One rat verses two mice

[Jessssica]

I recently got a 2.5 to 3 foot ball python. The previous owner fed him two mice every two weeks. She was feeding live, and I wanted to switch to f/t. The pet store was out of frozen mice and suggested a small rat. I had no problems switching from live to f/t or from mice to rats, he took it eagerly. My question is, is a small rat in place of two mice equivalent? And is either option enough every two weeks? I feel like I should offer him a feeding every week... he seemed to be looking for a second rat. How can you tell if they are still hungry?

[Annarose15]

He was hungry because two mice every other week is not nearly enough, assuming he's near adulthood. I feed a small rat (50-80g) every week to any BP over 400g. Get a digital kitchen scale and weigh him and his prey to determine if those rats are the appropriate size.

[Jessssica]

Yeah, I didn't feel like it was enough either when previous owner told me what she had been feeding him. He seemed to be good with the small rat, I will offer another in a week.

[Greekinese]

You're in good shape then! You'd want to switch to rats as soon as possible...he probably could've taken 2 mice every week.

Some people have problems switching from mice to rats & live to f/t, but you did both right away, nice!