Small rat vs. 3 mice

[jotay]

I guess if you don't have a choice, Mice will do the job. To me, Mice are the fast food of the feeder world. Rats would be a much more meatier meal and offer more nutrition.

I also don't really believe in stack feeding. Snakes are not designed to eat multiple meals at once and 2 or 3 of the same type of feeder does not mean the break-down and digestion rate will be the same for all three.

One proper sized meal is better then many undersized meals in my opinion. On top of, I don't see 3 Mice being as good as one rat still.

Just my thoughts on the topic.

How do you know that rats as oppose to mice offer more nutrition? There has never really been a study on the nutritional requirements of ball pythons. I don't know about being meatier but rats do have a higher fat content which would explain why bp's seem to gain weight faster on rats than mice.
The rats are better than mice therory is just opinion not really based on any fact.

I fed my bp 3 mice a week for three years and his vet, Dr. Scott Stahl, said he was one of the healthiest bp's he had ever seen.
I think you should feed what your bp will eat. The key is not so much WHAT to feed as to how much/little and how often.