# Sticky  Why rats instead of mice?



## ChilDawg

I saw TimmyTeam had said something about rats being a better, more nutritive food than mice here, and I was wondering if we knew why that would be...


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## Red Eyes

ChilDawg said:


> I saw TimmyTeam had said something about rats being a better, more nutritive food than mice here, and I was wondering if we knew why that would be...


Here's a link to a chart on the Nutrient Composition of Whole Vertebrate Prey (Excluding Fish) Fed in Zoos. On the average rats have more kcal/g (Gross Energy) than mice, also it's easier on the wallet to feed one large adult rat than three or four adult mice.


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## TimmyTeam

Thanks for clearing that up red eyes. Whenever people come into my work and buy 2-6 mice i always ask them what they are feeding, the answer is usually a boa or ball python. It amazes me everytime, i always suggest rat's.


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## ChilDawg

You guys are awesome...thanks! I didn't want to derail the thread in which you said it, TT, and I thought this would make a good stand-alone topic...


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## kfreeman

Not to metion that the rats are a much cleaner keep if you are breeding your own food for your snakes/reptiles


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## dark FrOsT

sure there more nutritive but for a corn snake they are not needed


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## MistaFishPimp05

are there any lists like that for whole fish???


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## TimmyTeam

Yes, they are not needed for corn snakes, thats not saying you cannot feed ikt rats you definatly can. But for constrictors i would suggest rats, especially if you want a faster growth rat, for the larger constrictors mice give next to nothing in growth rate.


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## dark FrOsT

i agree i feed them to my pythons, just i was reading a post and someone was suggesting feeding them to corns.


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## shenlonco1

I been breeding reptiles for over 15 years for a corn snake a mouse is best.
You never want to feed a snake to big of a food item as some snake species will regurgatate and once this happens it messes up there digestive system so if this happens don't feed for like a month so the stomachs digestive system can get back to normal.

Rule of thumb smaller is better never want to see a huge big buldg in the snake after feeding.


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## CJPIRANHA

Most breeders use rats for anything that will have the girth of a Ball Python or bigger when full grown. Rats have more meat on them, you can give less feedings and get the same or faster growth rates, they are available in more sizes, and they are easier to buy in bulk (frozen). I've had a couple Boas years ago but switched to Balls because of their more manageable size. Both breeders were feeding rats so I just continued with what they were doing. With the Boas the good thing was that as they grew I didn't have to switch them over to a different prey animal. I just fed them larger rats. Always appropriately sized though.


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