is clear. It would be foolish for someone to feed 15 (of anything, especially pinkies) instead of one rat. Pinkies are mostly fat. We're talking about say 2 adult mice versus a large mouse (or even 2 small/medium ratsas opposed to one large rat)....something of that nature where the nutritional content is not that different.

The larger an animal is, the less surface area there is relative to mass. Therefore, there is less indigestible material such as hair. However, it may be good for a snake to have extra hair going through its digestive system; perhaps like us eating more fiber. As far as I'm concerned, it's simply more practical to feed rats. 1 medium adult rat (approximately 150g) is the equivalent of 6 large mice. If you happend to have lots of access to mice, and very little access to rats, by all means feed mice. However, I think in most circumstances, that would not be the case.

I was just giving an example. Ex: You wouldnt feed 3 large mice, you would feed one rat. Reason: Nutritional Value
Ex: you wouldnt buy 3 small drinks you would buy 1 large drink
Reason: Money
Why would you feed yoru snake 2 mice when it can eat a rat?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by BallPythonBabe448

I was just giving an example. Ex: You wouldnt feed 3 large mice, you would feed one rat. Reason: Nutritional Value
Ex: you wouldnt buy 3 small drinks you would buy 1 large drink
Reason: Money
Why would you feed yoru snake 2 mice when it can eat a rat?

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If your snake will eat a rat....again, I'm not talking about mice vs rats - but rather say 2 smaller mice vs one larger mouse or 2 smaller rats vs one larger rat. Not that it matters really since there's no real big difference between nutritional values between mice and rats.

And as stated in my original post....here's why: http://www.ball-pythons.net/index.ph...ghlight=#50541

And besides, there still isn't much nutritional difference between say 2 small/med rats versus 1 large rat....it's mostly just bigger food. There's no real substantial difference in nutritional values between mice and rats, and there's no large nutritional increase as you move from a smaller prey to the next size (I'm speaking more when you get to the various adult sizes, and jumbo and collossal, etc. There is of course a difference in say fat when you go from a pinky to the next sized fuzzy or of course a difference in fat/calcium if you go from pinky all the way up to an adult).

I realize that it is more convenient for use as owners to feed one item instead of 2-3 - especially when you have a large collection and possibly finicky eaters. And I'm certainly not knocking anyone who feeds that way. I have some snakes that I don't think I'd be able to feed multiple f/t prey (live yes, but f/t not likely) - so they don't get multiples. But my other snakes I rotate for variety. Sometimes they get one large (the largest they can handle), sometimes they get 2-3 smaller prey that equal that one large, sometimes they get 1 prey slightly smaller than what they can handle - and sometimes (particularly with my bp) they call the shots by taking all, some or none of what I offer (usually based on whether they are shedding or maybe based on what they ate last).

Besides, my original post (as stated) was not to get back into the debate of which is better mice or rats or feeding multiples versus one large item. We've had these discussions before, and in the end it seems for the most part we agreed: it's up to the owner, it certainly doesn't hurt to feed rats instead of mice as long as the prey size and frequency of feedings are correct, it doesn't hurt to feed multiples instead of 1 item, raising your own rodents is better because you know they're health....and oh yeah, feeding f/t or even prekilled is better than live. :) And even there are those who said they believe variety (in prey type, size, frequency of feeding, etc) is very important.

My post was addressing the issue that there are 'rules' in herp keeping that many just repeat because that is what they were told w/o thinking it through or asking for proof, etc. We have information as to why feeding multiples is better, but still no reasons as to why feeding one item is better than multiples - other than convenience (and possibly finicky eaters). But I've not heard any healt realated reasons. I guess I was just attempting to see if anyone had found anything to support that thought yet (as I'm also interested in learning more rather than just accepting what I read as gospel w/o question), and to maybe challenge some to actually think about these 'rules' we learn about when researching herp care. Doing volunteer work in animal education at the zoo, I get asked all kinds of questions and like to have as many answers as possible; therefore, I'm always trying to expand my knowledge base - and knowing the 'why's is important in achieving that.

I posted a simlar question not long back and I was wondering what, in summation, the final conclusive answer was for Tiger's post, if there is one? I am having a similar problem only I know that my baby has lost muscle tone and I really want him to get healthy.

Padiente, is your bp eating at all - if so, what and how often? If not, when is the last time it ate and what have you tried feeding (live, f/t, pk) and using what metods?

Hmm..
Well, I have been maintaining my large BPs on one medium size rat about every 10 days and they are gaining weight and size. I myself think that one good size rat is a lot better than two or three mice....I tend to keep my BPs hungry...I dont overfeed them and it seems as though when I do feed them they are ready to take the prey down and consume it with no problems. No regurgs either. And so far they have been putting on some serious size.
EyeLashViper

How bout another bad human analogy - eating a pound of chicken wings vs a pound of chicken breast? Which has more meat and less waste?

We chew our food first to break it down for more surface area and absorbtion, the slithery ones do not