People who won't feed their snakes rats....

[jotay]

I feed rats if they will eat them. I finally got my oldest switched over to rats and just started feeding my Albino a small rat instead of 3 mice. Now I just need my female to get older and get her switched.
I buy live @ Petco and a sm rat is 4.99 compared to mice @ 2.29 x 3. So it is cheaper and easy to feed 1 rat instead of 3 mice per feeding.
I keep a careful eye when I feed and if my group doesn't hit the rat within the first 2-4 mins they aren't going to and I remove it.

If you feed live you feed live. I don't see why one critter is more important or harder to feed then another. It is what it is. I don't value one more than the other or consider one more of a pet than the other. Tis food in my eyes.

[visiontoreality]

ive had rats bite my snake before. i stand by now with a pencil and if the rat is going to bite the snake i just give him the pencil to gnaw on until all the life is squeezed out

[jotay]

ive had rats bite my snake before. i stand by now with a pencil and if the rat is going to bite the snake i just give him the pencil to gnaw on until all the life is squeezed out

Bingo! That is what I do. If you keep a watchful eye no harm will come to your bp. Soon as my bp strikes and wraps I check to see where the rats head and mouth are to ensure there is no biting going on.

[SarahMB]

I don't want to be a pill, but mice can make great pets too

Yeah, I can cede that point easily enough. We do have a couple that are used to being handled and are as tame as can be, I keep them as breeders/pets.

[JLC]

I feed mice for the simple reason that it's more convenient for me to do so at this time. If my snakes refused mice and would eat only rats...I'd deal with that and feed 'em rats. But they love their meeces....and it's so much easier for me.

Personally, I don't think one rodent is superior over another as far as the snake is concerned. If they'll eat it, it works. Sometimes one is more cost effective than another. Sometimes one is easier for someone to buy than another. And for me...I never have to worry about an uneaten rodent growing too big to eat before the snake finally gets around to it.

In Tucson, I had a pet store that would happily take back uneaten rats. Here in San Antonio, I don't have that option. I'd had rats grow too big to feed off and was left with the dilema of what to do with an unwanted rat an no large snakes to feed it to. With mice...I may have to deal with feeding and cleaning up the little buggers for a week or two sometimes....but at least I don't have to kill them off myself.