Nutritional Food

[EntertheWutang]

I've read online that rats are more nutritional than mice, and will help with the growth of a ball, and overrall health. Is this true?

[TheSnakeGuy]

In my experience, yes. I have a spider mojave that went from 500-1000 grams in 5 months oncei switched to rats. I think with just having more tissue in general the rats offer more nutrition.

[satomi325]

No. The only difference is that rats have a few percentages higher of fat.
If you compare mice and rats of equal size, they have roughly the same nutritional content.

Snakes will grow faster on rats because they are the larger animal.
And feeding 1 rat vs multiple mice is always a plus.

[hig]

The only difference is that rats have a few percentages higher of fat.
If you compare mice and rats of equal size, they have roughly the same nutritional content.

Do you have a reference for this? I saw a chart where I thought it listed rats as higher protein then pretty much any other animal listed (cow, deer, goat, pig, mouse, etc), but I can't for the life of me find it.

[satomi325]

Do you have a reference for this? I saw a chart where I thought it listed rats as higher protein then pretty much any other animal listed (cow, deer, goat, pig, mouse, etc), but I can't for the life of me find it.

The differences are nearly identical except on fat content. You have to compare animals of the same size.
An adult mouse is not going to be the same as an adult rat. But a 10 gram mouse is going to be nearly the same as a 10 gram rat.
The only real benefits of feeding rats is that you just have to feed one rat to compared to multiple mice.
It's more of a convenience factor than higher nutritional value.

The calorie count is pretty much the same.


Nutrient Composition of Whole Vertebrate Prey by RodentPro:
Adult mice (>10g)
- Kcal/g =5.25
- Crude protein % = 55.8
- Crude fat % =23.6

Rats (10-50g)
- kcal/g = 5.55
- Crude protein % = 56.1
- Crude fat % = 27.5

http://www.rodentpro.com/qpage_articles_03.asp


Whole prey according to the USDA(page 14 of their PDF provided below):
Adult mice (>10g)
- Kcalorie/g =5.77
- Crude protein % = 56.9
- Crude fat % = 23.5

Rats (10-50g)
- kcalorie/g = 5.67
- Crude protein % = 60.3
- Crude fat % = 26

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


Additional data found on a non scientific source:
Adult mice (>10g)
- kcal/g = 5.25
- Crude protein % = 55.8
- Crude fat % = 23.6

Rats (10-50g)
-kcal/g =5.55
- crude protein % =56.1
- crude fat % = 27.5

http://www.leedspetshops.co.uk/nutri...snakes-page-69



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[Shadera]

A bit OT, but I really feel this food source is overlooked.

My large girls enjoy rabbit kits on occasion. If you have access to them (I raise my own), they grow to the size of a small/med rat in just a few days' time and most snakes IME love them. They're like little marshmallows of protein.

Nutrition content off rodentpro, formatted as above:
Rabbits (neonate)
- kcal/g = 5.06
- Crude protein % = 72.1
- Crude fat % = 13

I don't feed them too often because I want them to get the extra calcium from adult rodent bones.

[satomi325]

A bit OT, but I really feel this food source is overlooked.

My large girls enjoy rabbit kits on occasion. If you have access to them (I raise my own), they grow to the size of a small/med rat in just a few days' time and most snakes IME love them. They're like little marshmallows of protein.

Nutrition content off rodentpro, formatted as above:
Rabbits (neonate)
- kcal/g = 5.06
- Crude protein % = 72.1
- Crude fat % = 13

I don't feed them too often because I want them to get the extra calcium from adult rodent bones.

I am so jealous.
I wish I could feed rabbit! I've tried kits before and none of my snakes of size wanted it. They just didn't see the rabbit as food.

Maybe I have to try again...

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[Stewart_Reptiles]

Gram per gram it's all the same

The difference is that if you feed a 100 grams rat it will take you 3 to for mice to accomplish the same results due to their sizes, which is why people prefer to feed one larger prey versus multiple smaller preys (it is also more economical).