• Hello!

    Either you have not registered on this site yet, or you are registered but have not logged in. In either case, you will not be able to use the full functionality of this site until you have registered, and then logged in after your registration has been approved.

    Registration is FREE, so please register so you can participate instead of remaining a lurker....

    Please be certain that the location field is correctly filled out when you register. All registrations that appear to be bogus will be rejected. Which means that if your location field does NOT match the actual location of your registration IP address, then your registration will be rejected.

    Sorry about the strictness of this requirement, but it is necessary to block spammers and scammers at the door as much as possible.

What is the difference?

Size would be the only difference. I know that rat pups have a little more fat content to them, then mice of identical size, but other than that, :shrugs:

My wife and I raise a variety of different rodents. There are currently mice, gerbils, rats, asf's, hamsters and pygmy mice in my rodent room. On any given feeding day, my collection could be fed a variety of different rodents, depending on what's available.

I will say that I do try to stay away from adult hamsters. I get a little nerved about feeding something with so much fur. I haven't had an issue with them yet, but have noticed undigested seed in the snakes feces. These seeds are probably in the hamsters pockets (in the mouth) when they are fed. I am not sure of and I don't think there is an issue with it, but at the same time, I do not know.

Wayne
 
Hamsters can be an expensive delicacy compared to mice, if you have to buy rather than breed your own. I've seen stories of people tempting reluctant feeders to eat with hamsters and then having them refuse anything else.

I've always understood that rats have a higher fat content than mice and are therefore not recommended due to the risk of accidental over-feeding and resulting obesity, but I've seen some recent opinions that either this isn't the case or isn't a disadvantage. Maybe that thinking is changing?

I stick with mice - easy to find in shops or to breed yourself, cheapest (conventional) food on the market if you buy and my 21 year old Corn can't be wrong!
 
We feed rat pups to our adult corns. I personally like the look of them better. Adult frozen mice always look so scrawny and ugh. It might have a bit more fat content...but I have not noticed any major weight issues on any snakes since the switch.
 
bitsy said:
I've always understood that rats have a higher fat content than mice and are therefore not recommended due to the risk of accidental over-feeding and resulting obesity, but I've seen some recent opinions that either this isn't the case or isn't a disadvantage. Maybe that thinking is changing?
Click to expand...

I can see one advantage to rats being higher in fat -- yolk is mostly fat. The female has to provide all that fat to produce healthy eggs that lead to healthy hatchlings. So I suspect that rats might be a good choice for females before breeding, as long as they don't lead to obesity.

I don't think I will ever have enough corn snakes to test this hypothesis, but it's very testable -- take 2 females (preferably full sibs), feed one appropriately on mice before breeding & the other on rats, see if you get bigger clutches or healthier hatchlings, repeat until satisfied the outcomes are consistent.

If anyone does it, I want to know what happens!
 
Thanks all for your input its very interesting!

I especially like knowing and realizing the hampsters have extra see from their mouth pockets and makes me wonder if there is a positive or negative effect on the snake.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top