Rats vs mice?

[ja88er]

Is there a measurable advantage to feeding rats over mice? I have my 560g BP on 2-3 hopper mice a week (though the last two weeks he's been picky and only took one), is there a nutritional reason to upgrade to rats? Or is it just a size/quantity preference?
Apologies if this has been answered elsewhere, I skimmed around and didn't find anything.

[EL-Ziggy]

I don't think there's a big difference in the nutritional values between mice and rats. For me it's more about serving sizes. It's a lot easier to feed my larger snakes one rat vs. 4-5 mice.

[PitOnTheProwl]

Hoppers are hatchling prey, not for a 500g snake.....
That being said the only difference is several mice to one rat.

[ja88er]

I buy Gourmet Rodent f/t, and their sizes go from pinkie > fuzzie > hopper > adult. The adults look too big for him to get down comfortably, so I offer 2-3 hoppers per feeding to compensate. Depending on how he grows I'll see if he'll take an adult, but I don't mind doing multiple rodents in one feeding so long as he gets what he needs.

[GoingPostal]

Hoppers are way too small, he could handle adult mice or weanling/small rats no problem.

[PitOnTheProwl]

The adults look too big for him to get down comfortably

We are talking about a snake that weighs 500 GRAMs right?

[ja88er]

We are talking about a snake that weighs 500 GRAMs right?

Yes, he's 560 grams as of yesterday. It may be inexperience talking though, an adult mouse would be less than his widest point, as it says in the feeding guidelines, but I'm thinking more about mouth/throat capacity. I'll offer an adult for his next feeding and see how it goes, I don't think it could hurt to try.

[PitOnTheProwl]

At that weight it should already be on weaned/small rats.

[ja88er]

At that weight it should already be on weaned/small rats.

That's my original question, is there a nutritional difference between one larger prey item and multiple smaller prey items, both equalling the same amount? I've only seen adult rats at my usual supplier, which are definitely too big, and I need to know if it's okay to feed multiple mice instead of one rat.

[PitOnTheProwl]

Yes you can feed multiple mice but your sizing is way off even when feeding more than one.