Switching from mice to rats

[Quacking-Terror]

Has anyone had any issues switching from mice to rats? There are two reasons I'm asking. 1) Gene is getting pretty big, and I think feeding him a small rat would be better than feeding him two mice, depending on the size of the rodents, and 2) The place I get rodents from (Hoosier Mouse Supply) has a minimum 20.00 order and with mice, that's an awful lot of critters I'd need to set up habitats for, and that could get mighty expensive. With rats, I would order a lot less, and they wouldn't need as many different, costly habitats due to sheer numbers. Share your experiences!

[Ga_herps]

I only have one bp that has not switched to rats with 4 years of trying, but all the others took to it with no problems. What I would do is start with a rat crawler that is alive if possible and feed it to him at night. I have only had to try one other method then this. I actually fed one live adult mouse and while the bp was still fired up it took the rat right after with no problems. Like I said before it has been a pretty easy process for me except for the one large female that has utterly refused, but since we breed tons of mice its no problems just takes a bunch of mice per feeding. Good luck and keep us posted.

[SlitherinSisters]

I haven't had any issues switching back and forth. Every now and again my rat colony can't keep up with my bps and I'll pick some mice up for the smaller ones and they eat them just fine. I've even thrown ASFs in every now and again without issue. A couple of my BPs are confused by the ASFs and won't eat them.

[Quacking-Terror]

Excellent, thanks for the replies. Buying a few rats will prevent me from having to buy thirty or so mice. I'll pick up a dozen rats, much more manageable.