Mice or Rats?

[kingskippy2001]

(from Katt) We've had Mishu now for 3 months, and he takes his fuzzies like a pro - or pig - but the guy at a reputable reptile shop that I frequent keeps telling us we should switch to rats, as that's what he uses for his corns, not that he refuses to sell me mice. Is there a preferance, and do they get more out of rats than the mice?
As a matter of fact, I'm also wondering whether a corn can grow too fast. He's flying through fuzzies 2 at a time with no problem (keeping with his original owner's schedule a every 4 days), but his last shed was 3 weeks after another shed. Does this mean he's growing too quickly, or that he's growing well? His measurements are (the best we can tell, as we've yet to invest in a digital scale) 21 3/4 " and 45(?) grams.
Thanks for the help, as always!

 

[tyflier]

The general consensus is that the food item should be 1.5 X the widest part of your snakes body. That is total width of prey, if fedding 2 prey items. It is also recommended that when you bump up food size, you increase the amount of time between feedings. For example, pinkies are fed every 4-5 days. When you move up to fuzzies, the fedding schedule changes to every 5-6 days. Up to hoppers-6-7 days. Weanlings-7-8 days. In other words, every time you go up in size, you add one day between feedings. In this way, by the time your snake is feeding on adult mice, and has reached it's full grown status, you are feeding one prey item every 8-10 days. Obviously, this is not "written in stone, gospel", merely what seems to work for most keepers.

According to the rodentpro.com website, rat pinks are more nutritious than mouse fuzzies. I would assume that rats are generally more nutritious than mice, as long as the proper size prey is being fed.

Take into consideration that my snake is still on peach fuzzies, and therefor, I have no personal experience with this matter. The above statements are based on the opinions I have heard and read from other herp keepers.

 

[BeckyG]

Whether you feed rats or mice is entirely up to you. Rats have been shown to have more nutrition, but are also more expensive. However, with rats, you don't need to feed as often as with mice. On the other hand, there is nothing wrong with feeding mice exclusively either. All of my corns have been on mice their whole lives and are plenty big and healthy.

Also remember that just because you feed a baby more so that it will grow faster doesn't mean it will be bigger as an adult than one fed more moderately.

 

[lefty_mussolini]

According to the rodentpro.com website, rat pinks are more nutritious than mouse fuzzies. I would assume that rats are generally more nutritious than mice, as long as the proper size prey is being fed.

According to the Rodentpro website, Rats cost twice as much as mice of comparable size too.

I posted this in another thread this morning, but I think that unless you are careful, Rats tend to make medium sized colubrids, such as Corns, obese if fed exclusively. Mice contain all of the nutrition that any size corn needs. The only time I ever feed my Corns (or Kings, or Milks, or African House Snakes) rats is after egg laying, and even then, I only do it if they seem to have lost a lot of weight.
Obesity can cause health problems in snakes just like any other animal. Fatter is not always healthier.

 

[tyflier]

According to the Rodentpro website, Rats cost twice as much as mice of comparable size too.

I posted this in another thread this morning, but I think that unless you are careful, Rats tend to make medium sized colubrids, such as Corns, obese if fed exclusively. Mice contain all of the nutrition that any size corn needs. The only time I ever feed my Corns (or Kings, or Milks, or African House Snakes) rats is after egg laying, and even then, I only do it if they seem to have lost a lot of weight.
Obesity can cause health problems in snakes just like any other animal. Fatter is not always healthier.

Nobody asked about price... :sidestep:

Thanks for pointing out the fat content, however. It's an important factor that could otherwise be easily overlooked. I never even thought about it...

 

[grdn1014]

i started a colony rats so i could feed them to my snakes, are they really THAT fattening for colubrids??

 

[lefty_mussolini]

i started a colony rats so i could feed them to my snakes, are they really THAT fattening for colubrids??

I think so. You have to consider that in the wild, many colubrids eat lizards more often than they eat rodents. Lizards are an animal with very little fat. Even feeding mice regularly is quite a bit of fat intake. Now imagine, couple that with captive environments where our snakes don't get as much exercise as wild snakes, and it can lead to weight problems. And on top of that, rats are much higher in fat than mice (I've seen a comparison of the fat content before, but I can't seem to find it now.)

All that I know is that I've personally seen many colubrids that were exclusively fed a diet of rats that were overweight and had bad fat deposits.

My suggestion would be to not feed rats as a staple diet, especially to adult colubrids. And if rats are used as a staple diet, the feedings should be far less frequent than if you were feeding mice.

But that's just what I think based on what I've seen and read

 

[grdn1014]

hmm well i suppose i would be okay if i fed rats every other feeding, i consider handling time twice a week plenty of exercise for me and the snake both, none of them seem to ever sit still!