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Feeding Question

Aehill

Aehill

New member
More of a question than a problem, really. Is it ok to feed a young, growing corn snake rat pups? If not, why not? I have a roughly 16 month old female palmetto who's around two feet long (+/-). The rat pups are between 1 and 3 days old and aren't too big for her (less than 1 1/2 times her largest diameter). Is there a reason I shouldn't do this? I've heard two different stories. One on each side of the issue. Some say that rats are too fatty for corn snakes and shouldn't be fed. Others say that for a growing corn snake, rat pups are more nutritious than mice. Your thoughts... experience... TIA!
 
Rats are typically higher protein rather than fat, and only just slightly. I recall at one point reading about feeding prey animals who are still growing vs. adults, but a quick google search has left me empty handed. :shrugs:
 
There isn't much difference in the fat content of rats vs mice. For many years we had about 600 breeder snakes. plus other reptiles, and had to raise our own rodents. I preferred mice but my son gradually switched over to rats. The snakes seemed to prefer rats, and once given a diet of rats it was difficult to switch them back to mice if rats weren't available. So I kept feeding mice. Here's a brief chart we used:

Prey %protein %fat weight

Mice 64 17 3grams or less
Mice 44 30 4-10 grams
Mice 55 23 over 10 grams

Rats 58 23 Less than 10 grams
Rats 56 27 10 grams or more

If you have a steady supply of rats I'd definitely offer them to your corns. One other thing was that the snakes didn't seem to grow as fast when fed hairless rats, but don't ask me why.
 
I have been thinking of raising the ASF (African Soft Fur) rats. They smell a lot better than other rats, and really better than mice. They have large litters and you don't need to remove the male from the colony when there are babies. They are smaller than typical rats. On the down side, they will bite, or said another way, they are feisty. Once you set up a colony you can't add other males or they will kill them. Usually you set up a small breeding colony and harvest the young as needed.
 
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