switching BRB from mice to rats , advice?

[Tekpc007]

So little Spock is doing well , he can take a mouse hopper no problem and last feeding i offered him 2 which he ate but was a bit much so i waited about 11 days for next feeding. Now the last 2 times I have offered him a live rat pinkie before the hopper , he checks it out but then ignores it so i remove it and put in a hopper , he eats it right away. do I even need to get him on rats yet?

He is very healthy , maybe 25 inches now . He will not often eat a F/T hopper , only sometimes will he eat F/T so I end up giving him a fresh killed one which is no big deal and i prefer it actually as you never know how good the FT is unless you make them youself. I just use co2 , and it works fine. i was going to put some FT rat pinks in the same bag as some Ft hoppers hoping the scent will fool him. In the long run is it really important that he be on rats? why is it bad to give the equivilent weight of mice? also will a BRB eat chicks? I have a excellent supply of them also. i have read that rats are not always the most healthy food being linked to fatty liver problems , is this true?