well after many months of my BP only feeding on mouses, i tried again today a rat, to no luck. A little backround on Vic, i have had him for about a year and a half, and i got him at 80g, he is now 963g and he has been a mouser for about a year. The first few months after he grew a little he did eat on some small rats (which at the time were actually way bigger than the 15% rule) until he decided he did not like rats and only 30g mice. So whatever, i tried a few times and he refused rats, so i just kept him on mouses. I weighed him once a month, and due to the fact that his weight drop was not significant, i just stop caring and gave him what he wanted. It got to a point when in the last 5 months he ate 3 30-35g mouses. I was a little concerned cuz it is summer time, but i wasent worried because in those 5 months he shed twice, and has maintained his weight, if not gained a few grams. So since last week he fed on his mouse, and took it down with authority, i though i would try a rat again today. When i dropped the rat in there he showed alot of interest, but after one failed strike, well not even a strike, it was almost as if he just tried to coil the rat and could;t get him. Once the rat was all over him and climing on top of him he gave up and went back into his hide, i guess he got taken by suprise since he used to a little defenseless mouse which when he strikes and coils he almost kills instantly, and there is this rat double the size (it was about a 60grammer) so i of course removed the rat.

Here is the problem. He is taken mice one a month or so, and he is not really loosing that much weight (although he looks skinny), but here is the temptation. It turns out that the local mom and pop petshop i go to for my mice have recently acquired a batch of ASF's. They actually are very knowledgeable about them, and they know about the fact that once a BP takes a ASF, they get addicted and adviced me to stick to the mice. They told me they will "try" and keep a consistent supple of ASF's but they cant guarantee me they will have them 24/7, but that most likely they will have them most of the time. I tell ya, when i saw those asf's (they got about 15 or so in a tank) moving around, hell, even i got hungry, and i just KNOW my BP will destroy them, and they are a good weight (about 60g or so) and to top it off dirt cheap at 3 bucks each!. So what should i do?. Should i give in to temptation and give him a ASF that is of proper weight for what he should be feeding, or just stick with the 1 crappy 30g mouse a month deal?