Why rats over mice?

[Stewart_Reptiles]

Now dont rats bite though i am scared to throw a live rat in my guys feeding tank when he is large enough. And i have tried feeding him f/t mouse and he wanted nothing to do with it..

Anything with a mouth and teeth bites

As far as aggressive behavior (I breed both rats and mice) mice are more jumpy and a little more aggressive than rats.

Now when feeding live there are keys to successfully feeding.

I am feeding over 250 live rats a month to my BP (main collection not counting hatchlings), this is a small number however I never had any issue doing so since 2006.

The important points are

Feed a prey that is not too large (BP do not need anything larger than a medium rat once adult)
Do not stress the prey
Make sure the prey is well fed and hydrated (offer food and water before feeding if you purchase live feeders from a third party)

The right feeder will not even realize what is happening in most cases will even fall asleep in a corner if the snake is not hungry.