Mice to rats?

I weighted my snake right after he shed and pooped and he is 139g (have not measured him in awhile) but when should I switch from mice to rats and is their any real benefits from switching other than later on only having to feed one rat compared to multiple mice.... Im not worried about the switch itself because my bp is a literal pig he wants food 2 days after I feed him (yes, I feed the appropriate size mice lol) but I make sure I hold off to at least 5 to 7 days.... Sorry if this is posted somewhere else..... Thank you

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You should go ahead and switch him now. If you wait until it's older you may have trouble switching. It's best to do it when they're ravenous little guys lol.


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I just switched mine. She killed it and released it and then rubbed her face on it for a few minutes and then picked it back up and ate it.

Just weighed our hatchling tonight and she's 134g (still has last week's rat in her belly though,) and she's been on rats since before we got her. She's eating fuzzies. One every Sunday. Like, just got fuzz - the bellies are still naked.
Rats are nutritionally whole, where as mice are not.

ok thanks everybody all the help. i will most likely switch over (should of posted this before i started breeding mice lol)

Yea make the switch as early as you can, which tectonically is after they do their first shed.

Yep switch now while it's much easier. I start all of my hatchlings right on rat pinks to avoid them being mousers.

What's wrong if they only eat mouse? And do they all have to eventually eat large rats? New to this. My bp eats m mouse right now but I'm thinking he can probably eat more. Only thing is I want him eating every week. Great feeding response. He's about a year old and when I got him the previous owner said m mouse is good. I'll slowly get him up there but I'm curious as to the advantages and negatives of being a "mouser". Thanks

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Originally Posted by Dtotheot

What's wrong if they only eat mouse? And do they all have to eventually eat large rats? New to this. My bp eats m mouse right now but I'm thinking he can probably eat more. Only thing is I want him eating every week. Great feeding response. He's about a year old and when I got him the previous owner said m mouse is good. I'll slowly get him up there but I'm curious as to the advantages and negatives of being a "mouser". Thanks

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No, they don't all eventually eat large rats, none of them need prey that large. Most adult females will reach a size where medium rats are appropriate. Males can max out at smalls.

The only true negative of mousers is for the keeper, not the snake. You will end up having to feed multiple items at each feeding. It's a negative in both time and money. However, as long as the snake is fed an appropriate number of mice, it will be properly fed.

I feed mice or rats or African Soft Fur rats, whatever has grown to the right size, and all my snakes eat them all. Sometimes a snake may refuse one at a certain feeding and it's good to have a variety, sometimes they eat one over the other at one feeding but not for every feeding.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Dtotheot

What's wrong if they only eat mouse? And do they all have to eventually eat large rats? New to this. My bp eats m mouse right now but I'm thinking he can probably eat more. Only thing is I want him eating every week. Great feeding response. He's about a year old and when I got him the previous owner said m mouse is good. I'll slowly get him up there but I'm curious as to the advantages and negatives of being a "mouser". Thanks

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Yes. As already mentioned. It's just time and money. When they are full grown you can feed them two or three large mice, or just one small rat.. easier on your pocketbook and their jaws lol.. and if you have a medium or large collection, the time wasted feeding just one snake is just too much... I've converted half of my balls to rats. The other half I will be converting in a couple of weeks. And that's only because my local rodent breeder never seems to have anything between an 8g rat pinky and a 30g rat pup... so for now they stay on small 18-20g mice.


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Quote:

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Originally Posted by Dtotheot

What's wrong if they only eat mouse? And do they all have to eventually eat large rats? New to this. My bp eats m mouse right now but I'm thinking he can probably eat more. Only thing is I want him eating every week. Great feeding response. He's about a year old and when I got him the previous owner said m mouse is good. I'll slowly get him up there but I'm curious as to the advantages and negatives of being a "mouser". Thanks

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I just switched my 1.5 yr old to small rats. He eats every Friday. He had his 1st rat last Friday and we gave him his 2nd this past Friday. I wasn't sure he was going to eat it because of the size change but, he scarfed it down no problem! Now, I'm a new owner and not super knowledgeable but, that was my experience with my guy eating small rats once a week. We have a fairly strict feeding schedule too, every Friday.