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Mice v. Rats
Well, I am 2 months into my life with Shahrazad and I am just so totally happy with everything. He is an absolute doll and I am so in love with him.
As some of you may know, I have decided for various reasons to feed live to my guy. He is a great feeder. Strikes and kills within minutes. I understand the possible consequences of feeding live, but I always keep a watchful eye and never leave the room until I am pretty sure the rodent is dead.
My question is this, I have mostly been feeding adult mice to my guy as he is still relatively small. But today at the pet store, the adult mice were very tiny. I am ok with giving him a small meal, but I did that for the last feeding and his actions led me to believe he was hungry after only 5 days or so. I usually wait a week, but I prefer to feed him at irregular time periods because it seems more natural to me. But anyway, the mice were too small this time and they didn't have any others, so I looked at the small rats. The small rats were for the most part too big, but there was one that was maybe just a bit on the large side, but not too much so. So I got him.
I put the rat in my guy's cage and the behavior differences between rats and mice became completely apparant. I usually put mice on top of my guy's hide box and they then spend about 5 minutes trying to get down from there or my guy goes and gets them, but for the most part mice are pretty meek little creatures. Nervous, but pretty passive for the most part.
This rat on the other hand, immediately jumped off the hide and then went inside to investigate Shahrazad. Shahrazad was still pretty asleep, so he didn't really react, but just to be safe, I removed the hide box from the terrarium, so I could watch more closely. As my guys was getting his bearings, the rat came over to him and started to paw at his sides. I don't think the rat was trying to hurt my guy so much as trying to figure out what he was because it was more like tapping than clawing. I shooed him away and then about 5 seconds later, my guy did his thing and it was over.
So I guess my question concerning rats is whether it is common for them to be more inquisitive than mice and whether they are conversly more aggressive? If so, is it possible to feed like two small mice to a snake? I am undeterred in my decision to feed live, but I want to do it in the most responsible manner. How would you feed two mice at one time? Put them both in? Or put one in at a time? Or should I just chalk this up to over-protective mother syndrome and quit fretting?
Thanks
Rachel
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