Why rats over mice?

[EL-Ziggy]

As others have said, the primary advantages for feeding rats over mice is cost, convenience, and time. It's cheaper, easier, and quicker to feed one small (80g) rat instead of 3-4 mice.

[SpecialGreg]

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..

[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.

[SpecialGreg]

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.

Ok. Dont roll your eyes at me!!! Ha ha i just remeber as a younger kid my faters boa had some scars on it from a rat biting it while it was constricting it. And didnt want that to happen to my beautiful boy. Thank you for the tips will def make sure to do all that before feeding him his first rat.

[SpecialGreg]

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.

Ok. Dont roll your eyes at me!!! Ha ha i just remeber as a younger kid my faters boa had some scars on it from a rat biting it while it was constricting it. And didnt want that to happen to my beautiful boy. Thank you for the tips will def make sure to do all that before feeding him his first rat.

[Rob]

Ok. Dont roll your eyes at me!!! Ha ha i just remeber as a younger kid my faters boa had some scars on it from a rat biting it while it was constricting it. And didnt want that to happen to my beautiful boy. Thank you for the tips will def make sure to do all that before feeding him his first rat.

FT would take care of that problem

[SpecialGreg]

FT would take care of that problem

Ya if you read up a little bit my guys wants nothing to do with f/t.

[calmolly1]

Ya if you read up a little bit my guys wants nothing to do with f/t.

Same here


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[rabernet]

Just curious. Isnt it bad for the snake have to eat four times a week. Like stressful to it's muscles? I thought that it would be since they always say to feed once a week


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If you are referring to Deborah's post about four mice - that's in one feeding, not four individual mice on four different feedings.

When I first started keeping ball pythons, I raised up all my females on mice, because that's all I had available. It was a pain, but it wasn't detrimental to them in any way.

A mouser can be changed over to rats with persistance. If they have good weight on them, they get offered a rat, if they refuse, they are offered a rat a week later. Eventually, they'll change over (with a constant eye to make sure they aren't losing significant weight - which can take quite some time).

A trick that always worked for me - is I asked for mouse bedding from the pet shop and kept it in a baggy at home. On feeding day, I'd drop a handful into the front of the snake's enclosure. As she would come out, sniffing for the mouse she could smell, I'd drop in an appropriately sized rat. Since she was already in hunting mode, she was primed to strike and take the rat.

[Rob]

Ya if you read up a little bit my guys wants nothing to do with f/t.

Persistence