Nope they eat pinks from the tongs no problem. 2 each per week in fact. I don't believe they are very hard to transition to mice from what I've read. Although I've never had the experience of raising babies from the start so I don't know for sure. The only thing I am concerned about is how much to feed them as I've heard its not good to overfeed these guys but then again isn't all the food going into growth at this stage?