Mice vs. Rats

[luckycharm318]

I have a few questions about feeding mice vs. rats...

Is size the only real benefit to feeding rats?

Or is their nutritional content better suited to BP's? (I suspect both are contributing factors)

Would feeding two (or more to equal the same mass as a rat) adult mice be an alternative to feeding one adult rat?

But does feeding multiple prey items pose problems for some? (My guess is probably)

I ask because feeding mice could be potentially more convenient/less expensive. I also have two corns, and I'm interested in making an online order... and I'm sure as you all know, rats cost more than mice! I've found that on most of the online supplier's sites, the cost of two adult mice is usually less than the cost of one adult rat. (But if it would take more than two mice to equal one rat the cost difference may not be much.)

I'm just throwing this idea out there, wondering if I've got anything here (though I highly doubt it, or people would have figured it out a while ago ), if rats are really the way to go then rats it is!

Thanks for any information!

[Vypyrz]

A long time ago I remember someone posted a chart comparing the nutritional difference between mice and rats and there wasn't a whole lot of difference. Rats have slightly more muscle. That's about it. I prefer rats because by feeding one rat and not multiple mice means less I have to thaw.
There is nothing wrong with feeding multiple mice as long as your snake is getting what it needs. There are quite a few BP's that are mousers and just won't eat rats. But I also have heard people swear that they grow bigger and faster on rats. I don't know. One thing to consider though, when feeding multiple mice is to weigh them and make sure that their combined weight falls into the 10%-15% of the BP's body weight. This should prevent overfeeding and you should be good...

[kitedemon]

There was a study done for zoos that defined the various values.


http://www.nal.usda.gov/awic/zoo/Who...nal02May29.pdf

[luckycharm318]

A long time ago I remember someone posted a chart comparing the nutritional difference between mice and rats and there wasn't a whole lot of difference. Rats have slightly more muscle. That's about it. I prefer rats because by feeding one rat and not multiple mice means less I have to thaw.
There is nothing wrong with feeding multiple mice as long as your snake is getting what it needs. There are quite a few BP's that are mousers and just won't eat rats. But I also have heard people swear that they grow bigger and faster on rats. I don't know. One thing to consider though, when feeding multiple mice is to weigh them and make sure that their combined weight falls into the 10%-15% of the BP's body weight. This should prevent overfeeding and you should be good...

Cool, thanks! That was a good answer, I'll be sure to weigh them out beforehand. Though I do think he needs to gain a bit of weight, so would I still feed 10-15% of his body weight and go on a 5-day schedule, or should I up the weight of the food a bit? I'm pretty sure my BP has been fed live mice most of his life, (one every few weeks or so, it was multiples for a while as an attempt at power feeding, then I think his previous owner just kind of lost interest in the whole having a snake thing) and I'm going to be trying to do the convert-to-f/t dance with him.