Good morning! Welcome to the mouse vs. rat debate among BP owners, which is as old as the frozen/thawed vs. feeding live debate. You will find owners on both sides furiously telling you which one should be fed to your girl.
Rats are cheaper in the long run, as they are so much larger, but it all depends on what your BP prefers to eat. There is some chatter about nutritional differences between rats and mice as well. Our Ginger will only eat live mice - she refuses live rats and anything frozen/thawed. It's just how she's eating now, and hopefully she'll go back to rats to save me a lot of $$$. But mice are her preference, so she gets mice.
The rule of thumb regarding the size of her food is to feed her something that is 10% larger than the widest part of her body. That being said, I have spent a lot of time in the pet store, trying to size up her food. Is this rat too big, or too small.....ugh. I suggest that you err on the size of too small if you switch over to rats. Feed her a small rat and see what happens. She should plump nicely with a full belly.
How old is she, what does she weigh, and how long is she? Are you feeding live? That will help us to help you determine the size of prey that's right for her.
Cheers,
Pamela
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
Reply With Quote