Mice vs. Rats

I was wondering what you guys would recommend feeding ball pythons, or if it even makes a difference. My bp is a few months old (guesstimate), and is currently eating live hoppers.

I prefer rats.. When your bp gets big you will have to feed it a bunch of large mice or 1 med to large rat. If you start on rats young you don't need to worry if your snake will swap over to rats later.

rats all the way man!

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Originally Posted by jason79

i prefer rats.. When your bp gets big you will have to feed it a bunch of large mice or 1 med to large rat. If you start on rats young you don't need to worry if your snake will swap over to rats later.

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agreed!

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Originally Posted by jason79

I prefer rats.. When your bp gets big you will have to feed it a bunch of large mice or 1 med to large rat. If you start on rats young you don't need to worry if your snake will swap over to rats later.

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Also nice collection Jason! I love your fire male!

Switch to rats as soon as possible if they are available...definitely more nutritious. more weight , tastes great.

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Originally Posted by -Achilles-

I was wondering what you guys would recommend feeding ball pythons, or if it even makes a difference. My bp is a few months old (guesstimate), and is currently eating live hoppers.

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It's really a matter of what work for your animal and what is convenient for you.

Yes different preys = different nutritional value however there is no data on BP nutritional requirements therefore gram per gram it's all the same.

If you're thinking of breeding rats or mice, I would suggest both if possible. The mice are great, because you never have to worry about them getting too big (unless you're feeding hatchlings, in which case you would use pinkies). And the rat pups you can use, if you're low on mice. Also, you can let the rats get bigger for larger ball pythons. I typically have many mice on hand, and only a handful of rats. Thier diets are slightly different though, so if you prefer more protien in your snake's diet, rats are the way to go.

Ok thanks guys!

My problem is that I really can't breed mice/rats because I'm at college, and technically I can't even have a snake here, haha so breeding rats are out of the question.

I know this one place close by that sells live rat pups and adult rats, but I can't remember what else.

What sizes do rats come in? I know for mice its pinkies-fuzzies-hoppers-adults, but what are the technical terms for rats? I just want to get a general idea of what the different sizes of rats there are so I don't sound like an n00b when I go into the store :gj:.

Thanks again.

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What sizes do rats come in? I know for mice its pinkies-fuzzies-hoppers-adults, but what are the technical terms for rats?

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Mice come in pinkies, fuzzies, hoppers, weanlings, adults.

Rats come in pinkies, fuzzies, pups, weaned rats, small rats, adult rats.

Rat pup being the equivalent of an average adult mice.

I have a Pastel female 900Grams right now. She was raised on Mice.. She eats 4 -5 Mice in one sitting. I picked up a Pied and Pinstripe in October and they have been on Rat Pups.. I can see and feel the difference in those animals compared to my others were at that age.. Im all for Rats.

I wish I could breed my own as well. Lucky for me there is a Pet shop down the street that breeds them. But sometimes they get out of cycle ( like now ) and you are forced to give your BP a larger rat than its supposed to take, and it looks like it swallowed a football...

Rats Rats Rats...
my 2 cents. ;)

Has anyone ever had trouble switching from mice to rats? I tried feeding my bp today with a rat pinkie but he didn't eat it. I know this is my first time trying to feed him a rat, but I was curious if other people had trouble with the switch.

A lot of people have trouble with the switch. There are a bunch of tricks in previous posts on how to help the switch...just do a search. In my own personal experience when I switched my BP over, I had to wean with a rat that was slightly smaller than the size mouse he was eating and work my way up to an appropriate size. The first time i tried, the rat was a little big and he seemed intimidated and did not eat...but once he took his first smaller rat he's been nailing them like crazy.

I have never had much long term luck with switching prey (from mice to rats.)
Good luck, and if it works for you, share with us all how you did it!