Can they thrive on mice......

[L.West]

I have two bp's that prefer mice over rats. I offer them about 4 small mice at each feeding.

Can mice sustain them fine throughout their lives??

Just wanted some experts to chime in on this because I wasn't sure.

[Skittles1101]

I'm far from an expert, however I am sure they can thrive on mice as long as they continue to take multiple prey items. If they were only eating one per feeding I'd say try and switch to rats asap, but since they are taking multiples and mice are very similar nutritionally to rats, I'd say it'd be fine.

[L.West]

Yes, they each take usually 3 or 4 possibly 5 mice at one feeding. I just wait for them to finish swallowing and then offer another one.

My one boy is 1800 grams and he will not take a rat only very small mice - he is such a whimpy boy - lol

I would much rather see them eat - so I give them what they want.

[ballpythonluvr]

I have a male normal that would only eat live mice for the longest time and I fed him multiple mice. He is at a very healthy weight so the answer to your question is yes.

[rabernet]

I raised most of my original girls up to breeding weight on mice. They did just fine!

[RichsBallPythons]

60-75g in mice will be plenty for adult females on mice or rats. What ever you like to use most is up to you.

[Misfit]

For the longest time I had a male who would only eat hoppers, it was ridiculous! He gained weight bit by bit, and now he finally eats adult mice.

[L.West]

Mine prefer these little tiny mice - I just don't get it. If I try to offer even an adult mouse they refuse - they just prefer these little mice so I breed them and always have them on hand.

I don't mind having to stand there and feed one after the other - I just wanted to be sure that they would do okay in the long term eating this way.

They are both really healthy at this point so it must be working.

Thanks everyone.

[snakesRkewl]

Try bumping the prey size up slowly, you don't want to go from little tiny to a large mouse all at once.

[Evenstar]

Yup! My Ella is a mouser too. She'll eat either 2 or 3 depending on size. And she was about 1000 grams when I got her a year and a half ago and she's a whopping 1918 grams as of last week! So she's doubled in size since I got her and she's eaten nothing but mice (and fasted most of the winter too)!