feeding rats to corn snakes

I have a 4 to 4 1/2 foot cornsnake.
I have been feeing him adult mice, yet you can't see any bulge after he eats. I feed him about once a week and he's always ready to eat, has the mouse gone within 5 minutes of it entering his cage.
I'm wondering if I should switch to feeding him small rats or stick with adult mice. If anyone feels they know the best way to go, please let me know..
Thank you for your advice

Rats are fine...

I get my corns on rat pups as soon as they are big enough. Sometimes they just won't eat them though. I wouldn't suggest buying a bunch until you know he'll eat them.

Welcome to the forum. :wavey:

thanks for the response. now i have another question(dumb one, but have to ask). When you say rat pups, how old are you talking? i have my corns pic in my profile, he's not exactly small, probably about 2 inches girth at his widest. any help with this is much appreciated. THANKS!

coolrain said:

thanks for the response. now i have another question(dumb one, but have to ask). When you say rat pups, how old are you talking? i have my corns pic in my profile, he's not exactly small, probably about 2 inches girth at his widest. any help with this is much appreciated. THANKS!

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As soon as my corns would be going to mouse fuzzies I try to get them on rat pinks (aka rat pups). The one you have pictured could eat rat fuzzies to rat hoppers.

Not to hi-jack or anything but.....I've heard that rats are 'fattier' than mice, so care must be taken to ensure that a corn snake on a rat only diet doesn't get overwieght. Anyone care to comment?

Maybe total heresay but .....

My local reptile place told me years ago that a rat pup was, to a snake, what a fillet steak is to us humans (those that eat meat anyway ... a large juicy carrot to the veggies out there ). They reckoned it was possible that the snake may take to the taste of rat pups too well and not go back to mice.

Reason I was told this was that they were out of mice at the time so I took a few rat pups instead (I was also offered a bag of hamsters .... which seemed wierd but there you go).

Never caused me any problems, snakes gobbled up the rat pups and happily went back to mice once they got them back in stock.

If one mouse isn't leaving a bulge, just give him two.

colinmcc said:

(I was also offered a bag of hamsters .... which seemed wierd but there you go).

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OMG!
Never feed your snake with hamster! They are little psychotic monsters ( no matter if dead or alive ). I consider hamsters as one of the biggest problems our civilisation has! Feeding your snake with hamsters can cause little hamster spirits take control over your snake!

Personally I feed rat pups, anywhere from the time they get hair to the time they are eating on their own, to my breeding colony anytime I have them. I especially like to give them to my girls because rats seem to put weight on them faster which helps them bulk up and recover from breeding. I have a couple that won't take rats, must not like the smell, but most of them seem to view it as a wonderful treat. As the rats get bigger, you are better off to feed F/T as a rat can kill a snake, but babies pose little threat to an adult corn. Hope this helps

OMG!
Never feed your snake with hamster! They are little psychotic monsters ( no matter if dead or alive ). I consider hamsters as one of the biggest problems our civilisation has! Feeding your snake with hamsters can cause little hamster spirits take control over your snake!

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Oh Lord I hope you are kidding. I agree that feeding hamsters can be a danger that is often not worth the risk, but I have started reluctant hatchlings on hamster pinks in the past and it worked well. When it comes to feeding hamsters, in fact, I would only suggest feeding babies or prekilled. Adults have massive teeth and it just isn't worth the risk.

Thanks for all of the info! It's all been helpful, I have fed my snake live mice since we've gotten him 2 christmas's ago(i got it for my twin daughters that year because they were gonna buy it with thier xmas money, but I didn't know what to buy them so i bought him for them instead) The petshop I bough him from feed all of thier snakes live mice so I decided to continue, he's never had a problem with the mice biting him so i think i'll continue with feeding mice and just up his intake to 2 mice per feeding.
Again, thanks for all your help. This is my first day at this site and I've found it very informative and helpful.

Rats as food

I feed all my adult corns rats. My biggest can handle a small to medium sized rat. A large meal like that will take longer to digest so they don't have to eat as soon as with a smaller meal. I have also been given other rodents by people that didn't want them anymore and have fed baby rabbits, baby guinea pigs, hamsters and gerbils. I'm lucky in that my neighbor raises guinea pigs and she freezes and gives me any babies that die for free. My corns eat them all. Of course I gas the live rodents first with co2, the gerbils take forever to go under and quit breathing! I will not feed live gerbils or hamsters to my snakes! I will sometimes feed live rat pups if I'm too lazy to gas them when I have a hungry snake. My adult corns occasionally get large mice, but those are retired breeders they get them rarely. The mouse pinks and fuzzies are for the baby snakes and get eaten before they are big enough for the older corns.

Nutrition wise there is little difference in an adult mouse or a juvenile rat. Go to this great page at Rodent Pro that lists the nutrient content of various prey species and compare yourself. http://www.rodentpro.com/qpage_articles_03.asp

I've found that once my corns were used to eating a few different prey animals they were more accepting of something new. At first with I scented them my old trustworthy Grandpa mouse ("Mommy, PLEASE don't make me touch the dead hamster!") for some of the snakes that were a little leary at first of something that smelled different.

Wild corns eat a variety of prey, when opportunity knocks you don't question what your meal is, you don't know when you will get to eat again! My snakes don't seem to mind weather their prey is rat, mouse, pig, or anything else. They eat it! :eatpointe

I think the reason people notice that their snakes put on more weight when fed rats is that they are denser. A mouse and a rat pup could have the same approximate "volume" but the rat pup has more mass and therefore adds more to the snake. Just a personal observation.