Rats vs mice

[jesst]

My rat reader just told me I should be feeding my s every 3rd or 4th feeding 40 calcium sense fuzzy rats do not have a lot of calcium in their bodies just checking if I should be doing that for my little hatchling guys. My rap reader also breeds Boas and blood pythons and he said they are not getting the nutrients they need should I be feeding mice over rats when their little

[Velrys]

Take a look at the information presented by RodentPro here.

Rat pinkies are 10ish grams which puts them on the same level as a small adult mouse. At this point point there is 30% more calcium in a mouse than a rat, once you get past 50gs (which is a small) in a rat this difference basically disappears...

I don't know all that many breeders but far as I know none of them ever feed mice so this 30% is probably not significant.

If you are still concerned there is a technique known as gut loading which is when you inject supplements into f/t food item that you could look into.

[Eric Alan]

My rat reader just told me I should be feeding my s every 3rd or 4th feeding 40 calcium sense fuzzy rats do not have a lot of calcium in their bodies just checking if I should be doing that for my little hatchling guys. My rap reader also breeds Boas and blood pythons and he said they are not getting the nutrients they need should I be feeding mice over rats when their little

I'm not sure what the rat breeder was talking about. Maybe they were referring to if you're going to be feeding the rats themselves prior to feeding them to your BP? Of course a well fed rat is going to be better for your BP than one that has not been fed well. Beyond that, ball pythons do perfectly well eating rats for their entire lifetime without being concerned about a nutrition deficiency - there's no need to supplement with calcium or anything else.

[jesst]

I have had most of my snakes since they were about 100g or so and have only fed them rats. He told me that while feeding rat pinky/peach fuzzies will help the hatchlings grow, they are not getting enough calcium so I should be feeding a mouse every 3-4 feedings. I do not like mice, I feel they will bite my hatchlings and I don't want to take the risk since I feed live. I was just wondering if this was the case and if I truly should be feeding mice.

[Eric Alan]

I have had most of my snakes since they were about 100g or so and have only fed them rats. He told me that while feeding rat pinky/peach fuzzies will help the hatchlings grow, they are not getting enough calcium so I should be feeding a mouse every 3-4 feedings. I do not like mice, I feel they will bite my hatchlings and I don't want to take the risk since I feed live. I was just wondering if this was the case and if I truly should be feeding mice.

No - don't worry about feeding mice as long as your BPs are feeding well on rats.

[Stewart_Reptiles]

Just feed rats your BP will be fine

I have hatched a few BP over the years and while I start most everything on mice they are switch to rats pretty quickly and I can assure you that there has never been an issue. Some of them never even see mice at all.