I don't know if it's been said already.. I didn't read the whole thread. But.. it has been said that rats are more nutritional than mice...ect. This seems to me to be an old wives tale. I've been told it many times even believed it for a while till someone pointed out that there is no scientific evidence that a rat is more nutritionally valuable than other rodents. They're bigger so therefore carry more of everything, but snakes do just fine on whatever rodent you can get them to eat. As long as your feeding the whole item.