Small rat vs. 3 mice

It would make sense to believe you get more "wasted" weight with mice other than rats.

Also alternating might be ok as long as he eats whatever, but if he gets hooked on one thing(rats or mices) I can see a lot of wasted feeders if you are offering different things. Other than creating a possible picky eater that is the only really "concern" of alternating food.

Wow.. misinformation abounds! Yay!

All 40+ of mine are on mice, they thrive, they shed, they breed, the produce eggs, which in turn produce healthy offspring. If they didn't do these things, then I would change.

I have a few 2000g+ girls who get 3-4 mice a week(depending on the size of the mice), skipping a week here and there, and they gain weight wonderfully. My adult males get 2-3 depending on their size and the size of the mice. Hatchlings to yearlings get 1-2 depending on their size. To me, mice have more lean muscle mass without alot of fat, so in turn, my snakes gain alot of that lean muscle mass, with just a slight fat covering. No flabby snakes here ;)

Chris, if you can get mice more readily than a just-weaned rat every week, then go with that. Consistency is key. If he's a non-breeding adult male, he really doesn't need any more than 2 adult mice a week to thrive and maintain his weight. Remember, these are very sedentary animals who have incredibly slow metabolisms, and they don't need a whole lot of food to maintain.

I know there is nutrition posted on rodent pro's website, and mice are very close (If i remember this right) and even a little better percentages wise compared to weaner rats. This could be horrible wrong, but I still dont see the Vs. with rats and mice. Feed em whichever they'll take.

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Originally Posted by littleindiangirl

I know there is nutrition posted on rodent pro's website, and mice are very close (If i remember this right) and even a little better percentages wise compared to weaner rats. This could be horrible wrong, but I still dont see the Vs. with rats and mice. Feed em whichever they'll take.

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That's an awesome link, after checking it out it seems to me that the protein to fat ratio between an adult mouse and a juvenile rat are similar. It seems to me though in mice you'd be benefiting more from the calcium if you were to have a gravid female or something like that. I appreciate that post and I really think people should check it out. Know the value that your snakes are getting.

I guess it's nice to know the "value" your snakes are getting but that is relative to what? Fat, protein, calcium figures shown are good but since we really don't know what the needs per say are for snakes ie balls then your basing it on what we has humans require.
Who's to say that snakes may need a higher protein or fat content then we do.
Until there is some type of study done to show just what the daily,weekly requirements are than I guess it boils down to what ever gets you thru the night.

Rats, mice, etc. feed them what they will eat. You can raise and maintain a healthy bp on a diet of just mice or just rats or both.
And in the end isn't that all that is really our goal and important.

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Originally Posted by jotay

I guess it's nice to know the "value" your snakes are getting but that is relative to what? Fat, protein, calcium figures shown are good but since we really don't know what the needs per say are for snakes ie balls then your basing it on what we has humans require.
Who's to say that snakes may need a higher protein or fat content then we do.
Until there is some type of study done to show just what the daily,weekly requirements are than I guess it boils down to what ever gets you thru the night.

Rats, mice, etc. feed them what they will eat. You can raise and maintain a healthy bp on a diet of just mice or just rats or both.
And in the end isn't that all that is really our goal and important.

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I'm pretty sure they are basing the percentages on the amount of calcium to the mass of the rat. Not like a serving suggestion with the daily value, like you said, we dont really know what they need per se.

Don't read it like a daily value/ serving suggestion, but the percentage of fat that makes up the mass of the rat. Like a BMI measurement. ;) Does that make sense?

exactly. Per gram you are recieving more protein and more fat as well as more calcium in an mouse than in a rat. You have to read the chart like that. It's like would you prefer to eat a pound of iceberg lettuce which has no nutrients or a pound of spinach. Thier is just more nutrition in a mouse than in a rat.

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Originally Posted by SatanicIntention

Wow.. misinformation abounds! Yay!

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Personal information isn't misinformation. So mice work for you, yay. That's your personal information. That's what we're here for. Just because others differ from your opinion doesn't make it misinformation.

I personaly use rats. To me, there seems to be more "meat" to a rat then a mouse. Its easier to use 1 rat, then to use 3 mice. 1 rat = 1 strike, coil eat and done. If you use 3 mice, you got to do this three times. If you got a couple snakes I guess this would be fine, but if you got several animals, it would just be impractical.

The bottom line, however, is what works best for the animal and its keeper :)

Just FWIW, I feed over 40 Ball Pythons and it only takes me an hour max, usually 45-50 minutes.

pop one in tub, watch for strike on the snakes who are retarded, close tub, pop one in tub, close it, pop one in tub, try not to get face bitten, close it, etc etc.