There's no reason to not feed rats or mice or ASF's or whatever prey is appropriately sized and correct for your snake. Type of prey is a keeper's choice based on what they can get of top quality in a consistent manner and what their particular snake will take with a strong feeding response. For me that's regular rats and african soft furred rats.Originally Posted by paingod
As to the concept that rats are somehow more aggressive than mice, I'd have to disagree with that. Were that so then I'd have 26 chewed up snakes since they all, from the smallest milksnake or 07 BP to the largest boa or mature BP, eat live rats. Each snake is offered, however, a rat appropriate to that snake's size and hunting abilities.
This might mean that a larger but very shy hunter gets two rat pups rather than a single small adult rat or a snake that isn't doing well on regular rats is offered multiple ASF's instead. Whatever works for that specific snake, that's how we feed.
It is worthy to note that any live rodent, rat or mouse, if offered to the snake while it's in poor condition itself....stressed, hungry, thirsty, just out of an overcrowded feeder bin....could be difficult. Part of live feeding safely for Mike and I is ensuring that the live prey that we offer is in the best possible condition prior to being presented to the snake. Seems to work well for us, for the rats and for the snakes.
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