Looking for rat vs mice nutrition info...

[Tigergenesis]

Can anyone refer me to actual data/proof/research on the nutritional analysis of mice and rats to support the 'rats are better' thinking?

Thanks!

[Tim_Cranwill]

It's quite a read (haven't read the whole thing myself yet...) but it may have some of the info you're looking for.

http://www.nal.usda.gov/awic/zoo/Who...nal02May29.pdf

[IMO]

Rat vs. mice..........................for all practical purposes they are nutritionally the same with negligible differences in nutritional qualities.
Rats are just a bigger meal - just more of it. (Would you like that supersized!)
Makes sense to switch for economy.
Don't sweat the small stuff.

[sapphire_moon]

proof, personal, not scientific? Well I have a bp that was maybe 2ft at 1yr old. I switched from mice to rats and he litterly EXPLODED in growth! He grew an additional 2ft in 6 months! He is now 4ft! He started with small rats, then medium, now large.

[marisa]

http://www.rodentpro.com/qpage_articles_03.asp

My computer is being stupid, so I hope that link works.

Marisa

[Matt_K]

Here are a couple pics from my own experience.. Both snakes are 02' babies. The first one is a little male who would by choice only eat mice.. Never showed interest in rats no matter what, so, thats what he ate until 3 weeks ago. Since he started taking rats i have been feeding him every 5 days to get his weight up.. He's shed a couple times since then.. Here's a pic i just took..



This guy has taken rats since day one..



You be the judge

[morph]

I still don't see anyone proving to me that they are more nutritious. The simple fact is that they are simply eating a larger meal thus grow faster. I feed my mouse eaters like 10 mice a sitting and my rat eaters 1 rat. They grow at the same rate, it's simply portions not a better nutritional break down.

Scott

[Linds]

Originally posted by morph
I feed my mouse eaters like 10 mice a sitting and my rat eaters 1 rat. They grow at the same rate, it's simply portions not a better nutritional break down.

Not necessarily. Feeding ten mice is not as nutritional as one rat because you get a lot more waste product (hair, etc) in comparison.

[morph]

Again I don't agree I just shaved 10 30g mice and 1 300g rat and the piles of hair weighed exactly the same amount.


Scott

[SD-SNAKE]

I would go with rats, its like a rule of thumb. everyone always says change them over to rats as fast as possible. I believe rats have more protein then mice and are better for your snake. Could be do to rats having more muscle then rats. They are both rodents but i would place rats higher up on the food chain then mice. Go to the link that Tim Cranwell has posted and go to the charts and compair for yourself. this is just my opinion. take care Nick

[northernsnake]

Originally posted by morph
I still don't see anyone proving to me that they are more nutritious. The simple fact is that they are simply eating a larger meal thus grow faster. I feed my mouse eaters like 10 mice a sitting and my rat eaters 1 rat. They grow at the same rate, it's simply portions not a better nutritional break down.

Scott

what is trying to be said hear is that gram for gram rats are more nutritious then mice

[Lisa]

From the chart above rats seem to have more protein and less fat.