Mice vs. Rats

1. Do you feed Mice or Rats?
2. Is there a huge benefit of one over the other? Explain please.

Weve had a poll like this before. You also left out ASF's.

You also left of "both"

and no it does not make a huge difference.

I just feed rat's normally because I can use 1 prey item to make a full meal. I have some snakes which will only take on item at a time, which would be hard to work with on mice. I also don't like the smell that goes with mice, since I breed my own rodents. I do use ASF's to jumpstart picky ones, and to feed one female that refuses anything else.

I feed watever is available. I prefer feeding them rats but if the petstore doesnt have the right size then i get mice. I even fed one of my snakes a couple of gerbil pinks once.

Definitely need a "Both" category on there.
If you have different species, they have different needs which will determine what you feed them.

I didnt forget anything, I wanted to know specifically if there was a preference of rat over mice or vice versa. If ppl feed ASF, both, or other is irrelevant to my purpose. I have been told to only feed rats but i have also heard that whatever meets the size needed for the particular snake.

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Originally Posted by NH93

Definitely need a "Both" category on there.
If you have different species, they have different needs which will determine what you feed them.

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actuall yes and no, its in the BP section ;):cool:

If we're strictly talking bps here, then I find rats to be better as you can always get the size you need, whereas mice don't get nearly as big. Like having to feed 3-4 mice where one rat would work.

If the snake will take either I will give him it rats purely based on convenience. 1 rat instead of 2 to 6 mice depending on size of snake.

If the snake won't take rats, they get mice until I can find some way to switch them over.

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Originally Posted by Darkbird

Like having to feed 3-4 mice where one rat would work.

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Try a 1300g pastel male that will down 8 to 10 at a time :O:O

Rats and mice of equal size have the same nutritional count. The only difference is that you can feed a larger rat compared to several mice at a time.
Its just a matter of convenience and whether or not your snake will take more than one prey at a time.

Gram for Gram they are really close from a nutritional standpoint. 2x 35+ gram mice would weigh about about the same as a large "small rat" at around 70-80 grams. It may be beneficial from a monetary stand point to stay on mice as long as possible :D

is there a nutritional difference though?

the differences are almost nil.

A 3-10 gram mouse has more calories per gram than a <10 gram rat and a slightly higher fat percentage makeup.

A 10+ gram rat has 5.55 calories per gram Kcal content whereas a 10+ gram mouse has 5.25 calories per gram Kcal content. macro nutrient breakdown is real similar.

http://www.nal.usda.gov/awic/zoo/Who...nal02May29.pdf

ASF's!!! Because there mean. But if you are what you eat your snake may become mean after eating them. No scientific proof but you never know.


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Originally Posted by PitOnTheProwl

actuall yes and no, its in the BP section ;):cool:

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Well, that is embarassing. I apologize. I only read the poll question, and it said "snake" not "ball python", so I didn't even think to check the section it was in...
In which case, I choose rats :oops:

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Originally Posted by NH93

Well, that is embarassing. I apologize. I only read the poll question, and it said "snake" not "ball python", so I didn't even think to check the section it was in...
In which case, I choose rats :oops:

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Its all good. I have been there too ;)

I'm thinking about starting my woma on rats instead of keeping him on mice because he is too skinny.

Newbie here. I feed rats. Also what is a asf?


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Originally Posted by KryptBaby

is there a nutritional difference though?

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Nope. A 10g rat has the same nutrition as a 10g mouse. A mouse and rat of the same size have the same nutrition. The only difference is that rats have a percentage or two higher of fat.

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Originally Posted by tj4x4fun

Newbie here. I feed rats. Also what is a asf?


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ASF = African Soft Furred rat. One of their natural prey items in the wild, which are also bred as feeders.

My ball pythons generally get mice until they get big enough that they need to eat something larger than XL adult mice, and then it's frozen / thawed rats. I don't feed live rats at all anymore. I switch them to frozen / thawed as soon as they will take it. I used to order all of the smaller sizes of frozen / thawed rats but no longer feel that it is worth the extra money you pay for them. They seem to grow fine on the mice and then switch from frozen / thawed XL mice up to small rats for me without any issues at all.

Unfortunately in my area there is a severe lack of rodent suppliers. There are no rat pinks-pups available so I need to feed mice until they are large enough for a small rat.

i like rats for 2 reasons
1. i have to breed my own feeders and a whole rat rack smells better than even just 1 tub of mice.
2. i often have to feed live and young rats are more "docile" prey items than adult mice of equal size.

i only keep rat eaters. i try to switch for a couple of weeks, but if a BP insists on being a mouser, off to the ads it goes (i indicate what it eats of course). just a matter of convenience since i refuse to keep any mice on a regular basis, and commuting to buy some mice everytime i have to feed one or 2 mousers is too much work to be fun.

I feed both .. breed my own rats tho .. I try to keep my balls on everything .. I make it as easy as I can for myself

mostly rats and sometimes ASF

To me it is a matter of what works and what is convenient so I prefer to feed rats (Single prey vs multiple) but I do breed both.

We raise rats, mice, and ASF. The vast majority of our collection has no preference, so they eat whatever we have that is appropriately sized, and/or whatever we have the most of (for example, if we have a bunch of extra ASFs, or mice, everybody gets those even if they eat rats).