Mice or rats??? for bci yearlings

[BoaBoy91]

which one is better for a bci yearling mice or rats? i have heard mixed answers. rats are more fatty and mice are more of a diet food.... so some expert options would be nice :)

[Mark Taylor]

I feed all mine rats as you will be feeding them rats soon enough as the mice don't get as big (short answer.):)

[BoaBoy91]

yeah thats what ive always done because i think that rats are more "filling" for that snake and you dont have to worry about switching over. but some guy at an expo was like o no you need to feed mice because rats are too fatty and blah blah. and ive never seen a snake have obese problems from getting fed a rat once a week. but yeah i wanted to see what everyone said on here about it

[formica]

rats do have marginally more fat than mice, but as Mark said, mice dont get big enough for BCI's



and its nonsense that you should feed mice because of the fat content - if a snake is fat, its being fed to often, simple really!

[Kid Boa]

The only other thing to remember is that you should start feeding food with hair/fur on it as soon as possible.

Meat = Proteins.
Bone = Calcium.
Fur = Fiber.

But since yours is a yearling, it can eat rats with fur by now anyways.

[thinkbig317]

I've been wondering the same thing myself. I've been feeding my 4/5 month old boa small adult mice and have been wondering if I should switch to rats too. What size rats are equivalent?

[KORBIN5895]

Rat pups would be the best bet for a 5 month old boa.

[thinkbig317]

Cool, thanks!

[NagyReptiles]

I start them off one mice then when they are eating more then two adult mice in a sitting (which doesn't take long) they get switched to rats.

[Zcorpshea]

I went from feeding 2 hoppers a week to rat pups rather than going for adult mice. She switched no problem.

As for sizing, an adult mouse is about the equivalent of a rat pup.

[guyabano]

Rats all the way. There's a life stage for every size. :)

[formica]

my CRB had no problems eating rat fuzzies (<25g) @ 4 months, maybe the sizes are diffrent in the US, but a rat pup here is only <10g, half the size of an adult mouse ~<22g. sounds much to small for a BCI

[marvelfreak]

Rats all the way. There's a life stage for every size. :)
I so agree! I never feed mice. Mine get rats all there life or until they are big enough for rabbits.