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Mice or rats?

kingwoz60

kingwoz60

Hissssssss
Despite the obvious difference in size during the different stages of maturation, is there any value to feeding rats instead of mice? I had bought 2 large live rat pinks a few weeks ago for a ball python that I'm having feeding issues with. She wouldn't take a pink, but took a live rat fuzzy instead. I euthanized the rat pinks and froze them. My corn is eating small to medium mouse fuzzies, and as I was about to thaw dinner for him tonight , I remembered the frozen rats. I compared the size, and the rats were only slightly bigger, but bald. He ate the rat with gusto!

So, a few questions for the group. Is there a difference in nutritional value? Could the fact that there is less or no hair on a rat pink vs. a mouse fuzzy be beneficial for digestion? I've seen some pretty big rat pinks at the local reptile show - probably as large as a hopper or very small adult mouse.

Just wondering what everyone thinks!
 
I guess the one difference I know of is fat content rats being fattier and of course size. They get the most nutrients from adult feeders and adult rats may be too big at some point ith of course rat pinks being less nutritious than a mouse fuzzy.
 
The fat content makes sense in adult feeders. I gotta tell you though, the rat pink looked tastier than the mouse fuzzy! It was a bit bigger, but just seems "meatier." I did a few minutes of research on the web after posting, and this seems to be a debated topic. I'm gonna ask some breeders at the next show I attend.
 
I would stick with mice if I were you. My first 4 corns were raised on rats, because that's all I had, and 3 out of 4 of them are now overweight adults. They are just so much more full of fat than mice. And I noticed that sometimes when you're feeding rats, you tend to feed them feeders that are much larger than they actually need.
 
Thanks for the great advice! I was hoping to hear from someone with experience with rats. I'll be sticking with mice. I don't want a fattie snake!
 
RodentPro.com has a chart in the "articles" section of their website titled "Nutrient Composition of Whole Vertebrate Prey." Contrary to popular belief, a neonatal rat has about the same percentage of crude fat as an adult domestic mouse.

Tim
Third Eye Herp
www.thirdeyeherp.com

eat1.jpg
 
I feed both mice and rats. The snakes often prefer the rats to the mice as I swear they must taste better. You do have to be careful as you may get a snake that prefers the rats over mice so much that they refuse to eat mice ever again. Generally, I feed the rats when I think the snake needs a little more fat, such as to an adult female that's recovering from egg0laying, or if a snake has gone off it's food for awhile (live pinky or fuzzy rats are rarely turned down), or just as a treat if I have a bunch of them.
 
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