Mice vs. Rats & Live vs. Frozen

[Navy]

Okay, so I'm going to be getting some female BPs soon, which will hopefully be my breeders a few years from now.

I was talking to someone saying how I should feed them rats instead of mice, I wanted to ask why but didn't want to seem/feel stupid.

Also, which is better to get in bulk, a tank of live mice/rats or frozen.

I typically buy mine live and have never bought frozen. Any suggestions?

[Mike41793]

Rats are generally better just bc its more convenient for most people to buy 1 rat for an adult snake instead of like 6 mice. Unless you breed your own, then it wouldnt really matter i guess.

I personally feed f/t bc its easier for me. I dont have room to breed rats and the closest pet store is 15min away. The f/t rats i buy at the expos are also much cheaper than the rats the pet store sells.

I would definetly reccomend rats but as for live vs. f/t its completley up to you. I would say do whatever is easier for you.

[Daybreaker]

Just what Mike said plus:

Also, which is better to get in bulk, a tank of live mice/rats or frozen.

I typically buy mine live and have never bought frozen. Any suggestions?

If you only have one snake I think buying frozen would be easier; most people who breed their own feeders have many snakes and I think it would be a hassle if you only have one. All but one of mine is on frozen so me and my bf share a whole freezer with all our frozen feeders. I buy in bulk from Rodent Pro, and order about every 6 months or so for all my guys.

If your snakes feeds better on live there's no problem with staying with live (just watch every feeding and don't leave the feeder in with the snake alone, of course). Frozen is just more convenient IMO.

[Andybill]

If you have a small collection say 5 or 6 I would say stay f/t for convenience. But for an idea of how costly it can get when you have more snakes, this is what my monthly rat consumption is like:

I have 13 snakes

4 take med rats weekly = 16 med/month
2 take small every 6 days = 10 small/month
1 take small weekly = 4 small/month
6 take pups every 5 days = 36 pups/month

I spend about 130/month on my rats for f/t and I have decided to start a colony. I have stalked up on f/t to last a couple months until my rats start producing and can provide enough to feed my snakes. I also plan to add snakes over the coming months.