Mice vs Rats

[RyanReptile]

I was wondering why must boa breeders suggest feeding mice to boas for the first 18 months to a first year then switching to rats. What is the logic behind this? are mice easier to digest. I feed my 2013 leopard a rat about the size of her girth (rat pup) once a week and she defecates very infrequently, maybe once a month is this normal?

[Terranaut]

Boas can hold their poo for 4 months. So once a month is fine. The mice vrs rat thing is just one of those old arguments. Just keep doing what your doing.

[UwabamiReptiles]

I think one way to think about it is that since mice are smaller, an adult mouse is say the same size of a wean rat. So if you feed the mature adult mouse, you get a rodent with a more nutritionally complete meal do to the skeletal structure being more mature thus having more calcium and less fat on the mouse. Where on the other hand the wean rat is less mature as far as skeletal structure goesand the wean rat will have more fat content since it is younger in its development. This is one of the reasons some people will start carpets on hopper mice instead of rat pinks. Does it hurt to just start them on rats to avoid any potential switching problems down the road? Absolutely not. Either way will work.

[RyanReptile]

Boas can hold their poo for 4 months. So once a month is fine. The mice vrs rat thing is just one of those old arguments. Just keep doing what your doing.

Alright thanks, It just seems strange that she would only poop once a month every other snake I've owned at that age would usually defecate weekly.

[RyanReptile]

I think one way to think about it is that since mice are smaller, an adult mouse is say the same size of a wean rat. So if you feed the mature adult mouse, you get a rodent with a more nutritionally complete meal do to the skeletal structure being more mature thus having more calcium and less fat on the mouse. Where on the other hand the wean rat is less mature as far as skeletal structure goesand the wean rat will have more fat content since it is younger in its development. This is one of the reasons some people will start carpets on hopper mice instead of rat pinks. Does it hurt to just start them on rats to avoid any potential switching problems down the road? Absolutely not. Either way will work.

Yeah, That make sense too, I've always used rats for all my larger snakes, the potential of them having issues switching to rats over time is not worth it IMO.